الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي جعل الساعة قريبة، وإن رآه أغلبية البشر بعيدة، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير،  ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع 

الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر. قال الله تعالى في كتابه الكريم: ٱلْقَارِعَةُ مَا ٱلْقَارِعَةُ وَمَآ أَدْرَاكَ مَا ٱلْقَارِعَةُ يَوْمَ يَكُونُ ٱلنَّاسُ كَٱلْفَرَاشِ ٱلْمَبْثُوثِ وَتَكُونُ ٱلْجِبَالُ كَٱلْعِهْنِ ٱلْمَنفُوشِ

 

Allah says in His Noble Book, the translation of which is, “The Crashing Blow! What is the Crashing Blow? What will convey to you what the Crashing Blow is? It is the Day when mankind will be like scattered moths and the mountains like tufts of coloured wool.”

The Quran is full of descriptions of the Day of Rising and the Hereafter - indeed that is one of it's most prominent themes, for the descriptions and the reminders of what is to come are repeated in almost every single sura and on almost every single page. And with very good reason, for there is nothing quite so distracting as this world we live in -  our selves are drawn to it like moths to flame for it has been made to see fine to us. Allah says:

 

زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ وَالْبَنِينَ وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنْطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ وَالْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَالْأَنْعَامِ وَالْحَرْثِ ذَلِكَ مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا

 

the translation of which is, “To mankind the love of worldly appetites is painted in glowing colours: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and silver, and horses with fine markings, and livestock and fertile farmland. All that is merely the enjoyment of the life of the dunya.” The dunya makes us forget. it makes us think that it is all there is - it seems so permanent when in reality it is transient. It steals its way into our hearts and when it is there, it takes up residence and is very hard to remove. Abu Sulayman ad-Daaraani said,

 

إذا كانت الآخرة في القلب جاءت الدنيا تزاحمها، فإذا كانت الدنيا في القلب لم تزاحمها الآخرة

 

“If the akhira is in someone’s heart, the dunya comes to try and force it out, but if the dunya is in someone’s heart, the akhira doe not try to force it out.”

The dunya casts its spell over you - and a powerful spell it is, for the Prophet said,

 

احذروا الدنيا فإنها أسحر من هاروت وماروت

 

“Beware of the dunya, for it is more magical that Harut and Marut.” But like all magic, it is illusion and deception. It is not what it seems - it is not for nothing that it is called dar al-ghurur. It promises so much but gives so little, for everything in it fades and disappears. Abu Hurayra narrated that the Prophet asked him whether he wanted to see the entirety of the dunya. WHen he replied that he would, the Prophet took him to a rubbish dump full of skulls, faeces, rags and bones and said,

 

يا أبا هريرة هذه الرؤوس كانت تحرص كحرصكم وتأمل كأملكم ثم هي اليوم عظام بلا جلد ثم هي صائرة رماداً. وهذه العذرات هي ألوان أطعمتهم اكتسبوها من حيث اكتسبوها ثم قذفوها في بطونهم فأصبحت والناس يتحامونها، وهذه الخرق البالية كانت رياشهم ولباسهم فأصبحت والرياح تصفقها، وهذه العظام عظام دوابهم التي كانوا ينتجعون عليها أطراف البلاد

 

“Abu Hurayra, these skulls were once people who aspired as you aspire and hoped as you hope, but now today they are but skinless bones and tomorrow they will be but dust. And these piles of faeces were once all those various types of food which you sought after and earnt and then put into your stomachs, but now today they have become something people avoid. And these worn-out rags were once the clothes and regalia you wore, but now have become rags scattered by the wind. And these bones are the bones of your riding-beasts upon which you used to travel to the far corners of the land.”

This is the reality of the dunya: One day we are strong and healthy and in the prime of our lives, the next we are old, weak and senile. One day we are alive, surrounded by family, friends and the trappings of wealth, the next day we are dead and in our graves, totally alone and totally empty-handed. That is true for everyone, poor or rich, slave or king, every one of us leaves here with nothing. Nothing that we have here will be of any benefit to us except what is for Allah. It is narrated that Sulayman was travelling in a magnificent procession, with birds flying above him in formation in order to give him shade and great armies of men and jinn marching alongside him, when he passed by a worshipper from the Banu Israel, who said, 'Son of Dawud, by Allah, Allah has given you an immense kingdom. Sulayman heard him and replied:

 

 لتسبيحة في صحيفة مؤمن خير مما أعطى ابن داود، فإن ما أعطى ابن داود يذهب والتسبيحة تبقى

 

“A single subhanallah in the pages of a believer is better than all this that the son of Dawud has been given, for what the son of Dawud has been given will fade away, but the subhanallah will last forever.” This world is not the true life, it is but a shadow world, a distraction. Allah says,

 

وَمَا هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا لَهْوٌ وَلَعِبٌ وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآَخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ

 

the translation of which is, “The life of the dunya is nothing but a game and a diversion. The abode of the akhira – that is truly Life if they only knew.” Our time spent in this world is much like a dream - while we are dreaming, everything we do, everything we see and touch all seems vivid and real, but when we wake up, we bring none of it with us except for memories and a pleasant or unpleasant aftertaste and even that gradually fades. Similarly, when we die, it is as if we are waking up and we see this world for what it is - insubstantial and transient. Indeed, when we look back on our lives, it seems to us that they were over in a flash and we were here in the world for no time at all. Allah says:

 

وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يُقْسِمُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ مَا لَبِثُوا غَيْرَ سَاعَةٍ كَذَلِكَ كَانُوا يُوفَكُونَ

 

the translation of which is, “On the Day the Last Hour arrives the evildoers will swear they have not even tarried for an hour. That is the extent to which they are deceived.” But, unlike the dreams in our sleep, what we do in this dream has consequences. The Prophet said,

 

الدنيا حلم وأهلها عليها مجازون ومعاقبون

 

“The dunya is a dream, but its inhabitants are either rewarded or punished for what they do in it.” We cannot afford to go through life oblivious to its reality. We must always remain on guard against it and not let it have access to our hearts. We must be masters of it and not let it become masters of us. We must be people who live in this world for the Next World.

 

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله العظيم لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو التوّابُ الرَّحيمالحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته

 

The question that the kuffar were always asking the Prophet was, “When will the Final Hour come?” Bu this is the wrong question. The timing of the Hour is immaterial to us - all we need to know is that it is close and will come at a time we do not expect. All we need to know is that it is already heavy in the heavens and earths as Allah says:

 

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ السَّاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَاهَا قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِنْدَ رَبِّي لَا يُجَلِّيهَا لِوَقْتِهَا إِلَّا هُوَ ثَقُلَتْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَا تَأْتِيكُمْ إِلَّا بَغْتَةً

 

the translation of which is, “They will ask you about the Hour: when is it due? Say: 'Knowledge of it rests with my Lord alone. He alone will reveal it at its proper time. It hangs heavy in the heavens and the earth. It will not come upon you except suddenly.' This means that it could fall upon us at any moment, and that is all around us. It is not something that will impact us at some unknown point in the future, but rather it is something that affects us now. In every moment that we live, our books are being written down. The Garden is present with us now, as is the Fire. Allah says,

يَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِالْعَذَابِ وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمُحِيطَةٌ بِالْكَافِرِينَ

 

the translation of which is, “They ask you to hasten the punishment but Hell already encircles the kafirun.” And one time when the Prophet was praying the eclipse prayer with his Companions, he at one point reached his hand out towards the right and then withdrew it and at another leaned his whole body back and away from the left. When they asked him why he had done that, he said that first he had seen a bunch of grapes from the Garden and had wanted to reach out and pluck it to show people what was in store for them and then he had seen the Fire and had recoiled from the intensity of its heat.” The deen is about the now not the future.

All we need to know is that everyone of us is mortal, each of us is hurtling towards his death, as Allah said when addressing His Prophet:

إِنَّكَ مَيِّتٌ وَإِنَّهُمْ مَيِّتُونَ

 

the translation of which is, “You will die and they too will die.” As far as all of us are concerned the Last Day is the day we leave this world, because at that moment all possibility of further action is cut off. So, it is not when that we should be asking, but instead ‘Am I ready?’ ’Have I done as much as I can to obey my Lord and follow the Sunna of His Messenger?’ ‘If it comes in this very instant, have I done everything I can to prepare myself?’ ‘Have I used my time on this world to stock up and take on provision?’ ‘Have I made tawba for all my wrong actions?’ ‘Am I prepared to meet my Lord?’ This was the way the awliya approached life, viewing each moment as it were their last. Al-Qa‘qaa‘ ibn Hakim said,

 

قد استعددت للموت منذ ثلاثين سنة !، فلو أتاني ما أحببت تأخير شيء عن شيء 

 

“I have been prepared for death for thirty years. If it were to come to me now, there is nothing that I would have wished I had delayed and done something else.’ That is the only way to approach life - to live in the moment and not put off till the morrow what you can do today. Otherwise you run the risk of being like Pharaoh and leaving it too late. For when Pharaoh saw that he was going to drown, he shouted out,

 

آَمَنْتُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا الَّذِي آَمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَنَا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

 

“I believe that there is no god but Him in whom the tribe of Israel believe. I am one of the Muslims.” But he was too late, for Allah says:

 

وليست التوبة للذين يعملون السيئات حتى إذا حضر أحدهم الموت قال إني تُبت الآن

 

the translation of which is, “There is no tawba for people who persist in doing evil until death comes to them and who then say, 'Now I make tawba,'” He thought that he was untouchable, he thought that he was safe until it was too late. And so the punishment awaits him. And if we go through life in the same way, procrastinating and putting things off in the expectation that we will have plenty of time later, that is also what will await us. So we ask Allah to make us people who live in the now. People who are ready to meet their Lord. People who see the akhira as being nearer to them than the dunya. We ask Allah to give us the best of seals and spare us the torments of the grave. And we ask Him to raise us up among the ranks of the muttaqin on that day when close friends will be enemies except for those who have taqwa. We ask Him to raise us up in the company of the Prophet, give us to drink from his Hawd and grant us a swift crossing of the Sirat. We ask Allah to grant us the contemplation of His Face.

 

إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً. اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ  أَجْمَعِينَ. 

وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.

اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ.  

اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ. 

اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ (3) وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى.

اللهم لا تجعل الدنيا أكبر همنا ولا مبلغ علمنا ولا تسلط علينا بذنوبنا من لا يخافك ولا يرحمنا

اللهم أصلح لنا ديننا الذي هو عصمة امرنا وأصلح لنا دنيانا التي فيها معاشنا وأصلح لنا آخرتنا التي إليها معادنا واجعل الحياة زيادة لنا في كل خير واجعل الموت راحة لنا من كل شر

رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ. 

إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ.