The Month of Muharram

https://www.khutbah.info/1-12/ Verily Allah the Exalted has chosen and honored some of His creation over others.  Al Qasas 68 : And your Lord creates whatsoever He wills and chooses. Allah has given preference to some of his creation over others. From among mankind He chose the Messengers. From speech, He chose remembrance of Him, From among the places, He chose Mecca, Madinah and blessed the vicinity around Bayt Al Maqdis. From the days, He chose Friday, and from among the nights He chose Laylat al-Qadr. And from the months He chose Ramadan and the sacred months. Allah the Exalted designated four months as sacred the day that He created the skies and earth.  

Listen to the Khutbah

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ  نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ  وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ  وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ   وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ   وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ   وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ   

Verily, all praise is for Allah. We praise Him, we seek His assistance and we ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Him from the evils of our selves. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide. Whoever He misguides, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Mohammad is His slave and messenger.

 يَا أَيُّهَا الّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ – آل عمران:102 

Al Imran 102 : O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam.

Oh people:

Verily Allah the Exalted has chosen and honored some of His creation over others. 

وَرَبُّكَ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيَخْتَارُ

Al Qasas 68 : And your Lord creates whatsoever He wills and chooses

Allah has given preference to some of his creation over others. From among mankind He chose the Messengers. From speech, He chose remembrance of Him, From among the places, He chose Mecca, Madinah and blessed the vicinity around Bayt Al Maqdis. From the days of the week, He chose Friday, and from among the nights, He chose Laylat al-Qadr. And from the months He chose Ramadan and the sacred months

Allah the Exalted designated four months as sacred the day that He created the skies and earth.  

إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللَّهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ۚ ذَ‌ٰلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ ۚ فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۚ  

Al Tawbah 36-   Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve months in the register of Allah from the day He created the heavens and the earth; of these, four are sacred. That is the correct religion, so do not wrong yourselves during them.

And the Prophet (ﷺ) specified these months in the Khutbah of the farewell hajj : “Time has completed its cycle and has come to the state of the day when Allah created the heavens and the earth. The year consists of twelve months of which four are inviolable; three of them consecutive – Dhul-Qa’dah, Dhul-Hijjah and Muharram and Rajab, the month of Mudar (tribe), which comes between Jumada and Sha’ban.

Muharram is described as “the month of Allah” and this indicates the veneration that the month of Muharram deserves.  The believer must be guarded to venerate a month venerated by Allah and his Prophet (ﷺ) 

Allah said referring to the sacred months: so do not wrong yourselves during them.

In this regard, Ibn Abbas said- Verily Allah has chosen four months from among the months. He has made them sacred. And has made the consequence of sin committed in them more serious. And has multiplied the reward of a good deed offered in them.

One should not wrong themselves at any time. One should avoid sinning at any time and should be particularly careful during the sacred months as the consequence of sin committed during them is more serious. For it combines disobedience of Allah with irreverence of what Allah has made inviolable. 

So during Muharram a person should be extra careful to stay away from sin and disobedience. And distance himself from wrongdoing. And elevate himself from his whims and desires and the plots of the shaytan.  

Among the greatest types of wronging oneself is associating others with Allah the exalted as Luqman said to his son:

وَإِذْ قَالَ لُقْمَانُ لِابْنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ

Luqman 13 – “O my son, do not associate anything with Allah. Indeed, association with him is great injustice.”

A person should dedicate his worship solely for the pleasure of Allah not for some temporary worldly gain. He should fear only Allah. He should put his hopes only in Allah. If he asks, he should only ask Allah. 

Also, should not wrong himself by leaving what Allah has ordained or committing what Allah has prohibited. Or by transgressing limits set by his Creator. 

وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُ ۚ لَا تَدْرِي لَعَلَّ اللَّهَ يُحْدِثُ بَعْدَ ذَ‌ٰلِكَ أَمْرًا

At-Talaq 1: And those are the set limits of Allah. And whosoever transgresses the set limits of Allah, then indeed he has wronged himself.

At the same time, one should strive to do all types of good deeds. For as Ibn Abbas mentioned, the reward of a good deed offered in the sacred months is multiplied. A Muslim during Muharram and at other times should draw closer to Allah through performing the obligatory deeds and performing plenty of nawafil (voluntary deeds). 

And from among the best voluntary deeds is fasting. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Every good deed of the son of Adam will be multiplied manifold. A good deed will be multiplied ten times up to as many as seven hundred times, or as much as Allah wills. Allah says: ‘Except for fasting, which is for Me and I shall reward for it. He gives up his desire and his food for My sake.’ The fasting person has two joys, one when he breaks his fast and another when he meets his Lord. The smell that comes from the mouth of a fasting person is better before Allah than the fragrance of musk.” [Bukhari 7492] [Muslim 1151]

And the Prophet (ﷺ) singled out the fasting during the Month of Muharram. Abu Hurairah (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “The best month for observing fasting aside from Ramadan is the month of Allah Muharram and the best prayer aside from the prescribed prayer is the night prayer. [Muslim 1163] 

This indicates the great virtue of fasting some days (not all) of Muharram. From among the greatest bounties of Allah on His servants is that the last month of the year -the sacred of month of Dhul Hijjah- is a month of worship and obedience and that the first month of the year is a month of worship and obedience. By venerating these months and performing all types of good deeds, a Muslim concludes the year with the obedience of Allah and starts the year with obedience of Allah. 

أَقُولُ مَا تَسْمَعُونَ وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ  لِي وَلَكُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ  إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

I say what you have heard and I seek forgiveness from Allah for me and you from every sin. So seek forgives from Him, Verily He is Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Second Khutbah

الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ,  وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ  , وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَاْ إِلَهَ إِلَّاْ اَللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَاْشَرِيْكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَاً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُوْلُهُ

All praise is to Allah, and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Mohammad is His slave and messenger.

Oh Muslims: 

Fasting on the tenth day of Muharram which is called Ashurah is a virtuous. On that day Allah saved Musa from Pharoah so the Prophet of Allah Musa used to fast this day in gratitude to Allah. 

The Prophet (ﷺ) came to Medina and saw the Jewish community fasting on the day of Ashura. He asked them about that. They replied, “This is a good day, the day on which Allah saved the children of Israel  from their enemy. So, Musa fasted this day.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “We are closer to Musa.” So, the Prophet fasted on that day and told the people to fast. [Bukhari 2004]

The Prophet (ﷺ) was keen to fast this day. As Narrated by Ibn `Abbas: “I do not know that the Prophet (ﷺ) fasted any day because of its virtue, except this day” meaning the month of Ramadan and the day of Ashura.’

With regards to the reward for fasting this day, the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Fasting the day of  Ashurah, I hope, will expiate for the sins of the previous year.”

That is, the minor sins of the previous year will be expiated. 

This is a great  bounty of Allah. Fasting one day expiates the sins of an entire year.

And from the Sunnah with regards to fasting the day of Ashoora is to fast a day before. Ibn Abbas narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said “If I live until next year, I will fast the ninth day (of Muharram) too”.

So let us capitalize on the blessed seasons and the sacred month of Muharram performing all types of good deeds. This is the real competition. 

عِبَادَ اللّهِ, إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ, يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ

اُذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ واشْكُرُوهُ يَزِدْكُمْ واسْتَغْفِرُوهُ يَغْفِرْ لكُمْ واتّقُوهُ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مَخْرَجًا , وَأَقِمِ الصّلَاة

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. 

Remember Allah, the Great – He will remember you. Thank Him for His favors – He will increase you therein.  And seek forgiveness from Him – He will forgive you. And be conscious of Him – He will provide you a way out of difficult matters. And, establish the prayer.