You will be asked about the blessings on the Day of Resurrection

You will be asked about the blessings on the Day of Resurrection

Translated by: Alamgeer Usmani.

Praise be to God, the Self-sufficient, the All-aware, the Patient, the All-Seeing, the Forbearing, the All-Powerful. We praise You with many good and blessed praises and with the praise that would fill the heavens and the earth. We praise You as many times as the number of that which He has created in the earth and heaven. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, who has no partner, to Him belongs the kingdom, to Him be praise, and He is All-Powerful over everything.

And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, thanked his Lord with his actions and words, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family and companions.

Afterwards,

So, I advise you and myself to fear God and to strive for that which grows in our hearts and limbs. Because it is, as the Almighty told, the best attire and best provision.

﴿ يَاأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ وَاخْشَوْا يَوْمًا لَا يَجْزِي وَالِدٌ عَنْ وَلَدِهِ وَلَا مَوْلُودٌ هُوَ جَازٍ عَنْ وَالِدِهِ شَيْئًا إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُمْ بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ ﴾ [لقمان: 33].

“O people, fear your Lord and fear a day when no father will help his son, nor will a son be helpful to his father at all. Surely, the promise of Allah is true. So, the worldly life must not deceive you, nor should you ever be deceived about Allah by the Deceiver”.

Brothers in faith,

Allah’s Messenger went out (of his house) one day or one night, and there he found Abu Bakr and ‘Umar also. He said: What has brought you out of your houses at this hour? They said: Allah's Messenger, it is hunger. Thereupon he said: By Him in Whose Hand is my life, what has brought you out has brought me out too; get up. They got up along with him. and (all of them) came to the house of an Ansari, but he was not at home. When his wife saw him, she said: Most welcome, and Allah's Messenger (may peace be Upon him) said to her: Where is so and so? She said: He has gone to get some fresh water for us. When the Ansari came and he saw Allah's Messenger and his two Companions, he said: Praise be to Allah, no one has more honourable guests today than I (have). He then went out and brought them a bunch of ripe dates, dry dates and fresh dates, and said: Eat some of them. He then took hold of his long knife (for slaughtering a goat or a sheep). Allah's Messenger said to him: Beware of killing a milch animal. He slaughtered a sheep for them and after they had eaten of it and the bunch and drank, and when they had taken their fill and had been fully satisfied with the drink, Allah's Messenger said to Abu Bakr and Umar: By Him in Whose Hand is my life, you will certainly be questioned about this bounty on the Day of judgment. Hunger brought you out of your house, then you did not return until this bounty came to you. (Narrated by Muslim).

I do not know whether I should be surprised at the hunger of the best mankind and his best companions or at three types of bliss which was present on their dining table. May God help us!

By God, we should think that how many types of food are there in our usual lunch!

May Allah forgive our shortcomings regarding His right and guide us to thank His blessings.

Distinguished people,

The annoying news has been published in some electronic newspapers. Which reads:

According to the paper submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture in the workshop aimed at reducing wastage of food, that Saudi Arabia, regarding wasting food, is in the first rank in the whole world!

In this report, the value of wastage of food in the Kingdom is estimated at “49.833” billion riyals annually.

O servants of God did we ever think that the country of the Two Holy mosques and the landing site of Revelation would be the first to be extravagant and in wasting Allah’s blessings?!

How an extravagant luxuriant can forget the hunger of his father or grandfather!

Didn’t he know that in his country, a man rejoiced to find the carcass of a donkey?

A man in this country found the dead body of a donkey and did not tell anyone. He was hesitant regarding that. After a while, he took a piece of it and shook it with his hand so that the worms could fall out and having roasted, he consumed it. As his grandson told me.

(The grandson personally told me this last year 1437 AH.)

And this grandson also told that his maternal grandfather once started crying when he saw a packet of curd which was left on the table without being eaten. When he cried, he narrated an incident of hunger and he mentioned that he lived with a man who used to offer his daughter to someone who would marry her in exchange for filling her stomach! But he did not find someone who could marry her daughter and she died after a short period. May God have mercy on her.

The one who doesn't value the blessing, does not know that there are people in this country who live for many days without food, and some of them died on account of starvation!

Servants of God:

Persevering the blessings from termination, would be from thanksgiving. Almighty said:

﴿ وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَئِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ ﴾ [إبراهيم: 7]

“the time) when your Lord declared, “If you express gratitude, I shall certainly give you more, and if you are ungrateful, then My punishment is severe.”

So, we must feel the blessings of God in our hearts, and we should praise Him abundantly with our tongues, and we should do such acts in great amount that please Him, and we should avoid such acts that annoys Him.

These above mentioned four things are considered as gratefulness to Allah the, Almighty. He said:

﴿ يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ﴾ [البقرة: 172]

“O you who believe, eat of the good things We have provided to you and be grateful to Allah, if it is He whom you worship (in real terms)”.

He also said:

﴿ يَاأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ * إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾ [البقرة: 168، 169]

"O people, eat permissible good things out of what lies in the earth, and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitan (Satan); Indeed, he is an open enemy for you. He orders you only to (do) evil and immodest acts, and that you ascribe to Allah what you do not know".

He also stated:

﴿ كُلُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ ﴾ [الأنعام: 142]

“Eat of what Allah has provided you, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Surely, he is an open enemy to you”.

So, He, Glory be to Him, commanded us to eat from His sustenance, and forbade us from following the footsteps of Satan which also includes extravagance.

It is sad and frightening that our country is the first to waste food; Because it is ungratefulness of Allah the Almighty and it leads to the termination of blessings. Almighty said:

﴿ وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا قَرْيَةً كَانَتْ آمِنَةً مُطْمَئِنَّةً يَأْتِيهَا رِزْقُهَا رَغَدًا مِنْ كُلِّ مَكَانٍ فَكَفَرَتْ بِأَنْعُمِ اللَّهِ فَأَذَاقَهَا اللَّهُ لِبَاسَ الْجُوعِ وَالْخَوْفِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَصْنَعُونَ ﴾ [النحل: 112].

“Allah gives an example: There was a town, secure and content with its sustenance coming in plenty from every place. Then, it turned ungrateful to the bounties of Allah; so, Allah made it to taste hunger and terror (that covered it) like a garment, as recompense of what its people used to do”.

And He commanded us to thank Him and prevented us from extravagance. He said:

﴿ كُلُوا مِنْ ثَمَرِهِ إِذَا أَثْمَرَ وَآتُوا حَقَّهُ يَوْمَ حَصَادِهِ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ ﴾ [الأنعام: 141]

“Eat of its fruit when it bears fruits, and pay its due on the day of harvest, and do not be extravagant. Surely, Allah does not like the extravagant”

.

He also said:

﴿ وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ ﴾ [الأعراف: 31].

“Eat and drink and do not be extravagant. Surely, He does not like the extravagant”.

This news about our country misinterpreted Islam, whether we felt it or not! The news got published in the media and our country have the Qibla of Muslims. They direct towards it, at least, five times a day and our country has mashair muqadasa (particular rituals of Hajj) for which Muslims intend to perform Hajj from all over the world.

I wonder what would be the world’s impression of Islam. Our country in which the Two Holy Mosques are located topped all the countries of the world in wasting of food?!

We belong to God and to Him, we shall return.

O God, o Benefactor, o All-Forgiving, grant us your pardon. O, who is the grateful, guide us to thank you.

We ask Allah the Almighty for forgiveness that he is forgiving.

Second sermon

Praise be to God...

Then,

Honourable people,

Awareness among the individual and the family members is the first step in reformation. Parents leave an impression on their children and the teacher on his students, and so on. Undoubtedly, media celebrities have a very big role in spreading awareness and developing concept in the society.

If the media celebrities, for example, spread the idea of preserving the remaining food and giving it in charity, it would have a great impact.

But it saddens that extravagance and wrong behaviour are considered as role model!

If the awareness is found, then the people of the household will cook what they will need, and if something is left, they will preserve it to eat later.

Like this, a man will take from open Buffet as per the need. We see that people take lots of food in their plates and then left it.

It is also from awareness that we should preserve the food which is left from our plate, whether we are in a restaurant or a on a picnic. For this, tin cans are now available in a various size.

Hungry livers are more important than animals, as well as than leaving the in garbage.

It is good to collect leftover food in homes, restaurants and schools, which is not suitable for distribution, and it is fed to birds and beasts.

This is a suggestion for the people of hotel-restaurant management, it may be appropriate. It should be noted that the rice usually in restaurants is given to an individual too much to eat and often he only eats less than half.

It is suggested that owner of restaurants should divide rice in two sizes. the smallest should be given at a lower price, and so on.

It is suggested for merchants and manufacturers of dairy and food products that they should make packets in small sizes at lower price, so, there should be a Packet of yogurt for half a riyal, as well as the packets of milk and other products.

Like this, there should be a small size in roti and Somali roti at half price.

It is also Allah’s blessings that we should extend the supporters of preserving food in events. So that they can take the rest of the foods of events especially the big ones, in order that it can be delivered to the needy through them.

Brothers in faith,

If the Prophet’s command to eat what falls from the food is true, then how about what is clean on the plate? In the hadith : “so, if any one of you drops a mouthful he should remove away anything filthy on it and eat it and not leave for the devil; and when he finishes (food) he should lick his fingers, for he does not know in what portion of his food the blessing lies”.

Narrated by Muslim.

Anas said the narrator of the hadith “He also commanded us that we should wipe the dish”.

And the least thing about blessings is that the remaining food can be placed for birds and animals. It may save us from the punishment of Allah the Almighty.

﴿ كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَلَا تَطْغَوْا فِيهِ فَيَحِلَّ عَلَيْكُمْ غَضَبِي وَمَنْ يَحْلِلْ عَلَيْهِ غَضَبِي فَقَدْ هَوَى ﴾ [طه: 81].

“Eat from the good things We have provided to you, and do not exceed the limits in it, lest My wrath should descend on you. The one upon whom My wrath descends certainly falls into destruction”.

Then Send peace and salutations upon him… PBU.