The original transcript
of this sermon was retrieved from a tijani archive compiled together by shaykh
Al-Haj Abubakr Al-futi Al-jalawi Al-futi (May Allah be pleased with him) and
then translated by the poor servant and destitute-to-Allah, seeker of Allah’s
mercy, AbdulRahmon Hussein Oke.
Shaykh speaks!
“In
the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All praises are due to Allah
the Most High. Blessings be upon the Prophet (may Allah’s peace be upon him).
Here is a sermon to all brothers (in Islam) from the slave and
destitute-to-Allah Ahmad ibn Muhammad At-tijanni Al-assani (May Allah be
pleased with him). May Allah’s peace and mercy be upon you! Let it be known
(may Allah’s mercy be upon you). Verily, man is not created to this world
except to worship Allah, bring forth the command of Allah, refraining from the
forbidden, standing by the rules (of Allah), moving his face towards Allah and
with this he’ll attain the divine station and prophetic ways.
Allah says ‘I have not created the jinn and man except to worship me (Quran)’,
Allah (swt) says again ‘Haven’t I warned
you oh children of Adam not to worship Shay’tan (Quran)... Allah (swt) says
again ‘verily, this your Nation is one
nation and I am your Lord, you should worship me (Quran)”
“Lay
emphasis on what is to be observed with respect to solat (the five daily
prayers), its verdicts, rules and regulations; these are written in the book of
authors. It is also important to be mindful of terms and conditions of solat,
its compulsory acts, while giving attention to stage of Rukuh and Sajdat
according to the prescription of the Prophet (May Allah’s peace be upon him) in
his explanation (Perform rukuh until you
are certified then raise your head to stand uprightly and then make sajdat
until you are certified then raise your head and seat rightly and then seat
again until you are certified. Repeat the whole act for the rest of the rakat -
Hadith). You should then be careful while performing rakat, one stage after
the other as negligence of things that invalidate solat had nullified so many
people’s salat. This is evident from statement of the prophet (saw) in sound
prophet relations: the prophet was said to have ordered a man who performed solat
in an unaccepted way thrice, he was commanded to perform the solat the fourth
time after he had been taught the right way by the prophet (saw). And hence,
the prophet said “Perform solat as you
see me perform it” (hadith).
Verily, he (the prophet) completes the rukuh and sujud with comportion while
the verdict of comportion in solat is to complete the rules and tasbih in the
duo (sujud and rukuh). ‘The first of the
deeds that would be looked unto by Allah is solat, if it is accepted the rest
of the deeds would looked into and if not, Allah would not looked into anything
(Hadith)”
“It is compulsory to complete
cleanliness from dirt by perfection of stage of ablution and baths. A lot of
people of this generation joke with ablution and do not complete it which
invalidates their solat. Anyone whose ablution is nullified, his solat is
nullified. Care should be taken while standing in solat as the station of solat
in iman is comparable to the station of Ruh (spirit) in the body and if there’s
spirit there’s life while absence of spirit is absence of life. After solat, I
admonish you on completion of the rules and regulation guiding fast,
mindfulness of its verdict, its compulsory acts and invalidators both in the
evening and night. This should be followed by breaking of fast with halal food.
I also draw your attention to giving alms, its systems, methods and laws
guiding it are all written in the books of authors. I also draw your attention
to performance of the five daily prayers in congregation only if the imam will
perfect the sujud and rukuh. You should also be mindful of surat fatihat, its
recitation should be perfected. Hundreds of solat without recitation of surat faatihat
is incomparable with one solat with faatihat”
“Be mindful of sins, verily, its
oasis is great, its darkness is enigmatic until it hinders the sinner from
refraining from it unless the sinner is sincere in remorsefulness from sin. Let
the wise get busy with deeds that cleans one from sins after the sound
compulsory prayers, the mukafirat (sin cleansers) should be done enormously. No
doubt, whosoever indulges in recitation of sin cleanser after myriad of sins,
verily the repercussion of his sins would be lessened and this is better than
committing sins without reciting the sin cleansers. The Almighty said ‘Verily, the act of goodness takes away the
bad acts’ (quran). And the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him
said ‘when you perform bad deeds, you
should make good deeds follow it and this (good deeds) deletes (bad deeds) -
Hadith. All sins come in two ends;
the ends attributed to world and the ends attributed to the hereafter. The one
attributed to the world wouldn’t be lifted except by firstly, giving out
sadaqat in the name of Allah, the Almighty, in halal monetary terms (or anything
that could be given out and within the scope of shariah), with this the
repercussion of sins would be lifted. Secondly, the return of the sinner to the
doorstep of Allah, the Mighty, by seeking forgiveness, pleading for pardon,
humbleness towards Him, making enormous dua with sole aim of seeking
forgiveness. All these could avert the perils attributed to sin if they are
performed in rightful way. While the end attributed to hereafter could only be
lifted except through the ways explained in the book of Hadith. Amongst the mukaffirat
l zhunub (sin cleansers), the mighty, gracious and vibrant of them is sending
salat on our master, the prophet (saw). Verily, there’s no closeness (to Allah)
greater than that and one who indulges in this act would not be given any record
of sin and there’s no capacitation that is sufficient in cleansing one from
sins other than this (sending blessings upon the prophet). Anyone who intends doing
this should hastily do so by following the rules that guides it and these
include: purification of the body, cloth and place where the salat would be
recited and it should be done with the sole aim of seeking Allah’s face and
glorifying His Majesty. The intention should be clear, the acts should be
purified and show-off should be avoided and verily, one recitation (of salat on
the prophet) according to sound news is equivalent to four hundred battles
(Jihad) in the course of Allah while each battle is equivalent to four hundred
witnesses in the course of Allah. And more so, one bird would be created by
Allah (swt) from recitation of one salat which would praise Allah with all
tongues (languages) and all the rewards from the praise would be given to the
reciter of the salat. And also it is written in the hadith that Allah will
create one angel from recitation of salat which will seek forgiveness for the
reciter (from moment of recitation till the day of Qiyamat). From one
recitation again, the reward of ten good deeds would be given, ten bad deeds
would be cleansed, one would be lifted in ten folds, Allah (swt) will bless the
recite ten times, the angels in seven heavens will bless the reciter while each
angel will say ten salat for the reciter”
“And among the cleansers of sins is
salat tasbih which could be found in the book of Hadith and this is sufficient
in wiping all sins from the creation of abd till his death. And also among the
cleansers of sin is the recitation of the last verses of suratul Ashr, the
reciter would be forgiven the sins he had earlier committed and the latest one.
Also among the cleansers of sins is recitation of salat ala Nabiyy eighty times
both in the night of Friday and after solat asr on Friday. Alas, the first
eighty salat of Friday night would clean sins of four hundred years while the
one of Friday evening would clean the sins of eighty years. Another mukaffirat
zunub is recitation of ‘subhaLah wal amdu
lilah wa ilaha ilalah Allahu akbar, wa la haola wala quwata ila bilah mal ha
maa alima wa adada maa alima’. Furthermore the indulgence in the recitation
of musabihatu-l-ashara, hizbu sayf day and night will make no sin to be
recorded for its reciter. And also the recitation of Yaa man ashara jamila wa
satara qobiha….. is also efficient in cleansing sins in which the reciter would
be given then reward of mankind.
“I admonish you to be watchful and
mindful of parts of issues that could make Allah let one die a kaafir
(unbeliever) without doubt. The first of the kind is causing bad things to befall
a fellow Muslims, secondly, enormous adultery/fornication without taubah,
thirdly, false claim of wilayat (sainthood), fourthly, taking part in affairs
of shaykh without permission. Fifth, intentional falsehood against the prophet
(saw) with narration of his sayings. Sixth, criticism, backbiting, false claims
against another without second thought. Verily, these are a thing that cut one
from the line, causes one to die as an unbeliever even if one does the best of
deeds and never seek forgiveness from these. We seek refuge from that”
“I
admonish you of purification of heart from bad thought and bad envy on muslims,
whosoever has the character would not excel. I also admonish you to refrain from
suggesting bad things to Allah and His slaves. The prophet says ‘there are two characters in which there is
nothing that could supersede it, first, good attributes to Allah and to his
slaves and there are two characters in which there’s nothing worse than them,
bad attributes to Allah and His slaves’. I also warn you against haram
consumption of food and embezzlement of money as whosoever indulges in this duo
would have all his good deeds nullified by Allah. You should also be mindful of
friends in commercial activities while care should be taken to avoid buying and
selling on acts that are prohibited and these (acts) could be found in the book
of jurisdiction.”
“I urge you to be mindful of the
time and period you move close to Allah either carrying out good work or
recitation of Qur’an or sending blessings on the prophet (saw). Whoever
completes the recitation of salat on the prophet ten thousand times would be
among the ones favored by Allah in hereafter. And if one is busy (or finds the
counts much) should recite the salat five hundred times either once daily or
once in the morning and evening. And if one is preoccupied (or finds the count
much) should recite it three hundred times at the stipulated period. Whosoever
does this would excel with Allah’s favour in hereafter and finds all his
intentions eased, life sufferings would be lifted and finds his generations
excel. This should also be accompanied with regular recitation of Qur’an and
the purified statement ‘laila ila Allah’
hundred times and then ‘subhanalah wali
madu lillah wa ilaha ilalah Allahu akbar wala haola wala quwata ila bilah malha
maa alimawa adada maa alima wa zinata maa alima – ten times”
“I
also mandate you to give out sadaqat everyday, the smallest it; four cakes,
whosoever does that would be protected by Allah from perils while intention of
sadaqat is to seek the face of Allah (swt). I also mandate you to refrain from
mingling with people while your voice is raised in vices”
End of sermon.
May Allah give us Allah! Amin!!!
