Friday Khutbah: The Importance of Doing Sunnah

My son attends an Islamic school and every Friday when the whole school prays Juma, one of the Year 11 boys would give the khutbah. This is good for the boys to practice speaking to the public and the more they do it then the better they'll get at it, inshaAllah.

This year, they allowed the Year 10 boys to do it so my son chose to talk about the importance of doing sunnah. It's not that long, about ten minutes, although it had to be between fifteen and twenty minutes. I thought it was a good remineder so I'm posting it here so others can benefit (since my son doesn't have a blog).

The Importance of Doing Sunnah

إِنَّالْحَمْدَلِلَّهِنَحْمَدُهُوَنَسْتَعِينُهُونستغفرهونعوذباللهمنشرورأنفسناومنسيئاتأعمالنامَنْيَهْدِهِاللَّهُفَلَامُضِلَّلَهُوَمَنْيُضْلِلْفَلَاهَادِيَلَهُوَأَشْهَدُأَنْلَاإِلَهَإِلَّااللَّهُوَحْدَهُلَاشَرِيكَلَهُوَأَنَّمُحَمَّدًاعَبْدُهُوَرَسُولُهُ

قالاللهتعالى

يَاأَيُّهَاالَّذِينَءَامَنُوااتَّقُوااللَّهَحَقَّتُقَاتِهِوَلاتَمُوتُنَّإِلاوَأَنْتُمْمُسْلِمُونَ

يَاأَيُّهَاالنَّاسُاتَّقُوارَبَّكُمُالَّذِيخَلَقَكُمْمِنْنَفْسٍوَاحِدَةٍوَخَلَقَمِنْهَازَوْجَهَاوَبَثَّمِنْهُمَارِجَالاكَثِيرًاوَنِسَاءًوَاتَّقُوااللَّهَالَّذِيتَسَاءَلُونَبِهِوَالأَرْحَامَإِنَّاللَّهَكَانَعَلَيْكُمْرَقِيبًا

يَاأَيُّهَاالَّذِينَءَامَنُوااتَّقُوااللَّهَوَقُولُواقَوْلاسَدِيدًايُصْلِحْلَكُمْأَعْمَالَكُمْوَيَغْفِرْلَكُمْذُنُوبَكُمْوَمَنْيُطِعِاللَّهَوَرَسُولَهُفَقَدْفَازَفَوْزًاعَظِيمًا

فإنأَصْدَقُالْحَدِيثِكِتَابُاللَّهِتَعَالَىوَأَحْسَنُالْهَدْيِهَدْيُمُحَمَّدٍصلىاللهعليهوسلموَشَرُّالأُمُورِمُحْدَثَاتُهَاوَكُلُّمُحْدَثَةٍبِدْعَةٌوَكُلُّبِدْعَةٍضَلالَةٌوَكُلُّضَلالَةٍفِيالنَّارِ

أَمَّابَعْدُ

I praise Allah, the Beneficent, the most Merciful. It is Him from whom we seek help and forgiveness from andwhere we receive protection. Allah guides whomsoever He wills and leads astray whomsoever He wills. I advise everyone to fear Allah as He should be feared, to always speak the truth and die not except as a Muslim.

In today’s society, the Sunnah has become scarce. How many of us pray the Tahiyat al-masjid, which is the prayer that should be performed on entering the masjid? How many people wake up early, use the siwak, visit the sick, eat dates, eat and drink while sitting, shower on Friday and cut their nails on Friday? Many people will answer by saying, “Sunnah is only optional”. Well regarding the Tahiyat al-masjid, Rasulullah (SAW) said

“باب إذا دخل أحدكم المسجد فليركع ركعتين قبل أن يجلس ”

“When one of you enters the mosque, let him not sit down until he has prayed two rak‘ahs.” Here the Prophet of Allah {SAW} is telling us to not sit down until we have prayed the 2 rak’ah Sunnah. He is not telling us that it is optional. The scholars of Islam had all agreed that to greet the mosque is mustahabb and to not do it is makrouh. And many other Sunnah acts are like this. 

Another hadith reports that a man came whilst the Prophet (SAW) was delivering the khutbah on Friday so he said “Have you prayed O so-and-so?”. The man replied “No”. The Prophet said “Stand and pray two rakats”.

Do you know how important it is to pray the Sunnah prayers? Because on the Day of Judgement if your obligatory prayers are not satisfactory then the Sunnah prayers will make up for it.

The Prophet (SAW) said, “The first thing that a slave will be taken to account for on the day of Judgment will be his prayer. If it is complete, he will have been victorious and successful. If it is lacking, he will have failed and lost. And if something is missing from his obligatory Salât, Allâh will say: “Look and see if My slave has voluntary prayers. And his obligatory prayers that are lacking or incomplete will be completed by these.”

Why then, brothers and sisters, do we not do the Sunnah? It is because of our modern perception of the Sunnah, that it is completely optional and that we do not need it. We believe it will not benefit us in this life. Many of us claim to want to be like the sahabah, but the difference between them and us is that they did the Sunnah because the Prophet (SAW) told them but we do not unless we see a direct reward or are forced to

.قال الله تعالى في القرآن الكريم

بعداعوذباللهمنالشيطانالرجيم

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَٱحۡذَرُواْ‌ۚ فَإِن تَوَلَّيۡتُمۡ فَٱعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّمَا (عَلَىٰ رَسُولِنَا ٱلۡبَلَـٰغُ ٱلۡمُبِينُ (٩٢

وقالتعالى

مَّن يُطِعِ ٱلرَّسُولَ فَقَدۡ أَطَاعَ ٱللَّهَ‌ۖ وَمَن تَوَلَّىٰ فَمَآ أَرۡسَلۡنَـٰكَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ (حَفِيظً۬ا (٨٠

Allah (Swt) says in the Quran:

Obey Allah and obey the messenger, and beware! But if you turn away, then know that the duty of Our messenger is only plain conveyance (of the message). (92) 5:92

In another ayat Allah (Swt) says:

Whoever obeys the Messenger obeys Allah, and whoever turns away, then, We did not send you to stand guard over them. (80) 4:80

The message of both these ayat are clear, that we should obey Allah and obey the messenger. There are many other verses in the Quran that tell us to obey Allah and his messenger. However, these two verses have one thing in common, they both are telling us that whatever the Prophet says is also what Allah wants you to do.

Take for example, a mother needs her son to do something but sends the message through her daughter. When the message gets to the son, he does what he is told and he is in fact obeying his mother.

So if Allah (Swt) needs to tell us something, he tells us through the prophet Muhammad (SAW), and if we listen then we obey Allah and worship Him, which is our true purpose in life

.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم، فيا فوز المستغفرين

There are three types of Sunnah: Sunnah Qawliyyah, the sayings of the Prophet (SAW), Sunnah al Filliyyah, the actions of the Prophet, and Sunnah Taqriryyah, the approval of the Prophet.

I advise everyone to get into the habit of performing the Sunnah. But how do we start? Start with something easy, such as the two rakat Sunnah prayers for Fajr or using a miswak. If you already do that then eat dates. And if you already do that then visit the sick. And if you already do that then pray the Sunnah prayers regularly performed by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), 2 rakat for Fajr, 4 rakat for Zuhr, 2 for Asr, 2 for Maghrib and 2 for Isha. And if you do all of that than do more and more and more, for this is the only true way to get success in life, by following the Quran and the Sunnah.

In fact, many of the Sunnah are scientifically proven to be beneficial for us. For example, they’ve found that drinking while standing can cause arthritis, that you still remain thirsty and that your kidney does not fill with water properly while standing. The Siwak has been proven to strengthen your gum, block tooth decay and clear your voice. Even turning over a fly to the other side when it has landed in a drink of water, and then throwing it out has been proven. Scientists have discovered that one side of a fly is covered with poison and the other side is with the cure to that disease. There are many more benefits of the Sunnah and these are only a few. 

Imagine yourself on the Day of Judgement and you receive your book. You open it to see that you just do not have enough good deeds, and then you would wish that you had done the Sunnah. Trust me brothers and sisters, if you do not do the Sunnah now you will regret it later. 

Sometimes we are afraid to do the Sunnah because no one else around us is doing it. But the prophet of Allah said:

بَدَأَ الإِسْلاَمُ غَرِيبًا وَسَيَعُودُ كَمَا بَدَأَ غَرِيبًا فَطُوبَى لِلْغُرَبَاءِ‏

Islam began as strange and it will return as being strange, so glad tidings to the strangers. He was asked who are the strangers, to which he replied, “Those who are righteous when the people are corrupt.” 

What this means is that when Islam had started it was strange to the people. The world first rejected it. But then the world came to know Islam and it was accepted and worshipped properly. But now we are in a time where Islam has become strange again. People will criticise others for being righteous, because they think it is strange. People now feel pressured to not do Sunnah because they do not see many of their friends doing it.

So don’t be afraid to be a stranger. Do the Sunnah.