Benefiting from the virtues of the last 10 days of Ramadan (2)

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful
May Allah let us be amongst the people of acceptance and help us to obey Him and those He has ordained upon us to obey, in compliance with His injunctions: “O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you.” (An-nisaa’: 59).
May Allah bless you and me with the ability to implement the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of his Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him). I say this and pray to Allah, the Almighty, to grant us forgiveness. Supplicate to Allah for forgiveness for He is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful.
Second Sermon:
Praise be to Allah. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is His servant and messenger, who was true to his promise. May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
Dear Believers,
As to what follows, please fear Allah and be aware that the best of supplications with which to beseech Allah, may Glory to be Him, on Laylatul Qadr, is what out Master Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to say. It was reported that ‘Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) “O Messenger of Allah, if I knew which night is Laylatul Qadr, what should I say during it? And he instructed her to say: “Allahummah innaka afuwwun tuhibbuul afwa fa ‘afu anna (O Allah, you are forgiving, and you love forgiveness. So forgive us).”
So the best recompense one can gain on these days and nights is his Creator’s forgiveness. This is mentioned by one of the righteous people when he said, “No man is wise unless seeking forgiveness is his ultimate hope from Allah.”
My respected Brothers and Sisters let us also use this opportunity to pray for our great Country Nigeria so that Allah will bless us with peace, unity and progress.
Allah has commanded you an order to which He and His angels are both committed, when He says, “Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you that believe! Send you blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.” (Al Ahzab: 56).
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “For everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah.” May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad (peace be upon him), his family and all his companions. May Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
O Allah, we seek your favour to let our hearts be full of your gratitude and keep our tongue moist with your remembrance. May Allah bless us with good provision, accepted work, beneficial knowledge, well-being in mind and body and blessed living, life and progeny.
O Allah, increase your blessings upon us and do not withhold your provision from us, honour us and do not disgrace us, give us and do not deprive us, advocate us and do not disfavor us. O Allah, bestow upon us your satisfaction and grant us self-content. O Allah makes piety our pursuit, solidify our faith and increase our wisdom.
O Allah, we seek your mercy and forgiveness. We turn to you in repentance, put our hope and trust in you to guide us to do the righteous actions and accept our supplications to you. We also beseech you to confer on us safety from every sin, and booty of all righteousness, and to win Paradise and deliverance from the Hellfire.
O Allah, we implore you at this instant not to let a sin unforgiven, a distress unrelieved, an illness unhealed or a handicapped without relief, a dead without mercy or a debt unsettled. Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the life to come and keep us safe from the torment of the Fire,
Ameen ya Ar-hamar-raahimeena yaa rabbal ‘Aalameen.
Lastly, anything good I have said is from Allah, and any mistakes are my own and we seek refuge in Allah from giving wrong advice and from all forms of calamities and fitnah. And I ask Allah’s forgiveness if I stepped beyond bounds in anything I said or I do.
My respected people, it is now less than 10 more days to the end of Ramadan, have you been able to observe regular prayers, give to the poor, do more supplications and recite or study the holy Qur’an? It is never too late, you can start now!
This Khutbah (Friday Sermon) was prepared for delivery today (Juma’ah) Ramadan 21, 1435 A.H, (July 18, 2014) by Imam Murtada Muhammad Gusau, the chief Imam of Nagazi Jumu’at Mosque, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via 08038289761 and [email protected] or [email protected]