7th March 2008
Khutba 1
Praise be to Allah, the One Who honoured this existence by bringing Abul-Qasim. In His eternal knowledge He wanted him to be the Seal of the Prophets and the Conqueror.
He made this Deen victorious by him, and by him He made the Banner of the Truth uppermost, to the extent that victory could be sensed even before his birth.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, Who assisted His slave. And I bear witness that our master Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, the Bringer of Good News and the Illuminating Light.
May the peace of Allah be upon him, and his noble family and his companions, and all those who follow them until the Day of Judgment.
Start.
Slaves of Allah,
In one or two days’ time a month will begin which is one of the greatest months with Allah, and it is the Rabi’, or spring, of the hearts of the believers. In it was born the Master of Existence. In fact, the whole of existence experienced a renewal in it.
His Mawlid brought victory to his tribe before even his followers, because shortly before his birth an event occurred which was a Sign among the Signs of Allah.
Abraha, the King of the Yemen, built a church in Sana’ for people to make pilgrimage to instead of the Ka’aba. A man from Kinana came and deffecated in this church, spreading it around in the Qibla. Abraha became furious and swore that he would destroy the Ka’aba. He sent an army to Makkah with a herd of elephants, at the head of which was an elephant called “Mahmud”.
Abdul Muttalib was at the time the leader of Makkah, and when he heard this news he said, “Quraish! Abraha will not achieve the destruction of the House, for it has a Lord Who protects it.” Later, Abdul Muttalib heard that Abraha had taken his camels which were kept outside Makkah, whereupon he went out to meet Abraha. When Abraha saw him he was awestruck by his attire, beauty and appearance, but said, “Order your people to leave and not to tire themselves for I am entering Makkah only to destroy the Ka’aba.”
Abdul Muttalib said, “I did not come for that purpose.” Taken aback, Abraha replied, “Why did you come then?” He said, “I came to ask you for my camels.” Abraha replied: “When I saw you I was impressed and believed you a great and noble man who had come to ask me to spare the dignity of your forefathers. But now that you ask for your camels I realise you are small and insignificant. Abdul Muttalib gave the following famous reply, making the skins of those present shiver:
“With regard to the camels, they are mine. As for the House, it has a Lord Who will protect it.”
Allah says in his Noble Book, in Surat al-‘Ankabut:
Do they not see that We have established a safe haven
while people all round them are violently dispossessed?
So why do they believe in falsehood
and reject the blessing of Allah?
So Abdul Muttalib returned with his camels and told his people: “You do not need to prepare for war, do not worry,” whereupon they put down their weapons.
When Abraha’s army entered Makkah, the elephant Mahmud sat down and refused to move towards the Ka’aba, even when they beat him he, so they left him and pressed on.
It was then that Allah sent flocks of birds, each carrying three stones the size of chick-peas, one in the beak and one in each foot. Every stone fell to its man; every man’s name was written on his stone; and every stone pierced a man’s body. The army ran in every direction, falling as they fled.
Abraha lost his fingers, but did not die until his heart had been torn from his chest. So it was that Allah gave victory to the Quraish by His Protection.
About this event Allah says in His Book:
In the name of Allah, All-Merciful, Most Merciful
Do you not see what your Lord did
with the Companions of the Elephant?
Did He not bring all their schemes to nothing,
unleashing upon them flock after flock of birds,
bombarding them with stones of hard-baked clay,
making them like stripped wheat-stalks eaten bare?
____STOP____
After this, Abdul Muttalib saw in a dream something like a silver chain coming out of his back, with one end in the heavens and one end in the earth, one end in the east and another in the west. Then the chain turned into a tree in each of whose leaves was Light. It was as if the people of the east and west were clinging to it. Upon relating the dream he was told that it indicated the birth in the chain of his family of a person whom the people of the east and west would follow, and whom the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth would praise.
Abdul Muttalib had a son whom he used to love the most. His name was Abdullah. Abdullah married on the first of Rajab the same year, and consumated his marriage the same night with his wife Amina bint Wahb, the best of the Quraishi women in lineage. She became pregnant that night with our master Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa asllam.
Several other miracles occurred before his birth, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Animals were heard to speak to the Quraish in the highest, most eloquent Arabic, saying, “By the Lord of the Ka’aba, the Messenger of Allah is going to be born, and he will be the leader of all the world.”
All of the women gave birth to boys that year as a sign of honour to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, from Allah.
Allah sent rain on the Quraish after a prolongued drought, and sent them so much of His Bounty that they named that year “the year of opening”. It also came to be called The Year of the Elephant.
The pregnancy lasted for nine lunar months, and the Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was born in Rabi’ul Awwal. His father Abdullah had died earlier that same month.
The birth of the Messenger marked the end of the injustice, darkness and degeneration of the age. Every thing and every person rejoiced in his birth – even the animals, birds and inanimate objects. The throne of the King of Persia tipped over, and his bed broke. The Jinn celebrated the birth.
So it is necessary for us as Muslims to c celebrate his birth, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with an instituted celebration.
This is because his birth, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, indicates our birth, the birth of Truth and of victory. Our celebrating his Mawlid is a sign of our love of him, and following his Sunna with love is a sign of honouring, respecting and helping him.
Allah says in His Noble Book, in Surat al-A’raf:
Those who have iman in him
and honour him and help him,
and follow the Light that has been sent down with him,
they are the ones who are successful.
____STOP____
Then he makes a short Du’a and sits down.
2nd Khutba
Oh you who have Iman!
Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, says in his Noble Book,
Allah showed great kindness to the muminun
when He sent a Messenger to them from among themselves
to recite His Signs to them and purify them
and teach them the Book and Wisdom,
even though before that they were clearly misguided.
The blessings of Allah upon his Muhammadan Ummah cannot be numbered. One of the greatest of them is that He made us be part of it. Another of the greatest is that He made us muminun and Muslims.
But the greatest, the most magnificent, is when He makes us be among those who love His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Only those who love him celebrate his birth. Truly, whoever loves Allah will be loved by Allah, and whoever loves the Messenger of Allah will be loved by Allah and His Messenger. Whoever loves the family of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, will be loved by Allah, His Messenger, and all people.
Allah says in the Qur’an:
Say: ‘I do not ask you for any wage for this –
except for you to love your near of kin.
At-Tabarani transmitted that the Messenger of Allah said, “Educate your children in qualities: love of your Prophet, love of his family, and recitation of Qur’an.”
Imam ash-Shafi’i said, “ O people of the House of the Messenger of Allah! Love of you is an obligation on us from Allah in the Qur’an. It it sufficient reason for you to be proud that whoever does not pray for blessings on you, his prayer is not valid.
Then Du’a without translation.
Prayer
End