FROM THE MIMBAR OF THE TWO HOLY MOSQUES IN MAKKAH AND MADINA

(Friday, December 7, 2001)

PRAYING IN LAILATUL QADR MORE REWARDING THAN PRAYING FOR 1,000 MONTHS.

IN MAKKAH

SHEIKH Omar Bin Muhammad Al­-Subayil, Imam and Khateeb of the Holy Mosque in
Makkah, called upon Mus­lims to fear Allah and strive to gain His favor by
doing good deeds, benefiting from the holy month and by supplicat­ing a lot
and asking His mercy and for­giveness during the last days of Rama­dan.
In his Friday Sermon (Khutbah) on December 7, 2001, Sheikh Al-Subayil said
that the holy month of Ramadan is a great season, which Allah has preferred
over other months of the year by giving it great attributes and good
qualities. It was during this month that the Holy Qur’an was revealed as
guidance to mankind. Allah has honored His ser­vants with the month of
fasting in which there is mercy, forgiveness and salvation from the
hellfire. Every Mus­lim, who fasts this holy month as re­quired, will have
his previous sins forgiven.
The Imam added that the best days and nights of this month are the last ten.
During the last ten days and nights, the Prophet (Sallallaaho alaihi wa
sallam) used to devote his time to more worship and in doing good deeds.
Moreover, Almighty Allah distinguished these nights with the Night of Power
(Lailatul Qadr), which He honored with the revelation to the Prophet
(Sallallaaho alaihi wa sallam). Praying on the Night of Power is like
praying for 1,000 months. It is a night endowed with many great blessings
due to the great rewards from Allah.
He urged Muslims to seize the op­portunity of this blessed night and strive
to gain the Divine favor by doing good deeds, giving alms and worship­ing
Him sincerely. Allah’s reward and blessings on this night are great. They
include His forgiving all past sins of a Muslim.
At the end of his Khutbah, he reiterat­ed his call to Muslims to grab the
opportunity of this blessed season during which the reward for good deeds is
in­creased multifold and sins are forgiven.

IN MADINA
Meanwhile, Sheikh Ali Bin Abdur Rahman Al-Hudheifi, Imam and Kha­teeb of the
Prophet’s Mosque in Madi­na, advised Muslims to fear Allah.
While delivering his Friday Khutbah in the Prophet’s Mosque, he said that
among the greatest blessings are the blessings of Belief and the Holy
Qur’an.
Belief (Iman) is the light of the hearts. There is no good in a human be­ing
without belief. And the Qur’an is the guiding light to every good and it
forbids every evil.
The Holy Qur’an guides to what is permissible and what is forbidden. Whoever
sticks to the teachings of the Holy Qur’an, Allah guides him to good matters
and whoever ignores its teach­ings will face disgrace. The Holy Qur’an is
the miracle of the Prophet (Sallallaaho alaihi wa sallam), he said.
Sheikh Al-Hudheifi said that the mir­acle of the Holy Qur’an is in its
magnif­icent approach, wise legislation and in its proofs which demonstrate
the laws of the universe and the secrets of crea­tion, thus constituting a
complete source of education for man in all as­pects of life.
The Imam concluded his Khutbah by praying that Muslims will be able to
continue fasting of the holy month, in­cluding devoting their time and
effort to prayers, paying Zakat, reciting the Holy Qur’an and being loving
and mer­ciful to their brethren.
THE HOLY QURAN:THE BENEFIT OF PRAYERS:
  2:186 When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to
them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me: Let
them also, with a will, Listen to My call, and believe in Me: That they may
walk in the right way.

  7:29 Say: "My Lord hath commanded justice; and that ye set your whole
selves (to Him) at every time and place of prayer, and call upon Him, making
your devotion sincere as in His sight: such as He created you in the
beginning, so shall ye return."

7:55 Call on your Lord with humility and in private: for Allah loveth not
those who trespass beyond bounds.

17:110 Say: "Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call
upon Him, (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Neither
speak thy Prayer aloud, nor speak it in a low tone, but seek a middle course
between."

40:60 And your Lord says: "Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer): but
those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell -
in humiliation!"
God the Almighty has spoken the truth. There is no god but He, Unique in His
Majesty, Perfect in his beauty with honor and greatness. He the exalted in
His glory revealed the Qura'n upon His servant so that he be a Warner for
the worlds, His prophet (many blessings and salutations be upon him ) has
also spoken the truth.
DUA(SUPPLICATION):-Our lord, all thanks and praise belong to You for your
mighty favors and great blessings. You revealed to us the best of Your books
and sent to us the most supreme among Your messengers and established for us
the best rules of the Religion that You chose for us and You guided us to
the elevated principles of the religion of your choice and based on five
rules: The Declaration that there is no god except Allah and Mohammad is the
Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayers, giving of the Zakat, fasting
during Ramadn and Hajj to the Sacred House of Allah. Thanks be to You that
You facilitated for us the fasting during the month of Ramadan, and standing
in prayers during its nights and reciting Your book, to which falsehood
approaches not, neither from the front nor from the back, it is revelation
from the Wise and Praiseworthy.
O Allah, thanks belong to You, You deserve all thanks. Thanks be to You for
Your continuous favors.
O Allah, we thank You in secret and in public. We thank you with love and
with free-will. So our Lord, give us Paradise and veil us from Hell and do
not expose us on the Day of Resurrection because that will put us to shame
among the people. Do not disgrace us on account of our bad deeds because
that will envelope us in humanity and dishonor.
O Allah, we are Your servants, children of Your Servants, You control our
destinies, Your decisions effect us, Your judgment is always just and fair,
we beg you by every name that is Yours, by which You have called Yourself or
You revealed it to any of Your creatures or You have hidden it in Your own
secret knowledge, that You make the Glorious Qur'an the blossom of our
hearts, light of our chests, balsam of our grieves ,cure of our anxieties
and our pains and our guiding and driving force to You gardens of bliss by
Your mercy , O the most merciful .
O Allah , remind us from the Qur'an what we have forgotten , teach us what
we have ignored, and grant us its recitation during the course of the day,
in a manner that will please You with us.
O Allah, make us from amongst those who consider permissible what is
permissible according to it and who consider forbidden whatever is forbidden
according to it, who follow its clear guidance and who trust and believe
what they do not understand and recite it as it aught to be recited.
O Allah, make us from amongst those who keep its words and its rules and not
amongst those who keep its words but neglect its rules.
Make us amongst those who are the people of the Qur'an, who are Your people
and Your elect, O the most Merciful.
O Allah, make us from amongst those who followed the Qur'an and it led them
to Your love and to the heaven and do not make us from amongst those who
went against the Qur'an and it thrust them in the darkness of the Hell.
O Allah, grant us honor and increase by the Qur'an and join us in the
company of every righteous and fortunate one and employ us with good and
righteous deeds. Surely You have power over all things.
O Allah, forgive us and our parents and all Muslim men and women, all
believing  men and women, all the living and the dead, by Your mercy O the
most Merciful.
O Allah, forgive all those who died from amongst the Muslims, who declared
Your oneness, who recognized Your prophet and died on this faith.
O Allah, forgive them, have mercy on them, save them with Your hospitality,
grant them the spacious heaven and wash their sins with water and snow and
hail and clean them from errors as the white garment is cleaned from every
dirt. Have also mercy upon us when we reach where they have reached, by Your
mercy, O the most Merciful.
O Allah, in this blessed and noble day(the last friday of Ramadan), do not
leave any sins of ours except removed, any pain of ours except healed, any
evil from us except turned away, any sick person except cured, any debt
except paid, any dead except blessed, any need of this world and the world
to come that is pleasing to You and good for us except to be fulfilled. Help
us and make things easy for us, O the most Merciful.
O Allah, forgive us all in this day. O Allah forgive us all in this day, O
Allah You are the forgiver, You love to forgive, so forgive us.
O Allah, You are the Forgiver, You love to forgive, so forgive us.
O Allah, Your mercy is greater than our sins,
O Allah, Your mercy is greater than our sins, O Allah, Your mercy is greater
than our sins.
O Allah You said and Your word is true: "Call me and I shall respond to your
call". So here we are standing humbly and obediently before you, we confess
our sins, so forgive our errors and have mercy upon us and cover our sins
with Your mercy, O the most merciful. O the most merciful.
O Allah we turn to You, we seek Your door, we ask for Your generosity and
mercy, So refuse us not.
O Allah turn us not away empty handed. Mercy our Lord, Your Mercy that
includes everything.
Our Lord, if You would turn us away then who will shelter us, if You would
distance us then who will bring us near.
O Lord, accept our apologies, O Lord, pity us in our standing before You.
O Lord, have mercy upon us with the mercy that includes everything.
Our Lord, have mercy upon us with the mercy that include everything. O the
most Noble, O the most Merciful, O the Help of the seekers of help, O the
Creator of the Heavens and earth, O Near One, O Responder to every call, O
One who when asked gives, O One who when called upon responds. We seek
protection in the light of Your Face which dispels all darkness from the
descent of Your anger upon us or from the occurrence of your wrath.
O Allah forgive us and accept our apologies.
O Allah, disgrace us not on the Day of Appearance before You.
O Allah, You are the Forgiving one, You love to forgive, so forgive us.
O Allah, forgive the bad among us because of the presence of the good among
us.
O Allah, make our gathering the blessed gathering, and make our departure in
goodness.
O Allah, leave not among us, in us or with any who is unfortunate and
unblessed.
O Allah, do not allow our troubles to be in our religion, O the most Noble
One, O the most Merciful.
O Allah, let the month of Ramadan conclude with your mercy, kindness and
cover us with Your blessings.
O Allah, we ask You all that is good, now and later, what we know and what
we do not know. We ask You Paradise and the words and deeds that will bring
us closer to Paradise and we seek your refuge from Hell and the words and
deeds that may bring us closer to Hell. We ask You to make good every
decision that You have made for us, O the Lord of the words.
O Allah, let us live as Muslims and let us die as Muslims and keep us in
with  the righteous.
O Allah, keep us in Islam whether standing, sitting or sleeping and give not
any joy to our enemies or to those who are jealous on our misfortunes.
O Allah, make our last deeds the best deeds and the conclusion of all our
deeds good and the best of our days the Day we shall meet You.
O Allah, You are the most Forgiving one, You love to forgive, so forgive us.
Our Lord, we have done wrong to ourselves, and if you would not forgive us
and have mercy upon us, we shall be surely among the losers.
Our Lord, do not let us go astray after You have guided us and grant us
mercy from Your side. Surely You are our Benefactor.
Our Lord, do not hold us accountable for the deeds of the foolish among us.
Our Lord, hold us not accountable if we forget or make error.
Our Lord, place upon us not a burden that you placed upon those who were
before us.
Our Lord, do not burden us beyond our capacity, and remit our sins, forgive
us and have mercy upon us. You are our Protector, so help us against the
disbelieving folk.
Our Lord, accept us, You are the Hearer and Knower. Accept our repentance,
for You are the Accepter of repentance and Merciful. We seek forgiveness
from God and we turn to Him. We seek forgiveness from God and we turn to
Him.
Our Lord, give us good in this world and in the hereafter and save us from
the torment of the Hell.
Glory be to our Lord the mighty, and exalted be He from all they ascribe to
Him. Peace be upon His messengers and Praised be Allah the Lord of the
worlds. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon
his family and companions. Al-Fatiha. Ameen.

With the very best of good wishes,
Musa Amadu Pembo
Glasgow
Scotland,
UK





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