Prevention is better than cure
First Khutba
All praises are for Allah, who has bestowed upon us the blessing of healthy bodies. I testify that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, the most compassionate, most merciful. And I testify that our Prophet, Muhammad, is His Messenger until the Last Day. So O Allah send your peace and blessings upon him and upon his noble family and companions. And upon whomsoever follows them in the best of ways till the Last Day.
To continue:
O sservants of Allah, be conscious of Allah to the rightful degree such consciousness entails. And ask Him for constancy in good health and wellbeing. For indeed the Messenger of Allah used to supplicate to Allah every morning saying:
اللَّهُمَّ عَافِنِي فِي بَدَنِي، اللَّهُمَّ عَافِنِي فِي سَمْعِي، اللَّهُمَّ عَافِنِي فِي بَصَرِي، لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ
O Allah, make me healthy in my body. O Allah, make me healthy in my hearing. O Allah, make me healthy in my sight. There is no god but You.
So good health in our bodies and its wellbeing are from the blessings that Allah bestows upon us thereby. Hence it is an obligation to strive to preserve them, and this is done through adopting the methods and means of preventative health. For indeed a dirhams weight (about 6 gm) of protection is better than a qintars weight (about 150kg) of treatment. One of the most important methods of health protection is cleanliness, for indeed Allah has given us ablution (Wudu), which is a comprehensive lesson in the necessity and importance of maintaing cleanliness. As Allah says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ
O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles.
So in this noble verse, our Lord has stipulated cleanliness for a great act of worship. The act was Salat (the formal ritual prayer) which was made obligatory upon every able Muslim. And thus it became obligatory to do Wudu for ritual purity, which is washing the various limbs, being those limbs most vulnerable to contamination. And it was the Prophetic practise (Sunnah) to wash these limbs three times, in order to bring about complete cleanliness. So a person leaves his Wudu in a state of purity, and enters into his prayer in a state of cleanliness. And such a person has also taken the means of wellbeing and good health.
Know that from that which achieves cleanliness is what the Prophet enacted for a Muslim in his sunnah. For he used to do Wudu in his home, even before leaving to go towards the Masjid. And he is reported to have said that sins will be forgiven for someone who:
مَنْ تَوَضَّأَ فِي بَيْتِهِ فَأَحْسَنَ الْوُضُوءَ، ثُمَّ أَتَى الْمَسْجِدَ
Whoever does his Wudu in his house, and beautified his Wudu therein, then heads towards the Masjid.
So the Wudu of a Muslim in his house, is closer to the ideal of cleanliness than doing Wudu in a public place.
O Servants of Allah:
What is required if a person is afflicted by a form of contagious disease? Such a person should leave aside interacting with others. This is intended as a form of protecting their health, and preserving their wellebeing. And to push aside harm from them, for the Prophet said: لَا يُورِدَنَّ مُمْرِضٌ عَلَى مُصِحٍّ
“The sick should not be mixed with the healthy”
This includes all public places, inclusive of Mosques. Hence any worshipper who feels symptoms such as a fever in his body or a cold or cough or sneeze, should pray at home and not attend the mosque. So he should not pray in congregation, not even for Friday prayers, and this should continue until Allah facilitates for him to heal.
From that which helps a person safeguard and protect others: Is to adhere to the guidance of the Prophet. For if he ever sneezed he would cover his mouth and face with his hands or with his garments. For this is a demonstraton of the means by which we can prevent the spread of illness. So we should be avid in following that prophetic guidance and instruction. We realize its goals that help achieve the interest.
So O Allah: Bless us with good health in our bodies and well being in our souls. And bless us all with your devotion, and devotion towards your trustworthy Messenger Muhammad. And piety towards those You have ordered us to show piety towards in Your manifest Book, when You said, and you are the most Truthful of those who say:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ
O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you.
I say this and seek His forgiveness for me and for You. I seek the redemptive forgiveness of Allah.
Second Khutba
All praises are for Allah, the One, and may peace and blessings upon him after whom there is no other Prophet. And upon his family, companions and whomsoever follows them in his guidance.
To continue:
So have taqwa of Allah, o servants of Allah. Know that the following of sound medical advice helps to promote the cause of preventive healthcare, and to not follow it leads to fatal results.
Thus, in connection with what has afflicted the world with regards to the emergence and spread of the infectious Coronavirus disease. And what has been put forth through the great efforts of the country in containing its spread in our country. The Ministry of Health has issued various preventive instructions. These include: avoiding crowds, not intermingling with the sick afflicted with infectious diseases, washing your hands with soap and water, covering your mouth and nose with a tissue/ handkerchief when coughing or sneezing. It also includes restricting ourselves to verbal greetings, and abstaining from greeting through physical touch, whether it be using the hands or the nose, or hugging or kissing. Concerning these instructions, it is our duty to adhere to all of them, for this adherence should be considered a religious obligation, alongside being a national duty.
That is said, please bear in mind that you are instructed to invoke peace and blessings on the Prophet pbuh. Allah, the Most Sublime, says, “indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace.” (Al-Ahzab: 56).
On the same matter, the Prophet pbuh said, “For everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah.”
O Allah, please confer Your blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muhammad pbuh, his family and all of the companions.
May Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, and all of the noble Companions.
O Allah, we seek Your grace to make us amongst those who remember you much and are steadfast on performing acts of worship. O Allah, please forgive us all.
O Allah, we seek refuge in Your perfect words from the evil of that which descend from the sky and from the evil of that which ascends in it, and from the evil of what is created in the earth and the evil of that which comes out of it. O Allah we seek refuge in You from the trials of the night and the day, and from the visitations of the night and day, except for one that knocks with good. Indeed, You are the Most Merciful.
O Lord, we beseech You to bless all of the Muslim countries and the whole world with stability, cure from any illness and peace.
May Allah grant success and continued health and care to all of us, Muslims and all the world.
O Allah, please forgive all of the Muslims, men and women, living and dead.
O Lord, forgive and show mercy on them and bless them with Your kindness and satisfaction. O Lord, forgive and show mercy on our parents, relatives and whoever has done a favour to us.
We pray to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, to continue blessing our country with stability and welfare and bless its provisions. O Allah, please continue blessing our country with safety and security.
O Allah, relieve us! O Allah, relieve us! O Allah, relieve us! O Allah, give us from the blessings of the sky and grow for us from the blessings of the earth.
O Allah: we turn to Your name through which nothing is harmed in the earth and the heavens. That we not be afflicted through disease or calamity. Or that disease or epidemic may befall us, O Allah: hear this supplication. We ask you Allah for constancy of well being. For ourselves and for all of the people around us. Save us from the evil of epidemics and diseases.
Remember Allah and He will remember you. Be grateful of His benevolence and He will increase His blessings to you.
O Allah, please confer Your blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muhammad pbuh, his family and all of the companions.
How to Perform Wudu (Ablution)?
Step 1:
Intention. Since Islam teaches us that intention forms the basis of any action, it is necessary that, before you perform Wudu, you make the niyyat or intention for it. This will not be a verbal act - you only have to mentally prepare yourself for an act that will cleanse and purify you.
Step 2:
Say Bismillah. Recite bismi-llāhi ar-raḥmāni ar-raḥīmi (In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful).
Step 3:
Begin by washing your hands. Completely wash your right hand three times with clean water, then move on to the left and repeat. When washing, remember not to miss any part of the hands - wash between the fingers and thumb, too.
Step 4:
Rinse mouth. Take water in your right palm and rinse your mouth with it, thrice. Do not swallow the water on purpose, but spit it out every time.
Step 5:
Cleaning the nose. Using your right hand, carefully and gently put water into your nostrils, before exhaling it. Perform this step three times.
Step 6:
Wash your face. Thoroughly wash your face, beginning from the hairline on your forehead and from one ear to the other. This step, too, must be performed three times.
Step 7:
Wash your arms. Begin with your right hand. Wet it with water, and wash from your wrist up to your elbow. Repeat thrice; then do the same to your left arm.
Step 8:
Perform Masah. Usually, Masah refers to the religious act of cleaning one's head, in a specific way, with a small amount of water. For performing Masah, wet your hands and place your palms, flat, on the top of your head (where the hairline begins). Wipe them to the back of your neck, and then back again to the front. Now wet the back of both ears by placing your thumbs behind them. Use your index and middle fingers to wash the front and back of your ears. Masah is done only once.
Step 9:
Wash feet. Start with your right foot. Wash it thrice from the toes, up to the ankles. Make sure you wash between your toes, too. Do the same to your left foot.
Remember: Once Wudu is performed, it does not need to (but can) be performed again until it is invalidated.
Things That Invalidate Wudu/ Ablution:
♦ Relieving oneself (defecating or urinating), or passing wind. God, the Exalted, says:
“... or one of you comes after answering the call of nature.” (Surah Al-Maidah: 6)
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:
“The prayer of any of you who is in a state of impurity (hadath) will not be accepted until he performs ablution.”
One man asked Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him: What is “hadath”, Abu Hurairah? He said: “Breaking wind.” (Agreed upon)
♦ Complete sleep (during which one loses consciousness). Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, reported Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) as saying:
“The eye when awake precludes breaking wind. If anyone sleeps he must perform ablution.” (Reported by Ahmad, Abu Daud & Ibn Majah)
However, drowsiness during which one is still conscious does not invalidate wudu’.
♦ Loss of one’s senses or state of unconsciousness resulting from lunacy, epilepsy, fainting, drug or drunkenness, because integrity of the mind is a prerequisite to the validity of wudu’.
♦ Touching sexual organs with the exposed palm of the hand. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:
“If a man touches his private parts he should perform wudu’, and if a woman touches her private parts, she should (also) perform wudu’.” (Reported by Ahmad)
♦ Vomiting. It was narrated that:
“The Prophet (Peace be upon him) vomited and then performed wudu’.” (Reported by Ahmad)
♦ Excessive bleeding. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:
“Whoever vomits, bleeds through the nose during prayer should perform wudu’.”
♦ Touching a woman (such as his wife) with desire that leads to pre-seminal discharge, based on Ibn Abbas’ saying: Semen necessitates having a bath. As for pre-seminal fluid (madhi) and secretion of prostrate (wadi), he said: Wash your private part and perform wudu’ as that for prayer.
