Indeed, he is Allah Who expands all abundance

First Sermon

All praise is due to Allah Who extends His bounties to the worlds and encompasses all people in favour. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master and Prophet Muhammad is the Servant of Allah and His Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad, his family and all of his companions, and all those who follow them till the Day of Judgment.

As to what follows,

I urge you and myself, O Servants of Allah, to be aware that you are asked to obey Him the Most Exalted and Sublime, in line with His orders, “and fear Allah, in whom you are believers.” (Al-Maida: 88).

Dear Muslims,

Al-Basit “the Expander or Extender” is one of the ninety nine beautiful names and attributes of Allah. The Messenger of Allah pbuh said, “Indeed, Allah is the Creator, the Provider, the Constrictor, and the Expander.” How can He not be the Expander when He is the One who makes ample and plentiful all that is needed and generously spreads His favours upon His creation? Allah’s depositories are ever-full and replenished, for He says, “and to Allah belongs the depositories of the heavens and the earth.” (Al-Munafiqoon: 7). The Most Exalted gives in abundance and His bounties are endless. To this He says, “rather, both His hands are extended; He spends however He wills.”  (Al-Maida: 64).

So exalted is He in whose hand is the realm of all things. The Almighty says, “to Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. He extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]. Indeed He is, of all things, Knowing.” (Ash-Shoora: 12). Truly, the Most Exalted and Sublime extends His hand with all that is good, for He says, “do they not see that Allah extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]?” (Ar-Room: 37).

In this respect, the holy Quran is full of evidences to such glorious attribute of Allah, the Extender of all bounties. For instance, it telss us that clouds are spread in the sky as Allah desires. He might withhold them from some people and provide them to others, enabling them to enjoy such favour. The Exalted is He says, “it is Allah who sends the winds, and they stir the clouds and spread them in the sky however He wills, and He makes them fragments so you see the rain emerge from within them. And when He causes it to fall upon whom He wills of His servants, immediately they rejoice.” (Ar-Room: 48).

The favours that Allah, the All-Provider, has endowed upon His servants are innumerable. One such favour is that He made the earth for His creation an expanse suitable for human life and tame for people to walk among its slopes and eat of His provision. An illustration of this can be seen in this Aya: “and Allah has made for you the earth an expanse that you may follow therein roads of passage.” (Noah: 19-20). That is to say: the Almighty has spread the earth and made it easy for His creation to settle on it, inhabit it and strive in seeking sustenance.

One other provision that Allah the Almighty has extended to His Servants on earth is that He has granted them good health and strong body as well as taught them from His knowledge that which is beneficial for them. To this extent, Allah the Most High has given us examples of people whom He graced with expansion of knowledge and well-being, one of them is Taloot (Saul). About Him, the Most Exalted says, “and has increased him abundantly in knowledge and stature.” (Al-Baqara: 247).  In another place in the holy Quran, the Most giving also mentions one other tribe upon whom He has bestowed the favour of well-built stature. Those were the people of Aad, about whom He says, “and increased you in stature extensively. So remember the favours of Allah that you might succeed.” (Al-Aaraf: 69).

Knowing the abundance of bounties that Allah, the Expander, endows upon His servants, we come to a question as to how can we earn His favours? The answer to this question is that one may attain Allah’s generous giving by being pious and conscious of His Lord. The Messenger of Allah pbuh said in this regard, “Whoever loves that he be granted more wealth and that his lease of life be prolonged then he should fear Allah.”

In this sense, one of the aspects of being mindful of Allah the Almighty is to always turn to Him in sincere repentance and seek His forgiveness. Our Master Muhammad pbuh said in this regard, “Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, Stretches out His Hand (accepts repentance) during the night so that the people may repent for the fault committed from dawn till dusk and He stretches out His Hand during the day so that the people may repent for the fault committed from dusk to dawn.”

Another great act that one should do in order to attain Allah’s vast giving and favours is to treat one’s parents in kindness and be dutiful to them. The Prophet pbuh accentuated this as he said, “Whoever loves that that his lease of life be prolonged and he be increased in provision then he should be good and dutiful to his parents.” More to this, honouring bonds of kinship is one other great act that is conducive to earn the believer the favours of Allah, the All-Provider. On this account the Messenger of Allah pbuh said, “Whoever loves that he be granted more wealth and that his lease of life be prolonged then he should keep good relations with his Kith and kin.”

O Believers,

Indeed, Allah the Most Giving loves amongst His servants the doers of good those who embrace His attributes. Thus, it is a great thing to reflect the meanings of this beautiful name of Allah in our life by extending our hands to others in kindness and being generous with them. This is because by so doing, one will attain Allah’s satisfaction and see, by His favour, their provision expanded. The Messenger of Allah pbuh said about His Lord, the Most Exalted, “The Blessed and the Exalted (Lord) stretches His Hands and says: Who will lend to One Who is neither indigent nor tyrant?”

This means, he who will extend his hand in spending will definitely find in return a Lord Who is rich and Who will recompense them in this world and in the Hereafter, diminishing not their rewards. To this, Allah the Almighty says, “say, ‘Indeed, my Lord extends provision for whom He wills of His servants and restricts [it] for him. But whatever thing you spend [in His cause] - He will compensate it; and He is the best of providers’.” (Sabaa: 39).

Moreover, one of the most important means of realising the essence of this glorious name of Allah – the Expander – lies in raising our hands to the Most Munificent in supplication, for He never turns unanswered the supplication of those who earnestly and humbly invoke Him. The Messenger of Allah pbuh emphasised this as he said, “Indeed, Allah is too kind to turn away empty hands of His servant when he raises them to Him asking for that which is good.”

In this context, supplication in the last one third of the night before dawn is more likely to be answered as the Messenger of Allah pbuh said, “Allah the Most Exalted opens the doorways of Heaven at half of the night or at one-third of the latter part and says: Is there a servant to ask Me so that I grant him? This will continue until the break of dawn.”

With this in mind, we raise our hands to Allah the Almighty and earnestly ask Him to extend His abundant favours to us.

May Allah guide us all to obey Him and obey His Messenger Muhammad pbuh and obey those He has commanded us to obey in line with Your orders: “O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority amongst you.” (An-Nisaa: 59).

May Allah direct us all to the blessings of the Glorious Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger pbuh.

I say this and ask Allah for forgiveness for me and you, so invoke Him for forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Second Sermon

All praise is due to Allah, abundant, good and blessed praise as our Lord loves and is pleased with. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon ou­­r Master Muhammad, his pure family, companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

I urge you, O Servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him, the Most Exalted and Sublime.

O Worshipers,

The Messenger of Allah pbuh used to supplicate to Allah the Almighty to increase him in provisions and extend His favours to him. Amongst his supplications was: “O Allah, to You is due all praise. O Allah, none can restrict what You have extended, nor extend that which You have restricted. None can guide whom You misguide, nor misguide whom You guide. None can prevent what You have willed to bestow and none can bestow what You have willed to prevent. None can bring near what You had made far nor make far what You had brought near. O Allah, give us in abundance from Your blessings, Your mercy, Your favours and Your sustenance.”

So, let us follow the tradition of our Master Muhammad and invoke Allah the All-Giving, for in His hand is the depositories of the heavens and the earth. The Most Exalted says, “and there is not a thing but that with Us are its depositories, and We do not send it down except according to a known measure.” (Al-Hijr: 21). You are also recommended to take such means that are conducive to earn you expansion of goodness and joy that Allah the Extender grants to you. This can be achieved by adhering to Allah’s commands so that He might bless us in our lives, families and society.

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 wellbeing. 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.