The new Hijri year

First Sermon

All praise is due to Allah eventide and in the morning. He made in the Prophet’s migration lessons to be drawn, benefits and great values. 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 him, his pure blessed family and companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness 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 Almighty in line with His orders: “O you who have believed, fear Allah and believe in His Messenger; He will [then] give you a double portion of His mercy and make for you a light by which you will walk and forgive you; and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Al-Hadid: 28).

O Worshipers,

With the advent of a new Hijri year, we pray to Allah, the Almighty, to continue blessing us in our country with goodness and welfare and to also make it full of happiness and love to the whole humanity. In these days, we turn our thought to the memory of the Prophet (pbuh)’s Hijra (migration) from Mecca to Medina, as it was one of the greatest milestones in the human history. For this reason, Umar Ibn Al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, established the year of the Prophet’s migration as the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

Umar Ibn Al Kattab consulted the companions on the starting date of the new Muslim chronology. Some of them said, “Start with the date the Prophet received his prophecy.” Others suggested to mark the date of Hijra as the beginning of the new Muslim calendar. It was finally agreed that the most appropriate reference point for the Islamic calendar was the Hijra since it has brought in the seeds of development and civilisation to the whole humanity. Such achievements were the produce of concerted efforts by the companions, men and women.

With the Hijra, the Prophet pbuh sowed the seeds of justice in Median and cemented the foundations of kindness and tolerance in dealings amongst people. He laid the principles of co-existence with non-Muslims based on the values of safeguarding rights and discharging duties. Such important values were stipulated in the Charter of Medina which the Prophet pbuh himself drafted. Based upon this Charter, the companions of the Messenger of Allah pbuh established edifices of human civilisation and disseminated the tolerant principles of Islam.

O Believers,

With the beginning of the new Hijri year one should stand with himself and take account of their deeds during the previous year. Allah the Almighty has urged man to be self-accountable and prepare for the Day of Resurrection. The Most Exalted says, “that Day, you will be exhibited [for judgement]; not hidden among you is anything concealed.” (Al-Haqqa: 18).

This was further emphasised by Umar Ibn Al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, as he said, “Hold yourselves accountable before you are held accountable and weigh yourselves (your actions) before they are weighed for you.”

Indeed, one of the qualities of the true believer is the practice of self-assessment in this world before they are assessed on the Day of Judgement. As such, one should consider what they have done in this life that is conducive to help them to be winners in the Hereafter. To this end, it is a duty incumbent on every Muslim to assess his actions and make sure that he performed the prescribed acts of worship and best invested his time by engaging in good deeds.

More to the point, self-accountability also entails striving to benefit oneself, one’s family, society and nation. This in turn requires the person to work diligently in improving his/her performance at work, seek to acquire further knowledge and add new strengths to their expertise as well as increase their achievements. The reason is that on the Day of Judgment every one of us will questioned about his body and what he wore it out in, about his life and what he did with it, about his wealth; how he earned it and where he spent it, and about his knowledge and how he used it.  

Furthermore, Not only one should assess his past one year, but also needs to plan for all the things that he will do to benefit himself in the new year ahead.

O Worshipers,

The lessons and values that we can draw from the Prophet’s migration are numerous, the first and foremost of which is its meaning. Hijra means abandoning all the wrongdoings that Allah the Almighty has forbidden. This meaning was accentuated by the Messenger of Allah pbuh as he said, “an emigrant is the one who refrains from what Allah has forbidden.”

Thus, a Muslim migrates by embracing such qualities as truthfulness and trustworthiness as well as by seeking knowledge and striving in the way of elevating one’s status and benefiting their families, community and nation too. Indeed, those who go through such righteous path, seeking Allah’s satisfaction will, by His grace, be highly rewarded as evidenced in the following Hadith. The Messenger of Allah pbuh said, “The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions.”

On another level, in its events, the Prophetic migration carries the value of cooperation where every member of the community plays a role in serving its best interests. An illustration of this can be seen in the cooperation showed by Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, setting thereby an example for good companionship. To this effect, Abu Bakr sacrificed his money and property and was also supported by his family members.

So, when the Prophet pbuh said to him, “I feel (am informed) that I have been granted the permission for migration.” Abu Bakr said, “Let my father and mother be sacrificed for you. I will accompany you, O Allah’s Messenger pbuh!” The Prophet pbuh said, “You will accompany me.” Abu Bakr said, “O Allah’s Messenger pbuh! Let my father be sacrificed for you. Take one of these two she-camels of mine.”

Sayeda Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her said, “So we prepared their baggage quickly and put their journey food In a leather bag. And Asmaa bint Abu Bakr cut a piece of her girdle and tied the mouth of the leather bag with it. That is why she was later given the nickname of Dhat an-Nitaqayn (the one with The Two Waistbands).

In fact, such empowerment of woman, giving her the opportunity to offer her support has highlighted her role and efforts in the Hijra. It further proved that she is a partner in the religious and cultural achievements that were accomplished.

When the Prophet pbuh proceeded to the cave of Mount Thawr in the vicinity of Mecca to take shelter, Asmaa bint Abu Bakr, May Allah be pleased with her, used to provide them with the supply they needed. She climbed the mountain although she was pregnant, setting thereby an example for woman’s limitless giving.

O Servants of Allah,

In like manner, the young people also played an important in the success of the Prophet’s migration. There is no doubt, with the youths’ stamina, achievements can be accomplished and challenges surmounted. They are the cornerstone for societies’ renaissance and prosperity.

A good example of the young people who cooperated in the Hijra of the Prophet pbuh is the one of Ali Ibn Abu Talib, may Allah be pleased with him. At that time, Ali was in the spring of his life when he was left in Mecca in order to return the things that were committed to the care of the Prophet pbuh to their owners.

Another example in this regard is the one of Musaab Ibn Umair who went to Medina prior to the Prophet’s arrival in order to disseminate knowledge there and teach people about their religious affairs. In doing so, Musaab adopted leniency as an approach. As a result, he won the hearts and minds of the people of Medina.

Thereafter, the Muhajireen (emigrants) and the Ansar (supporters) joined hands together, showed tolerance to one another, and ultimately boosted the strength of their community, elevated the standing of their homeland and carried on in building their civilisation.

One of the other values that we can learn from the Prophet’s migration is to take care of mosques and their construction. Truly, mosques are the most prominent features of our civilisation. In evidence of its importance, mosque was the first building that the Prophet pbuh constructed in Medina. The aim was to offer a place where the members of the community can meet to perform acts of obedience to their Lord. As such, they drew closer to each other and Allah’s favour upon them was completed. The Most Exalted says, “it is He who supported you with His help and with the believers, and brought together their hearts.” (Al-Anfal: 62-63).

Bearing this in mind, we seek Allah’s grace to grant us success in following the example of our Master Muhammad pbuh in our speech and in our deeds.

May Allah guide us all to obey Him and obey His Messenger Muhammad pbuh and obey those He have commanded us to obey in line with His orders: “O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among 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, the Lord of the Worlds. 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 High and Exalted.

O Worshipers,

The Prophet’s pbuh migration has left us numerous lessons that may benefit those of vision. It demonstrates the splendour and glory of Islam as well as its positive impact on people through its noble values and principles. Such principles are based on doing all that which is good, spreading peace, showing compassion, co-existence, empathy and interaction amongst people. The Prophet pbuh has established such values when he arrived in Medina, for the first thing he said then, “O people, exchange greetings of peace, provide food (to people), keep relations with your kin and pray at night when people are asleep and you will enter Paradise in peace.” So, the first call for Islam was humane and carried the fragrance of affection, establishing the great principles and values of this religion, being spreading peace, providing food for the needy, which reflects generosity, as well as maintaining good ties of kinship.

Thus, by no means was the Prophet’s Hijra a cause for severing relationships amongst Muslims and their families in Mecca. In fact, the Prophet pbuh was keenly interested in keeping up and strengthening those ties. Emphasising this, after migration, the Messenger of Allah pbuh said, “By Allah, if the Quraish ask me anything which will respect the ties of kinship, I will grant it to them.”

Knowing this, you are urged, dear worshipers, to abandon all that Allah has forbidden and teach your daughters and sons to do so too.

Fasting the day of ‘Ashoora’ does expiate for the past year, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Fasting the day of ‘Arafah I hope Allaah will expiate thereby for the year before it and the year after it, and fasting the day of ‘Ashoora’/ THE 10^TH OF Muharam, I hope Allaah will expiate thereby for the year that came before it.” Narrated by Muslim, 1162. This is by the bounty that Allaah bestows upon us, whereby fasting one day expiates for the sins of a whole year. And Allaah is the Owner of great bounty.