On exercising self-restraint

First Sermon

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. He proportioned the soul and inspired it with discernment of its wickedness and its righteousness. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. He is the Creator, the All-Knowing. He arranges each matter related to His creation and He is the Perfectly Wise. 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 grateful family and companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment. As to what follows,I urge you, O servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him, the Most Exalted, in line with His orders: “and fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah . Then every soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be treated unjustly.” (Al-Baqara: 281). Dear Muslims,When Allah, the Almighty, created human beings, He gifted them with the blessing of the reasoning, entrusted the soul in them and inspired it with its piety. He the Most Exalted says, “and [by] the soul and He who proportioned it.” (As-Shams: 7). The human soul was created in such a way that it tends to embrace virtuousness by nature. Allah, the Most High, grants man the ability to distinguish between good and evil. He says, “and inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness.” (As-Shams: 8). In interpretation of this Aya, ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said it meant that Allah, the Almighty, makes it clear for the human beings that which is good and that which is evil. The Almighty says, “and have shown him the two ways.” (Al-Balad: 10).Thus, he who purifies himself by obeying Allah, the Most High, and adorns it with the best of morality will certainly succeed in this life and the next as promised by Allah in this Aya, “he has succeeded who purifies it.” (As-Shams: 9). Yet, he who is careless and leaves his soul out to deviate from the right path, will be doomed to failure. The Exalted is He says, “and he has failed who instils it [with corruption].” (As-Shams: 10). Then glad tidings to those who succeed in developing self-control, being pious and able to protect themselves from falling victim to whims and desires. Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, may his soul rest in peace, said, “he has succeeded who safeguards himself against wrongdoing, anger and greed.”Allah, the Most Sublime, emphasised the same by saying, “but as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination. Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.” (An-Naziaat: 40-41). Inclination here refers to the tendency of the soul to go after lawful or unlawful pursuits. Thus, he who fears Allah will tend only to do what is lawful and keep away from what may trigger one’s anger, greed and envy. In this regard, a poet said what it means a human soul is like a baby: If you ignore him, he will go after the breast-milk for longer, but if you wean him off just in time, he will suffice sooner.O Servants of Allah,Self-restraint is a quality that is embedded in Islam as it calls upon believers to not let one’s anger overwhelm his will. This was further stressed by the Prophet pbuh when he said, “there is no gulp that brings greater reward with Allah than a servant of Allah who swallows and contains his rancour seeking thereby the pleasure of Allah.” Truly, this is the real strength of a person. The Prophet pbuh said, “the strong person is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger.” Thus, it is out of strength to suppress one’s anger until it has calmed down. By so doing, one will gain great reward from Allah. The Prophet pbuh said, “whoever suppresses his rage while he is able to unleash it, Allah will call him before the heads (leaders) of creation on the Day of Judgement, so that he can inform Him of which of the Houris he likes.”Therefore, it is such a great success to contain one’s rage and control oneself following the guidance of the Messenger of Allah pbuh. On the authority of Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, that a man said to the Prophet pbuh, “advise me!” The Prophet pbuh said, "do not become angry and furious.” The man asked (the same) again and again, and he pbuh said in each case, “Do not become angry and furious.”Moreover, Allah, the Most Gracious, speaks highly of those who constrain their rancour and exercise self-control as evidenced in this Aya, “and who restrain anger and who pardon the people.” (Al-Imran: 134). That is: those who can control themselves when angry and forgive those who caused harm to them. Similarly, realising the great importance of self-control, the companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were keen to advise people to exercise it. It was reported that a man came to Salman, may Allah be pleased with him, and said to him, “O Abu Abdullah, advise me!” So, he said, “do not become angry.” The man then replied, “you tell me not to become angry, and I am sometimes overcome and unable to control myself.” Salman said, “then if you become angry, at least control your tongue and hands.”Indeed, it is such a great advice because if one unleashes his rage, he will definitely fall into sins. He may possibly perform deeds and say words that he will definitely regret later. The holy Quran has many stories on this. For instance, it tells us about a story of two brothers; one of them allowed his soul to indulge in evil and let his envy and anger dominate his conscious. On the other hand, his brother developed self-resistance and was able to overcome his desires and whims, protecting himself from the dominion of the devil. The result was revealed here, “and his soul permitted to him the murder of his brother, so he killed him and became amongst the losers.” (Al-Maaida: 30). So, his hatred and rancour led him to kill his brother. As a result, he lost this world and the Hereafter. This is why Al Hasan Al Basri said, “there are four things that whoever has them Allah will protect him from the evils of Satan and the Hell-Fire: whoever is able to control himself in a state of desire, fear, lust and anger for these four elements are the essence of evil.”Dear Worshipers,Please know that amongst the means to control yourselves is to avoid arguing, abstain from mocking people and refrain from telling lies as well as backbiting. Indeed, it is so nice to mind our language and only say that which is good. This way we can defeat the devil and prevent him from taking hold on us. The Exalted is He says, “and tell My servants to say that which is best. Indeed, Satan induces [dissension] among them. Indeed Satan is ever, to mankind, a clear enemy.” (Al-Israa: 53). In like manner, the process of establishing self-abstinence is to train ourselves on modesty and forbearance as well as to sympathise with others and understand their feelings. It also entails having consciousness of Allah, admitting others’ favours and respecting their status. One of the people of wisdom said, “whoever harms me, I consider many things: if he is higher than me in status, I will acknowledge his favours. If he is below in rank, I will simply pardon him. If he is like me, I will treat him fairly as it should be.”In fact, there is nothing better than fending off evil with good. Allah, the Most Exalted says, “repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend.” (Fussilat: 34).Undoubtedly, the benefits of disciplining oneself are many. For example, reining the soul with the bridle of tolerance and wisdom will definitely foster in us harmony and moderation. It will also help us acknowledge the bounties of Allah, guided in this by the ethics of the Prophet pbuh. Self-constraint has a positive impact on how to treat one's family, colleagues and other people. Thus, he who owns the  will and power to control himself will preserve family and social good ties and contribute to spreading welfare, love and compassion amongst the members of the community. With this in mind, let us pray to Allah to grant to our soul the sense of righteousness and purify it, for You are the Best Purifier thereof.O Allah, may You guide us all to obey You and obey Your Messenger Muhammad pbuh and obey those You have commanded us to obey in line with Your 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 SermonAll praise is due to Allah, the Lords 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.As to What follows,Please be aware, dear worshipers, that the first thing we should advise each other about is obeying Allah, the Most Sublime, and know that self-restraint brings about great benefits and rewards. It reflects wisdom, rightfulness and the sound insight. Muawiya, may Allah be pleased with him, said in this regard, “a servant of Allah will not be qualified to give advice until he has overcome his ignorance with forbearance.” On the same matter, a man of wisdom was once asked, “who is the most courageous amongst men?” He said, “he who dominates his ignorance with patience and forbearance.” Furthermore, self-control is conducive to bringing about positive social impact. Indeed, it strengthens coherence, compassion and love amongst people. Let us, therefore, look into ourselves and think if we have developed the quality of self-control and the ability to exercise it so that we consider the impact of our sayings and deeds and distinguish between that which beneficial and that which is harmful. Let us reflect also and decide if we have the power to suppress our emotions in all the states of anger, argument and dispute so that we speak good and attain success or remain silent and be safe. ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him said, “say what is good and you will reap gain, and be silent (from speaking evil) and you will be safe.” That is said, please bear in mind that you are instructed to invoke peace and blessings on the Prophet pbuh. The Messenger of Allah 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.