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First Sermon
All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him as befitting to His Sublime Countenance and Supreme Status. To Him all the servants draw nearer by performing good deeds, seeking His forgiveness and satisfaction. 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, O servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him the Most Exalted, in line with His orders, "O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous." (Al-Baqara: 21).
O Worshipers,
Allah, the Most Exalted, has created the creation to worship Him, for the Almighty says, "and I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me." (Adh-Dhariyat: 56). He enjoined upon them to perform acts of obedience and strive to draw closer to Him by doing acts of goodness. The Almighty says, "and worship your Lord and do good - that you may succeed." (Al-Hajj: 77). The Most Sublime has also made it clear to his servants that the more virtuous deeds they do, the higher status they will attain and, ultimately, become amongst the best of His creation. This can be seen in the following Aya: "indeed, they who have believed and done righteous deeds - those are the best of creatures." (Al-Bayyina: 7).
Furthermore, Allah, the Most Sublime, promised the doers of good to gain His forgiveness, His plentiful favours and generous rewards. The Most Gracious says, "Allah has promised those who believe and do righteous deeds [that] for them there is forgiveness and great reward." (Al-Maida: 9). So, for the righteous people is Allah's mercy and Paradise as their perpetual dwelling. The Almighty says, "indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds - for them are the Gardens of Pleasure." (Luqman: 8).
From this perspective, the Messenger of Allah pbuh was keenly interested in showing diligence in performing acts of obedience and drawing closer to His Lord. He also urged his companions, may Allah be pleased with them, to do all that was beneficial for them and their fellow people. Truly, that is dearer to Allah, more likely to be acceptable by Him and also has more durable positive impact on the community. Allah, the Most Exalted, says, "but as for that which benefits the people, it remains on the earth." (Ar-Raad: 17).
For this reason, the companions, may Allah be pleased with them, used to strive in performing righteous deeds and race towards accomplishing them in the most perfect manner possible, hoping that their acts would be accepted by Allah. Indeed, by so being, they earned the status of those whom Allah the Almighty praises saying, "and they who give what they give while their hearts are fearful because they will be returning to their Lord. It is those who hasten to good deeds, and they outstrip [others] therein." (Al-Muminoon: 60-61).
There is no doubt, they will outstrip because they made every effort to ensure acceptance of their acts and attainment of Allah's rewards. It was narrated, in this regard, that Abdullah Ibn Masud, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Indeed, it brings me greater joy to know that Allah has accepted one good action of mine, than owning the entire world full of gold."
Another example on such attitude is the one of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him. On one occasion, a beggar came to him and he told his son to give the beggar a gold dinar. When the beggar left, his son said to his father, "May Allah accept it from you, O beloved father." Ibn Umar said to him, "If I knew that Allah had accepted from me one prostration or charity of a single dirham, it would be more beloved to me than anything, but do you know from whom He accepts? Indeed, Allah only accepts from the righteous [who fear Him]." (Al-Maida: 27).
O Servants of Allah,
Having known this, it is good to advise each other on what conditions make our good acts acceptable and therefore rewarded by Allah. In fact, the causes for acceptance of good deeds are many. Amongst these causes is supplication. When one does an action, it is desirable that he/she supplicate to Allah to accept from him/her. A good example to follow on this account is the one of Ibrahim (Abraham), the intimate friend of Allah, and his son Ismail pbut. When Ibrahim was raising the foundations of the House and [with him] Ishmael, they said, "our Lord, accept [this] from us. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing." (Al-Baqara: 127). They were doing a good deed, so they implored to Allah the Almighty to accept it from them.
Amongst the other causes of acceptance of our righteous actions is to thank Allah, the Most Exalted, for granting us success to do such good deeds, following in this the people of Paradise when they praised their Lord and appreciated His favours. About them, Allah the Almighty says, "praise to Allah, who has guided us to this; and we would never have been guided if Allah had not guided us." (Al-Aaraf: 43). In this sense, part of showing gratitude to Allah, the Most Gracious, is to appreciate and thank those who do a favour to us. On this account, Allah, the Most High, mentions in His holy Book the prayers of His Prophet Suleiman (Solomon) pbuh, saying, "my Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to do righteousness of which You approve. And admit me by Your mercy into [the ranks of] Your righteous servants." (An-Naml: 19).
So, Ibrahim pbuh recognised his Lord's favour and showed gratefulness to him. Allah, the Almighty, has also mentioned another example in the holy Quran about another righteous person who supplicated, "my Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You will approve." (Al-Ahqaf: 15).
Such people who appreciate the favours that Allah has endowed upon them are, truly, the ones whose good work will be accepted and Allah will further forgive many of their flaws. He will accept their good acts no matter how small they were, and they are promised with Paradise wherein they will abide forever. About them, Allah the Almighty says, "those are the ones from whom We will accept the best of what they did and overlook their misdeeds, [their being] among the companions of Paradise. [That is] the promise of truth which they had been promised." (Al-Ahqaf: 16).
O Servants of Allah,
Amongst the other reasons for Allah to accept one's good deed is asking Him for forgiveness. So, when one performs one of the acts of obedience, he is recommended to seek Allah's forgiveness so that his good act is more likely to be accepted. Indeed, Allah, the Most Exalted and Sublime, in many occasions ordered His servants to remember Him much and turn to Him asking for pardoning after performing acts of worship. For instance, about Hajj, Allah the Almighty says, "then depart from the place from where [all] the people depart and ask forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (Al-Baqara: 199).
More to the point, Allah the All-High has mentioned a number of acts of worship to be followed by the request for forgiveness. The Almighty says, "so recite what is easy from it and establish prayer and give Zakat and loan Allah a goodly loan. And whatever good you put forward for yourselves - you will find it with Allah. It is better and greater in reward. And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."
In like manner, when the Messenger of Allah pbuh wanted to turn from his Salat (prayer), he would seek forgiveness from Allah three times. Allah the Almighty enjoined him to conclude his life, which was full of righteous deeds by seeking His forgiveness. The Most Exalted says, "when the victory of Allah has come and the conquest, and you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance." (Surat An-Nasr).
Having this in mind, let us seek Allah's favour to accept the righteous deeds of ours, guide us to be grateful to His bounties and forgives us our misdeeds.
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 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, 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 Exalted and Sublime.
O Worshipers,
Please know that you are urged to strive in the way of getting your acts of obedience accepted by Allah the Almighty by diligently reciting supplications, appreciating Allah's favours and asking Him for forgiveness. The reason is that acceptance of your deeds is a sign of Allah's satisfaction about your endeavour. So, make every effort that you may be amongst those Allah, the Most Great, described saying, "Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him." (Al-Maida: 119).
The merits of Allah's acceptance of one's righteous acts are many. It increases one's good deeds and expiate their bad ones, raising thereby their status on the Day of Judgment. Allah, the Most Just, says, "and for all are degrees from what they have done." (Al-Anaam: 132). When Allah, the Most Generous, accepts one's good acts, He provides him with happiness in this world and the best of rewards in the Hereafter. The Most High says, "whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do." (An-Nahl: 97).
To this effect, there are signs for the believer to know whether his/her righteous deed has been accepted by Allah the Almighty or not. One of such signs is the success in following the good action with another good one. This really reflects Allah's appreciation of the doers of good so that He increases their good acts. Allah the Almighty says, "and whoever commits a good deed - We will increase for him good therein." (Ash-Shoora: 23). Moreover, the Most Sublime and High will guide them to the deeds of righteousness and piety. The Most Exalted says, "and Allah increases those who were guided, in guidance." (Mariam: 76).
You are urged, therefore, dear worshipers, to work hard towards accomplishing the causes of Allah's acceptance of your good actions. So doing, you will, by Allah's grace, be amongst the successful in this life and the next. You should also nurture such attitude in the minds and hearts of your daughters and sons.
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.
May Allah have mercy on the honourable martyrs of our country and those of the coalition and gather them with the righteous. May Allah make their dwelling with the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favour of the prophets.
O Allah, please grant the best reward for the families of the martyrs and offer them patience and solace. May Allah grant victory to the soldiers of the Arab Coalition who gathered to restore the rights to their owners. O Lord, please be by their side and guide the Yemeni people to everything that is good.
O Lord, we beseech You to bless all of the Muslim countries and the whole world with stability and peace.
O Allah, we seek Your grace to increase the UAE in delight and beauty and give the best of rewards and recompense to whoever sowed the seeds of goodness and welfare in it. Indeed, You are the Most Merciful of the merciful.
May Allah grant success and continued health and care to the UAE President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. May Allah also ensure success to his Vice-President, trustworthy Crown Prince and his brothers, Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Emirates.
O Allah, please forgive all of the Muslims, men and women, living and dead. May Allah have mercy on Sheikh Zayed, Sheikh Maktoum and the Late UAE Sheikhs. O Lord, forgive and show mercy on them and bless them with Your kindness and satisfaction.
We pray to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, to continue blessing the UAE with stability and welfare and bless its provisions. O Allah, please continue blessing the UAE with safety and security.
O Allah, we seek Your favour to send us wealthy rain and make us not amongst those who are despondent. 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.
Remember Allah and He will remember you. Be grateful of His benevolence and He will increase His blessings to you.
Please stand up for prayer.