The Fourth Pillar of the Quran - The Hereafter
English Transcript of Khutbah by Sheikh Mustafa Hegazy
Friday 3rd February 2023/13th Rajab 1444
My dear brothers and sisters as we continue through the month of Rajab, we start to feel the breezes of Ramadan. We get the sense that Ramadan is becoming very close. This is how we are used to, once Rajab comes, we start to get this note that Ramadan is coming very close.
This is why many of our ancestors used to say Rajab is the month that you plant the seeds in, and Shabaan is the month that you start to give water to the seeds, and Ramadan is the month in which you harvest. If you didn't put the seeds in Rajab, and if you didn't irrigate the seeds and give it water in Shabaan, how would you expect to harvest in Ramadan? That is why they used to prepare themselves for Ramadan, starting in Rajab, and before Rajab even.
Ramadan is the month, as we know, that Allah SWT has chosen over all other months. We all know that. Allah has put blessings in Ramadan more than any other month. Ramadan is the month when the Qur’an started descending on the Prophet PBUH. And the Prophet in Ramadan he used to read the Qur’an and become more close to the Qur’an, more than any other month.
As we know, he used to revise the Qur’an with Sayyidina Jibril in Ramadan.That is why during Ramadan besides fasting we come with the Qur’an and we read the Qur’an. But when we approach the Qur’an, as we always say, not only by reading the Qur’an but by pondering the meaning of the Qur’an, getting the wisdom and what Allah SWT wants to tell us from every verse in the Qur’an.
This will take us now to our main topics that we have been talking about for a while about the major topics of the Qur’an. The scholars have said that there are five major subjects that you will find in almost every surah of the Qur’an. Not just one surah or two surahs, in almost all the surah’s of the Qur’an. These five pillars, five subjects of the Qur’an, we’ve talked about three so far.
We talked about the first pillar which is Allah SWT.
We talked about the second pillar which is the universe which will lead you to Allah.
We talked about the stories in the Qur’an.
Today we will talk about the fourth pillar and the fourth subject that you find the Qur’an speaking about a lot through the whole Qur’an, which is the Hereafter, Ad dar al akhira, al ba’ath, resurrection, the day of judgement.
My dear brothers and sisters, today we talk as we said, about the fourth major topic in the Qur’an which is the Hereafter. And this is a topic that you will find in almost every page of the whole Qur’an, at least a reference to it.
But the one who reads the Qur’an he will notice that many times, almost twenty times, Allah SWT He combines, Al Iman BilLah, believing in Allah with believing in the Hereafter, and not mentioning any other pillar of faith, just the believing in the Hereafter with the believing in Allah.
“Whoever believes in Allah and believes in the Hereafter” that's it.
﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾
You have a role model la qad kana lakum fi rasulillahi uswatun hasana for who? Leman kana yarjullAha wal yawmul akhir. Whoever seeks Allah and seeks the Hereafter.
Why? And not only that, but also Allah SWT when He talked about the Hereafter, He talked about it from every angle.He covered all the steps of the trip of the Hereafter. Rihlat ad dar al akhira.
But as we know, the trip of the Hereafter for each one of us, it is not the trip of the Hereafter of the whole universe, which means, each one of us his trip to the Hereafter, to the Day of Judgement, starts from the day he passes away. This is the first step. It doesn’t matter when the Day of Judgement is. The day you die, this is your first step into the Hereafter. But the whole universe, the first step of the Hereafter is the Day of Judgement.
So, Allah SWT talks about every step of the trip to Allah,to the Hereafter. He talked about death - the first step
Every soul will taste death. (Al-Anbiyah 21:35)
He talked about how people will rise up again.
﴿مِنْهَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ وَفِيهَا نُعِيدُكُمْ وَمِنْهَا نُخْرِجُكُمْ تَارَةً أُخْرَى﴾
From the earth We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you back again. (Taha 20:55)
Allah has talked about the Day of Judgement and how there will be a scale that will weigh every action you do.
Allah talked about everything, about the Heaven and the reward, and about the Hell Fire and the punishment. Everything Allah talked about in the Qur’an in the Hereafter.
And also regarding the Day of Judgement, we know many surah’s in the Qur’an have the names of the Day of Judgement:
Al-Ghashiyah
AL-Qari'ah
Al-Haqqah
At-Taghabun
And so on, many names of the day of Judgement in the Qur’an!
But each name of the Day of Judgement, and it's not just names, but it gives you one of the characteristics of the Day of Judgement.
So, Allah SWT when He talked about the Day of Judgement in the Qur’an, the miracle about the Qur’an; Allah didn't describe the Day of Judgement in the Qur’an, but Allah SWT has given us as we say, live scenes from the Day of Judgement, like snapshots, something living, that you feel that you see the Day of Judgement, that you feel that you live the Day of Judgement.
This is how the Qur’an gives you the shots, the scenes of the Day of Judgement.
When Allah describes someone looking for his friend, a bad friend, who wanted to make him have doubts about the Day of Judgement.
قَالَ قَآئِلٞ مِّنۡهُمۡ إِنِّي كَانَ لِي قَرِينٞ (51) يَقُولُ أَءِنَّكَ لَمِنَ ٱلۡمُصَدِّقِينَ (52) أَءِذَا مِتۡنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابٗا وَعِظَٰمًا أَءِنَّا لَمَدِينُونَ (53) قَالَ هَلۡ أَنتُم مُّطَّلِعُونَ (54) فَٱطَّلَعَ فَرَءَاهُ فِي سَوَآءِ ٱلۡجَحِيمِ (55) قَالَ تَٱللَّهِ إِن كِدتَّ لَتُرۡدِينِ (56) وَلَوۡلَا نِعۡمَةُ رَبِّي لَكُنتُ مِنَ ٱلۡمُحۡضَرِينَ (57) أَفَمَا نَحۡنُ بِمَيِّتِينَ (58) إِلَّا مَوۡتَتَنَا ٱلۡأُولَىٰ وَمَا نَحۡنُ بِمُعَذَّبِينَ (59) إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ ٱلۡفَوۡزُ ٱلۡعَظِيمُ (60)
He said: “I had a friend and he used to tell me, Do you still believe in these fairy tales about the Day of Judgement and people will stand between the hands of Allah?”
So he said: “Where is he now?”
You feel that you are watching a movie. Allah will show him this man, who didn't believe in the Day of Judgement, far deep in the Hell Fire.
This man will say: “Thank God that I didn't follow that friend.”
When Allah talks about how the people who mislead and the people who followed them will argue together on the Day of Judgement. Allah SWT has made the Day of Judgement something live, something to see it with your own eyes. Here maybe we come to the Question of, why was that focus of the Qur’an on the Day of Judgement, why all this mentioning of the Day of Judgement in every step of the whole Qur’an.
My dear brothers and sisters, maybe we need to talk about why did Allah SWT focussed in the Qur’an about the Hereafter, mentioning it in almost every page of the Qur’an.
Why?
Many things. We will just try to say a few, the first thing is as they said there is no law on earth that can make each one watch himself and correct his manner and watch what he is saying and which step he takes, there is no law more powerful than when you know that everything you will be questioned in front of Allah SWT about.
When you are sitting by yourself in a dark room, you know that Allah SWT is watching you. Everything you say, everything you do, whatever small, Surah Al Zalzalah 99:7-8.
﴿فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ﴾
So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it.
﴿وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ﴾
And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.
That is why they said believing in Allah alone, it will not be enough, until you know that you will be questioned between the Hands of Allah.
The other thing which is, there is nothing which can give you compensation on this earth, when you lose the most dearest to your heart than that you know that Allah SWT will compensate you on the Day of Judgement, more than you could ever imagine. When you hear Allah SWT say: Those who have been patient, those who took whatever We give them and whatever we took from them, they have been patient, We will reward them immensely on the Day of Judgement.
Also, there is nothing on earth when we see how the dictators and how people have spread Fasad fil ard and have been unjust to many of the righteous people, nothing will give you the piece of mind more than you know that Allah SWT is just giving them time and the day will come when they will stand between the Hands of Allah and they will be punished for what they did. When you know that Allah SWT says: The day will come. So, don't you even think that Allah doesn’t see those dictators, Allah does not see those tyrants, don't ever think or doubt this.
My dear brothers and sisters, we also mentioned that some people used to negotiate about the Day of Judgement. They doubt that there will ever be a Day of Judgement and as we say, al Kufr, for those who don’t believe, they are the same from thousands of years ago and the same today. They are all the same. At the time of the Prophet PBUH, they said we just live and we just die. It's just a matter of days, no one will be questioned. And today, they say the same. This world just came like this and will end in one night and it's finished. Why? They don't want to be questioned. They live just for this Dunya. That's why the Qur’an talks a lot about the Day of Judgement,making it so clear that nobody should doubt about this any more.
— First Khutbah ends —
Second Khutbah:
My dear brothers and sisters, one day a man came to the Prophet PBUH and asked him, “When is the Day of Judgement?” and the Prophet said, Waylak,doomed! Why did the Prophet say this? Because the Prophet didnt want him to focus on what he shouldn’t focus, so he told him, “And what did you prepare for the Day of Judgement?”
رَجُلًا مِن أهْلِ البَادِيَةِ أتَى النَّبيَّ صلَّى اللهُ عليه وسلَّم فَقالَ: يا رَسولَ اللَّهِ، مَتَى السَّاعَةُ قَائِمَةٌ؟ قالَ: ويْلَكَ! وما أعْدَدْتَ لَهَا؟
Some people, some young people I know, many people focus day and night on the Signs of the Day of Judgement, the Miracles that will happen, this is not the point. The point is this should be like a force, to make you come to the Mosque, to make you work hard in this life, to make you do the good deeds and not waiting for the reward from anyone. It should be a driving force for you, not to make you focus on the signs of the Day of Judgement, but to drive you to work hard regarding seeking the Day of Judgement. This is the point the Prophet PBUH wanted to teach us.
And the Prophet also said, “On the Day of Judgement each one of You, Allah will speak with him, with no translator, nothing between him and Allah SWT. And on that Day, this man will look on his right hand and he will only see what he has done. And on the left and will only see what he has done in this Dunya, and he will look in front and see the Hellfire. This is another narration of the hadith. So the Prophet said, “Fear Allah, make a barrier between you and the Hellfire even by half a date.
لَيَلْقَيَنَّ اللَّهَ أحَدُكُمْ يَومَ يَلْقَاهُ، وليسَ بيْنَهُ وبيْنَهُ تَرْجُمَانٌ يُتَرْجِمُ له، فَلَيَقُولَنَّ له: ألَمْ أبْعَثْ إلَيْكَ رَسولًا فيُبَلِّغَكَ؟ فيَقولُ: بَلَى، فيَقولُ: ألَمْ أُعْطِكَ مَالًا وأُفْضِلْ عَلَيْكَ؟ فيَقولُ: بَلَى، فَيَنْظُرُ عن يَمِينِهِ فلا يَرَى إلَّا جَهَنَّمَ، ويَنْظُرُ عن يَسَارِهِ فلا يَرَى إلَّا جَهَنَّمَ. قَالَ عَدِيٌّ: سَمِعْتُ النبيَّ صَلَّى اللهُ عليه وسلَّمَ يقولُ: اتَّقُوا النَّارَ ولو بشِقَّةِ تَمْرَةٍ، فمَن لَمْ يَجِدْ شِقَّةَ تَمْرَةٍ فَبِكَلِمَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ
Which means, do and give for the sake of Allah, and do not underestimate anything that you give for the sake of Allah. As we know, it is only about sincerity. Maybe one dinar has preceded a thousand dinar or a thousand pounds because this was sincere for Allah SWT.
And I just remind you my dear brothers and sisters, some of our brothers today they come from Belfast and I have been in Belfast before. They are very close to me, and they are collecting money, donations for building a mosque in Belfast. In the whole of Northern Ireland, they don't have one mosque. If you can imagine. It is all just houses. So this is the first time ever their dream might come true,and they will have a mosque, a big central mosque and we urge everyone if they can support them with anything, and don't underestimate whatever you give.
You never know what thing that could protect you from the Hellfire and what will get you to Jannah.
Belfast Islamic Centre: Paypal link for donations
Belfast Islamic Centre: Instagram Page for Updates on their Project and Activities
