Sacrifice

All praise be to Allah creator and sustainer of the universe, who has gathered us
here for his worship, whose grace and giving are everlasting like his mercy. He
provides for us when we are undeserving and gives us even when we are not
asking him, and May Peace and Blessings be upon the best of creations
Muhammad (let us say)‫ﷺ‬.
I need everyone to think about someone you love, respect, want to be like and
will do anything if that person tells you to. For some of us it might be our parents;
we love our parents so much that if they tell us to leave something, we will. For
some people it might be a football player; if Ronaldo or Messi specifically
mentioned your name and told you to stop smoking you probably would do it. For
some, if a famous actor or the richest man on earth or any other legendary person
says to stop doing something bad, then they will probably leave it.
Now what if the Creator of you, me, our parents, the creator of the king of Dubai
and the creator of the richest man on earth, Allah the Almighty tells us to do
something, will we do it? What if Allah tells us to leave something, will we do it?
What if Allah tells us to leave something and promises to give us even better, will
we do it? Well, my brother’s The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬has given us good news. He
‫ ﷺ‬said, “Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty,
but that Allah will replace it with something better.” [Ahmed]
All of us are on the same journey in this life. A journey to earn the eternal mercy
of Allah and be admitted into Jannah. On our journey there will be many
distractions; the distraction will try to keep us away from obeying Allah and
earning His mercy. We all know our own distractions. They may be things that
Allah has made haram, such as looking at the haram, listening to haram, engaging
in haram relationships, wasting time in games for hours and not caring about
prayer and disobeying our parents. It is a duty upon us to reduce these
distractions, slowly, one after the other, for the sake of Allah.
You may be thinking, I really want to leave some bad things that I do, but how do I
stop? A person can leave something bad using one of two methods; either by
feeling motivated due to the reward of leaving something bad or fearing the
punishment of doing the bad action. In terms of the reward of leaving something
for the sake of Allah, as previously mentioned, Allah promises us to give us
something better as a replacement. As explained by the hadith, you really need to
give it up solely for the sake of Allah with the reward in mind. The main reason
should not be due to money, comfort, health, family status or what the people will
say. The primary reason should be due to your love for Allah.
Remember, if you leave a sin for the sake of Allah, Allah promises to replace it
with something much better. Better in this life and the next. And you don’t need
to worry, if Allah promises something, He WILL fulfill it. The story of Yusuf (A.S.)
shows how Allah gives something better when one leaves something for the sake
of Allah. Yusuf (A.S.) was seduced by the wife of the king. Instead of giving in,
Prophet Yusuf remained steadfast and as a result Allah made him the finance
minister of Egypt. So, from being a servant, Allah had made him the finance
minister of the country. What we learn from this is that if we leave anything for
the sake of Allah then Allah will replace it with something better.
No one is saying that you can change your bad habits overnight, it takes time. You
must make small changes, make dua to Allah, start having good friends and most
importantly know that Allah will give you something better in return.
Remember that one day you will stand before Allah, where your good deeds will
be weighed up against your wrongdoings. Allah says,
٧﴿ ‫﴾ َفُهَو ِفي ِع يَش ٍة َّراِض َيٍة‬٦﴿ ‫﴾َفَأَّم ا َم ن َثُقَلْت َم َو اِز يُنُه‬
﴾٩﴿ ‫﴾ َفُأُّم ُه َهاِو َيٌة‬٨﴿ ‫َو َأَّم ا َم ْن َخ َّفْت َم َو اِز يُنُه‬
Then as for one whose scales are heavy [with good deeds], (6) He will be in a
pleasant life. (7) But as for one whose scales are light, (8) His refuge will be an
abyss [101:6-9]
To summarise, all of us have distractions, whether that’s looking at haram,
listening to haram, engaging in haram relationships and others. We should leave
these things for the sake of Allah, as the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said,
“Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty, but that Allah
will replace it with something better.” [Ahmed]
‫‪We ask Allah to give us the Tawfeeq to decrease the number of distractions in our‬‬
‫‪lives and to forgive our sins and mistakes. Ameen.‬‬
‫َأُقوُل َقْو ِلي َهَذ ا‪َ ،‬و َأْسَتْغ ِفُر َهللا ِلي َو َلُك ْم ‪َ ،‬فاْسَتْغ ِفُروُه ِإَّنُه ُهَو الَغ ُفوُر الَّر ِح يُم‬

‫‪Second Part‬‬
‫َقاَل ُهَّللا َتَع اَلى ِإَّن َهَّللا َو َم اَل ِئَكَتُه ُيَص ُّلوَن َع َلى الَّنِبِّي َيا َأُّيَها اَّلِذ يَن آَم ُنوا َص ُّلوا َع َلْيِه َو َس ِّلُم وا َتْس ِليًم ا‪ :‬الّٰل ُھَّم َص ِّل‬
‫َع َلی ُمَح َّمٍد ‪َ ،‬و َع َلی آِل ُم َحَّمٍد ‪َ ،‬ک َم ا َص َّلْیَت َع َلی ِإْبَر اِھیَم ‪َ ،‬و َع َلی آِل ِإْبَر اِھیَم ‪ِ ،‬اَّنَك َح ِم ْیٌد َّم ِج ْیٌد الّٰل ُھَّم َباِر ْك َع َلی‬
‫ُمَح َّمٍد ‪َ ،‬و َع َلی آِل ُم َحَّمٍد ‪َ ،‬ک َم ا َباَر ْک َت َع َلی ِإْبَر اِھیَم ‪َ ،‬و َع َلی آِل ِإْبَر اِھیَم ‪ِ ،‬اَّنَك َحِم ْیٌد َّم ِج ْیٌد ‪.‬اّللُهَّم اْنُصْر َم ْن َنَص َر‬
‫‪ِ،‬د ْيَن ُمَح َّمٍد ﷺ َو اْج َع ْلَنا ِم ْنُهْم ‪َ ،‬و اْخ ُذ ْل َم ْن َخ َذ َل ِد ْيَن ُم َحَّمٍد ﷺ َو اَل َتْج َع ْلَنا ِم ْنُهْم‬
‫َر َّبَنا اَل ُتَؤ اِخ ْذ َنآ ِإن َّنِس يَنآ َأْو َأْخ َطْأَناۚ َر َّبَنا َو اَل َتْح ِم ْل َع َلْيَنآ ِإْص ًرا َك َم ا َح َم ْلَت ۥُه َع َلى ٱَّلِذ يَن ِم ن َقْبِلَناۚ َر َّبَنا َو اَل ُتَح ِّم ْلَنا‬
‫َم ا اَل َطاَقَة َلَنا ِبِهۦۖ َو ٱْعُف َع َّنا َو ٱْغ ِفْر َلَنا َو ٱْر َحْم َنآۚ َأنَت َم ْو َلٰى َنا َفٱنُصْر َنا َع َلى ٱْلَقْو ِم ٱْلَك ٰـِفِر يَن‬
‫‪Rabanna Duas‬‬
‫َر َّبَنا َتَقَّبْل ِم َّنا ِإَّنَك َأْنَت الَّس ِم يُع اْلَعِليُم‬
‫ِعَباَد ِهللا‪َ ،‬ر ِح َم ُك ُم ُهللا‪ِ ،‬إَّن َهَّللا َيْأُم ُر ِباْلَع ْد ِل َو اِإْل ْح َس اِن ‪َ ،‬و ِإيَتاِء ِذ ي اْلُقْر َبى‪َ ،‬و َيْنَهى َع ِن اْلَفْح َش اِء َو اْلُم ْنَك ِر َو اْلَبْغ ي‪،‬‬
‫‪َ.‬يِع ُظُك ْم َلَع َّلُك ْم َتَذَّك ُروَن‬