Devotion to Sheikh Zayed, the benevolent



Devotion to Sheikh Zayed, the benevolent

First sermon

Praise be to Allah, Who is The Generous, The Merciful, The Bestower and The Provider. He favours those He loves with satisfaction and acceptance. I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. Allah has preferred him over many others and selected him to be his Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Guide Muhammad, his family, his companions, and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of judgment.

As to what follows, I call upon myself first and all of you to be ever conscious and do construct our lives in accordance to what He has ordered us as He says, “O you who have believed, fear Allah. And let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow - and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do.” (Al Hashr:18).

O Believers,

Allah, The Most Exalted, has made the month of Ramadan an opportunity for people to compete for doing good in compliance with His instructions: “and do good - that you may succeed.” (Al Haj:77). Therefore, whoever has got good qualities, seeking to please Allah and walking in the footsteps of the winners, Allah will let him be amongst the successful of His servants.

Indeed, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may Allah rest his soul in peace and make the paradise his eternal abode, was an epitome of such noble characteristics. He was known for his giving to which everyone had witnessed, founded our country and laid the solid ground for it to prosper.

No sooner had he assumed the leadership than he initiated a process of giving and benevolence and so he put the cornerstone of the UAE’s history. Truly his achievements are there for anyone to see and are speaking for him. O so blessed is he who, by the guidance of Allah, becomes an initiator of good deeds, as our Prophet Muhammad said, “indeed from amongst the people are those who are keys to goodness and closures of evil. And indeed from amongst the people are keys to evil and closures to goodness. So glad tidings for the one who Allah has made him a key to goodness.”

O Servants of Allah,

One of the most important virtues and exploits of the Late Sheikh Zayed, may Allah rest his soul in peace, was his keen interest in people. For this purpose, he devoted the country’s resources to building human capital with the aim of achieving the comprehensive development all over the country. As a result, Emiratis have obtained highest scientific degrees, gained experience and achieved many accomplishments.

He also strived to inculcate the noble values of faith and promote religious awareness. This came out of his heartfelt interest in the Holy Quran for which he established memorisation centres in accordance with what our Prophet said, “The best among you are those who learn the Quran and teach it.”

Furthermore, he took care of the houses of Allah as is mentioned in the Quran: “The mosques of Allah are only to be maintained by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and establish prayer and give zakah and do not fear except Allah.” (Attawba:18). Thus he encouraged the building of mosques, and was always at the forefront monitoring every step of their construction. Once a mosque is built, he used to pray there, asking forgiveness and seeking Allah’s satisfaction. He also used to beseech Allah to bless the people and the land with plenty of provision. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “whoever builds a mosque for Allah’s sake, then Allah will build for him one like that in Paradise.”

It is a bounty from Allah, The Most Gracious is He, that the UAE has become endowed with lots of mosques with high minarets, relaying the voice of truth and in which the name of Allah is remembered. Those mosques have also the privilege to host religious lectures, especially in Ramadan, which are presented by prominent scholars coming from all over the world to benefit the UAE community with their knowledge and experience. This is a great favour and one among those good traditions that Allah has asked His servants to follow. About which, the Prophet Muhammad said, "whoever makes a good way (Sunna Hasana) in Islam will have the same obligatory reward as the reward of those that follow him, without this depleting anything of their rewards."

This  also showed to what extent the late Sheikh Zayed had had the passion for knowledge and held a high esteem for scholars. In his pursuit, he was committed to spreading principles of moderation and promoting noble values amongst the community.

Dear Muslims,

The late Sheikh Zayed went down in history as a wise and humanitarian leader in the modern era. He was both a loving father and sponsor for the outsider and people far away. He rightly deserved this title as he always answered the call for helping poor and needy people. Indeed, it is the like of him that best fits the description by the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when he said, "verily, the Exalted Allah has special groups of people on whom He bestows His blessings to offer to His servants."

The fruits of the late father, the leader and founder of UAE, were not restricted to the people of UAE. Rather they reached different parts of the world, and stood as a witness to his kind generosity. He sponsored many orphans, helped the poor and satisfied their needs. All of these deeds and achievements has placed a revered rank of his character in the hearts of the people.

Therefore, he has widely been loved and that was an evidence of Allah's love for him too. Our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said,  "If Allah loves a person, He calls Jibreel (Gabriel), saying, 'Allah loves so and so, O Jibreel love him' So Jibreel would love him and then would make an announcement in the Heavens: 'Allah has loved so and-so therefore you should love him also.' So all the dwellers of the Heavens would love him, and then he is granted the pleasure of the people on the earth."

May Allah let us be among His virtuous servants and help us to obey Him and those He has ordained upon us to obey, in compliance with His injunctions: "O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you." (Annisaa:59).

May Allah bless you and me with the ability to implement the Holy Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger Muhammad (pbuh). I say this and pray to Allah, the Almighty, to grant us forgiveness. Supplicate to Allah for forgiveness for He is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful.

Second sermon

Praise be to Allah. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is His servant and messenger, who was true to his promise. May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

Dear Believers,

Please fear Allah and be aware that these good deeds and great accomplishments remain continuous by Allah’s grace. Today, we enjoy limitless blessings while the UAE is continuing to achieve its great prosperity and with a formidable determination is climbing the ladder of progress and development out of Allah's bounty as He says, "Say, "In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy-in that let them rejoice." (Yunus:58).

Allah has commanded you an order to which He and His angels are both committed, when He says, "Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect." (Al Ahzab:56).

The Prophet (pbuh) said, "for everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah." May the peace and the  blessings of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad (pbuh), his family and all his companions. May Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

O Allah, we seek Your favour to let our hearts be full of Your gratitude and keep our tongue moist with Your remembrance. May Allah bless us with good provision, accepted work, beneficial knowledge, well-being in mind and body and blessed living life and progeny.

O Allah, increase Your blessings upon us and do not withhold Your provision from us, honour us and do not disgrace us, give us and do not deprive us,  advocate us and do not disfavour us. O Allah, bestow upon us Your satisfaction and grant us self-content. O Allah, make piety our pursuit, solidify our faith and increase our wisdom.

O Allah, we seek Your mercy and forgiveness.  We turn to You in repentance, put our hope and trust in You to guide us to do the righteous actions and accept our supplications to You. We also beseech You to confer on us safety from every sin, and booty of all righteousness, and to win Paradise and deliverance from the Hellfire.

O Allah, we implore You at this instant not to let a sin unforgiven, a distress unrelieved, an illness unhealed or a handicapped without relief, a dead without mercy or a debt unsettled. Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the life to come and keep us safe from the torment of the Fire.

May Allah grant our leader HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Deputy, HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, success and provide strength and support to his brothers, Their Highness The Rulers of the Emirates, and his trustworthy Crown Prince HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

O Allah, forgive all of the Muslims, men and women, living and dead, and make blessings follow us and them. May Allah have mercy on Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Maktoum and all their brothers, the Late UAE Sheikhs. O Lord, forgive and show mercy, You are the Ever Merciful and there is no strength nor power save with Allah, the High, the Great.

O Allah, grant the favour of Your forgiveness to whoever have donated a Waqf to benefit Your servants and bless the wealth of whoever have given Zakat. We beseech You to bestow Your forgiveness and great reward upon who built this mosque, his parents and anyone who have contributed to it with good deeds. O Allah, forgive anyone who built a mosque in which Your Name is remembered.

We pray to Allah, the Most Gracious, to continue blessing the UAE and all Muslim countries with safety and security.

O Servants of Allah, Remember Allah and He will Remember you. Be grateful for His benevolence He will increase His blessings to you. Allah, the Most High, says, "And establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do." (Al Ankaboot:45).

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