All praises belong to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, Who said on His Perfect revealed Book: “Indeed, Allah will admit those who have believed and done righteous deeds to gardens beneath which rivers flow, but those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as grazing livestock eat, and the Fire will be a residence for them” (Muhammad:12).
He is the One Who favours whomever He wills among His servants by guiding them to Eeman, and He makes them detest disbelief, wrongdoing and disobedience. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone. He has no partner. He is Absolute in His Perfection, His Majesty, His Greatness and in His Authority.
I bear witness also that our leader and our prophet, Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, the one that was sent to the whole of mankind and Jinns. He conveyed the message of his Lord and explained the goal of the message. May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him and his household and companions who fought rightly in the path of Allah until they spread justice, security and the Faith. May the abundant Peace of Allah be upon them all.
Thereafter, I enjoin you and myself with the fear of Allah, the Almighty. Fear Allah so He may have mercy on you in accordance with the Words of Allah Ta’alah: “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. And be not like those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves. Those are the defiantly disobedient.” (Al-Hashr: 18-19).
Brothers in Faith! This is the fourth Jumu’ah in the month of Jumaadal-Aakhirah, the sixth of the Islamic months, and the topic of our sermon today will be about the display of extravagance: causes, effects and remedies.
Dear honourable Muslims! Between the people of Paradise and the people of Hell there is a vast difference. These ones (people of Al-Jannah) have joined their hearts and their deeds in this world to Allah so they can attain his Pleasure and Generosity in the Hereafter. So He granted them His Favour and Bounty, after which there is no misery ever. Those other (people of the Fire) turned away from Allah, and so they left the world with all their greed and evil. They threw behind their nacks, the Commands and the Messages of Allah. So there’s no difference between them and animals in their greed and the attainment of pleasure. Then their end is the constant punishment with which the the one who suffers it forgets any pleasure (that he may have enjoyed in the world) with the first dip in the fire.
Allah Ta’alah said: “Indeed, Allah will admit those who have believed and done righteous deeds to gardens beneath which rivers flow, but those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as grazing livestock eat, and the Fire will be a residence for them” (Muhammad:12).
Brothers in Islaam! Muslim are pained by what they see and experience from the social bahaviour and tendencies around them, which are largely prevalent in our Arab and Muslim societies, and which are against the directives and guidance of the religion of Islaam. Among these negative social manifestations is extravagance in spending, and spending on various facets of the enjoyment of life and its attractions in the face of other Muslims. So you see some of them, for example, building mansions and skyscrapers, building that he has no need for in his life but only built them so he can boast and brag about them and showing off among people. You see some people being wasteful with food and drink.
So on certain occasions you see someone prepare tables on which he puts thousands of varieties of food and drink that is sufficient for hundreds of people, but he only invites not more than a few tens of people! And you see him bring maid-servants and spend a lot on decorations, much of which is needless and useless beyond being forbidden luxury and vain extravagance. There is no doubt that these bad social manifestations have great effects on the extravagant individual himself, as well as on the society that he lives in.
Some Manifestations of Extravagance
Oh Muslim brothers! Extravagance has many manifestations, some of which including:
1- Excessive eating and drinking
2- Spending a lot of money on clothes and giving undue importance to popular ones in vogue.
3- Spending money on luxury cars and following the various models
4- Showing off about building and interior decoration.
5- Excess in luxurious beddings and furniture.
6- Chasing after antiques and aesthetic artworks.
7- A person not wanting to attend to his own chores and needs himself and depending on maids for these things and bragging about them.
8- Wasting time in means of relaxation and light talks beyond the limits of Sharia, so much that recreation itself now brings the need to rest .
Reasons for Extravagance
Dear honourable servants of Allah! There are many reasons for extravagance at the present time, among which are :
1- Long wish
2- Forgetting death
3- Being unaware of, or not caring for, what Allah has prepared for His righteous servants
4- Abundance of money and blessings
5- Blind imitation and the pressure of society
6- Ignorance of the harm caused by extravagance and its effects.
Effects of Extravagance
1- Waste of time and widespread vanity
2 – Lack of eagerness on obedience to Allah and false consoling for not seeking nearness to Allah Ta’alah with nawaafil, salaat, fasting, and from getting involved in good efforts, learning and teaching.
3- Following the sayings of scholars in order to take the easier ones
4- Attachment to vain things, weakness of thoughtfulness, lack of understanding, lack of ability for constructive criticism, the spread of imitation or ‘follow-follow’, and being easy to manipulate and trapped into whatever is wanted from him so easily.
5- Hardness of the heart, deprivation of acumen and forgetfulness of knowledge, as a result of the brevity of thoughtful reflection about the many facets of this worldly life.
6- Little self-accountability, assessment and review of his own good deeds, which leads to lethargy and laziness without him realising it.
7 – Inability to endure calamities, and withstand problems and occurrences.
8- The body becoming flabby and weak, and becoming obese, which makes doing good deeds burdensome to them and also lead to many diseases despite their young age.
9- Deviation of the extravagant individual from the right path and he does not even feel the effect of the excessiveness in permissible things.
10- Marveling in oneself and being proud and exalting oneself over others.
Remedies for Extravagance
Brothers in Faith and Piety!, Indeed for every disease there is a cure. The cure for extravagance is the following:
1- Returning to the guidance of the righteous predecessors by reading their stories and their situations, with a conscious and constant, regular study of the life of the leader of the Prophets and Messengers, Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon them all)
2- Training the soul to wean oneself, such that it does not have to get everything that it desires and demands.
3- Looking at the pleasures of this worldly life and that it gives way to the abode of the hereafter, and remembering what Allah has promised the believers in this world and the hereafter, and that extravagance is not befitting for a muslim.
4- Knowing that extravagance and luxury is not one of the means of attaining happiness. How many extravagant ones revel in all the things they are favoured with and even with that you see that there is some psychological or mental illnesses that disturbs the enjoyment of those blessings, such as too much confusion and dilemma, obsession, anxiety, and so on.
5- Reflecting on the consequences of extravagance in the hereafter, and the standing before Allah Ta’alah for accountability.
6 – Striving to do a lot of voluntary good deeds and acts of worship.
THE SECOND SERMON:
All praises are due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. We thank Him, the Exalted, we believe in Him and rely upon Him. We beseech the peace and blessings of Allah upon the best of creation, the master of the Arabs and non-Arabs, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, his family and companions and those who followed them in goodness until a day when no money or children will benefit except those who come to Allah with a sound heart.
Thereafter, o servants of Allah, at this moment, it is worthy that we mention the emerging ignorant manifestation that is widespread in the country generally and within Yoruba land in particular, and that is the tribalistic tendencies that has been prohibited by Islam a long time ago, which has caused the state of insecurity at this moment. We are duty bound to explain the position of Islam on it.
Brothers in Islam, before the advent of Islam, the Arabs were in constant quarrel, and tough wars for trivial reasons, they were governed by tribalism and pre-Islamic strife, as it was between the Aws and Khazraj, until Islam came, so it (Islam) put out that fire, and joined between them on the basis of religion and faith. Allah, the Exalted says: ((واعْتَصِمُوا بحبلِ اللهِ جميعا ولا تفرَّقُوا واذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللهِ عليْكُمْ إذْ كُنتُمْ أعداء فألف بين قلوبكم فأصبحتم بنعمته إخوانا وكنتم على شفا حفرة من النار فأنقذكم منها كذلك يبين الله لكم آياته لعلكم تهتدون ) (آل عمران:103) (And stand fast By the conception of God all together, and do not be divided, and remember the blessings of God upon you. If you were enemies, then he wrapped your hearts together, and by His grace you became brothers and you were on the brink of a pit of fire, so I will save you from it. Likewise, God shows you His revelations so that you may be guided. (Al-Imran: 103)
Asabiyyah (Tribalism): is the support for someone whose matter you care about, whether right or wrong, and Islam has prohibited tribalism for any association other than the bond of religion and faith, and considers solidarity or favouritism to other than the bond of religion as a call to Jahiliyya (days of ignorance) call, as in the saying of the Prophet, (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) “Indeed Allah removed Jahiliyyah from you, and its boasting about lineage. [Indeed a person is either] a pious believer, or a miserable sinner. And people are all the children of Adam, and Adam was [created] from dust.” (Tirmidhi)
He also said: (Whoever is killed (while fighting) under the banner of blind allegiance to a cause (i. e. do not know whether their cause is just or otherwise), calling to family pride, or supporting family pride (tribalism), then he has died a death of Jahiliyyah.’ (Narrated by Muslim)
Islam has established one single standard by which it relates with people and that is the bond of religion and brotherhood, and that the differentiation between them is through piety, not by race, or by gender. Allah, the Exalted says: “The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allah that you may receive mercy.” (Al-Hujurat: 10).
So this verse and its likes in the Quran indicate that calling for a bond other than Islam, such as the tribalistic disposition known as nationalism, and other ties is not permissible.
▪︎BEING THE FOURTH SERMON FOR THE MONTH OF JUMAADAL-AAKHIRAH DATED 23RD JUMAADAL-AAKHIRAH 1442 AH (5TH FEBRUARY, 2021 CE)