?Do you permit me to give it to the elders

Do you permit me to give it to the elders?

Translated by: Alamgeer Usmani.

(Praise be to Allah, whose dazzling signs witness His presence, and His innermost and apparent blessings attest to His generosity, and the moving celestial bodies and the raining clouds glorify Him, and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, He is alone and has no partner, Kingdom belongs to Him, praise belongs to Him. He is powerful over all things. And I bear witness that our Master and Prophet Muhammad is the servant of Allah, His Messenger, and he His chosen and beloved servant among His creation.

“O the best of those who are buried at the bottom of earth, how much you are great!

You are the bearer of glad tidings, a warner, and the enlightenment The bottom and the hillock have become full of fragrance because of you.

You are the prophet whose intercession is hoped for, on the path, when the foot will stumble.

is sought from you.

And you are the intercessor for whole mankind when remorse will encompass them”.

May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his family, his companions, the followers, and those who follow them in goodness until the Day of Judgment.).

Afterwards,

I advise myself and you to fear Allah, to increase the acts of righteousness and obedience, and to stay away from disobedience to the Allah, Glory be to Him. Because the disobedience is a way which leads to Hellfire. May Allah save us and you from it.

Servant of Allah, today we can do acts and there is no reckoning but, tomorrow there will be reckoning, and we won’t be able to do acts. Allah the Almighty said:

﴿ يَوْمَ تَجِدُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مُحْضَرًا وَمَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ سُوءٍ تَوَدُّ لَوْ أَنَّ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَهُ أَمَدًا بَعِيدًا وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَهُ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ ﴾ [آل عمران: 30].

“On the day when everybody shall find present before him whatever good he did and whatever evil he wrought, he will wish there would have been a wide space between him and that (day). Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is compassionate to (His) servants.”.

Brothers in Faith,

Prophetic stance seems lighter, but it has great meanings and noble morals in it. On the authority of Sahl bin Saad, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: “A tumbler (full of milk or water) was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ) who drank from it, while on his right side there was sitting a boy who was the youngest of those who were present and on his left side there were old men. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked, "O boy, will you allow me to give it (i.e., the rest of the drink) to the old men?" The boy said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)!    I will not give preference to anyone over me to drink the rest of it from which you have drunk." So, the Prophet (ﷺ) gave it to him.” (Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim).

My honorable brother,

Before we discuss some of the benefits of this honorable stance of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

Imagine with me, if a reliable person tells you that he attended a meeting in which the king, three ministers and a young boy were present. The king sought permission from a boy to give ministers before him, but the boy refused!

Honorable people,

One of the lessons in this noble prophetic stance is: that the assembly of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was open to all, it used to be attended by the old and the young people, and even the youths used to be closer than some of the adults.

Among the lessons of this stance is: that we must show humility for the young by sitting with them, conversing with them, and asking for their permission if they have a right.

And look at the one who is asking for permission here, is the best of all mankind, and the one who is asked for permission, is a young boy. O teacher, and the educator, how good effect it will make if you ask permission from the youngster regarding his rights, even if it is a pen or a piece of paper from a notebook.

Among the benefits is: that when the young man reassures about the old man and does not fear something which he will dislike, he can express his opinion, even if his answer is against the desire of the questioner.

Among the benefits is to care for the talented people. The boy who attended this gathering is Ibn Abbas, to whom the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed “Oh Allah, give him deep understanding of the religion and teach him interpretation” (Sahih Ibn Hibban). And what shows his intelligence and ingenuity the boy’s gentle response: "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! I will not give preference to anyone over me to drink the rest of it from which you have drunk”. And he did not say no.

إنّ الهلالَ إذا رأيت نموَه أيقنت أن سيكون بدرا كاملا

(When you see the growth of crescent

Be sure, it would be a full moon).

Among the lessons of this prophetic attitude is to take into consideration the feelings of others and to winn their hearts.

(O boy, will you allow me to give it to the old men?"). In this saying, there is a sense of “making old men feel pleased and expressing the honor and the respect for elders”.

Among the lessons-learned is: the purity of the souls of the Companions, may God be pleased with them, so, there was no objection, criticism or blame among the companions of prophet.

And whoever wants to see the morals of prophet, let him look that how he used to deal with those who were less than him, whether he is a child, a servant, or others.

May Allah the Almighty benefit me and you with Qur’an and the Sunnah, and with the wisdom and verse which are in them, and ask for Allah’s forgiveness, for, He is Forgiving.

Second sermon

Praise be to Allah...

Then,

Among the lessons-learned is: the respecting others is a noble prophetic guidance. Here, his respect for the boy is apparent. Rather, by God, one will wonder that the respect is prescribed for the dead too. Although the dead is a corpse whose soul has left his body, but it has great sanctity. In the hadith “breaking the bone of the dead is like breaking the bone of alive person.” (It is included by Abu Dawood and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih and authenticated by Al-Albani.).

Also, after the washing of dead body and before its burial, the order came to stand up when the funeral passes, “If you see the funeral, stand up.” Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.

and the hadith is reported by Muslim regarding after the burial: “It is better that one of you should sit on live coals which would burn his clothing and come in contact with his skin than that he should sit on a grave”.

Among the lessons of this stance is: preserving the rights of people, even if they are weak. The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, asked him for permission. Because, it was the habit of prophet that he used to give to those who were on his right, as it is reported in the two authentic books on the authority of Anas bin Malik, may God be pleased with him, who said: Once Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) visited us in this house of ours and asked for something to drink. We milked one of our sheep and mixed it with water from this well of ours and gave it to him. Abu Bakr was sitting on his left side and `Umar in front of him and a Bedouin on his right side. When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) finished, `Umar said to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) "Here is Abu Bakr." But Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) gave the remaining milk to the Bedouin and said twice, "The (persons on the) right side! So, start from the right side." Anas added, "It is a Sunna (the Prophet's traditions)" and repeated it thrice.

﴿ لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا ﴾ [الأحزاب: 21].

“There is indeed a good model for you in the Messenger of Allah - for the one who has hope in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah profusely”.