A Friday sermon by Ustaadh Moosaa Richardson (1443.3.9)

All praise is due to Allah alone, and so we praise Him, ask Him to assist us, and beg Him to forgive us. We seek refuge with Him from the evils from our own selves and from the evil results of our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides cannot be led astray by anyone; whomever Allah leaves astray cannot be guided by anyone. I testify openly that no one deserves any worship whatsoever except Allah, who is alone in that right, sharing it with none. I testify openly as well that Muhammad was his worshipful slave and messenger. As for what follows:

Dear believers in Allah,

The Day of Standing is in front of us! The great scales of the Day of Judgment are in front of us! The weighing of the deeds, the weighing of the record books, the account, and even the weighing of the people themselves is directly in front of us! Let each and every one of us fear Allah and prepare for the day when the great scales are laid down and the Justice of Allah rules over the people. Let us fear Allah and know that our scales are in front of us. Allah has said [what means]:

“When we lay down the scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, and no soul will be wronged or oppressed in any way! Even if it were a tiny grain of a mustard seed (meaning: of evil), We bring it on that day! (i.e. All of our deeds will be laid bare.) And sufficient We are, in taking [the creation] to account.” (21:47)

And Allah has said [what means]:

“And the scale and the weight and the measures on that day is the truth, and those who have scales of good records and good deeds that are heavy are the only ones who are successful and triumphant, and whoever’s scale of good deeds is light, then such are those who have lost themselves due to how they used to oppress regarding our verses.” (7:8-9)

“And when the horn is blown into, there are no affiliations (no ascriptions or beneficial lineage) on that day, and they shall not be able to ask one another for assistance…” (23:101)

We beg Allah for His mercy and forgiveness.

“…It is only those whose scales [of good deeds] are heavy, they are the ones who will be triumphant! And whoever’s scales are light, those are the ones who have lost themselves into Jahannam (the Hellfire) for eternity.” (23:102)

We beg Allah for His forgiveness, His grace, His bounties and His mercy on that day, the day when our statements will be placed in the scale, and our actions and our deeds will be placed in the scale. The Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) said [what means]:

“There are two phrases that are light (i.e. easy) on the tongue, yet they are heavy in the scales. They are beloved to the Ever Merciful. They are: Subhaan Allah Wa Bihamdihi (Exalted is Allah and the praise is His), Subhaan Allah Al-‘Atheem (Exalted is Allah, the Great).“

SOURCE: Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (6406) and Saheeh Muslim (2694), from the report of Aboo Hurayrah

And the Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) also said [what means]:

“Al-hamdu lillaah (saying: All praises are due to Allah) fills the scales…”

SOURCE: Saheeh Muslim (223), from the report of Aboo Maalik al-Ash’aree

We have our statements on the scales on the Day of Judgment, dear brothers! And the Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) explained that even our character, our interactions of every type, will be placed on the scale in a way that we will see, and we ask Allah for His protection! The Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) said [what means]:

“There is nothing heavier in the scales than good character.”

SOURCE: Musnad Ahmad (45/487), Sunan Abee Daawood (4799), Jaami’ at-Tirmithee (2003), and others, from the report of Abud-Dardaa’, authenticated by al-Albaanee

Good character, dear brothers, is firstly and foremostly between ourselves and our Lord and Creator, by way of:

• The correct ‘aqeedah (creed), the correct beliefs
• Believing in all His reports
• Submitting to Him with true, genuine submission and compliance
• Following His Messenger (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace)

Our good manners must also include:

• Love and appreciation of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace)
• Love and appreciation of the Companions
• Supplicating for the Companions and the Imams of the religion
• Not speaking ill of the Companions
• Appreciating and rehearsing their virtues and their status with Allah

All of that is good character! And then our interactions with each other, that we:

• Honor and respect each other
• Uphold the trusts among one another
• Speak well to each other
• Honor our neighbors, elders, and parents
• Have mercy on our youth and our children

All of this is good manners, and these are the heaviest things in the scale on the Day of Judgment! We ask Allah to have mercy on us and to bless us.

And in another authentic hadith, we learn that the books, the actual record books of our deeds, will also be weighed! The Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) said [what means]: A man shall be called forward from among my nation on the Day of Judgment, at the head of creation (in front of everyone). His scrolls shall be laid out, ninety-nine scrolls! Each and every scroll stretches out for as far as the eye can see!

Then Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: ‘Do you deny any of this? (Do you object to any of these things?)’

He says, ‘No, my Lord!’

‘Then have My scribes who have written these things about you oppressed you?’

Then he responds, ‘No, O my Lord!’

Then it is said to him, ‘Do you have any excuse? Do you have any good deed?’

The man becomes embarrassed and ashamed, and he says, ‘No.’

Then it is said to him: ‘Nay, but you do indeed have with Us some good deeds!’

And there shall not be any oppression on this day! So then a small piece of paper (like a ticket) is brought out. On that piece of paper is the testimony that: ‘No one deserves worship other than Allah, and that Muhammad is his worshipful slave and messenger.’

So then that man says, ‘O my Lord! What could this little piece of paper do against all of these scrolls?!”

Then Allah says to him, ‘You shall not be oppressed!’ Then, all of those scrolls are placed on one side of the scale, and that little piece of paper is placed on the other side of the scale. All of the scrolls pop up (light in weight), and the single piece of paper goes down in in the scale, as on that day, the heaviest thing is ‘La Ilaaha Illaa Allah‘!”

SOURCE: Musnad Ahmad (11/570), at-Tirmithee (2639), Ibn Maajah (4300), and others, from the report of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr, authenticated by Al-Albaanee in Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah (135).

And on that day the Mercy of Allah overtakes His Anger. We ask Him not to hold us to account by what is just and fair, but rather by His Mercy, for if we are left to the scale alone and to justice alone, we would certainly be destroyed!

We ask Allah to forgive us and to make us from those people who come with ‘Laa Ilaaha Illaa Allah’ on that day, not violated, not compromised, but purely practiced and implemented ‘La ilaaha Illaa Allah’!

Dear believers in Allah,

The strangest of events of that day is not only that scrolls are being weighed, the record books, our actions, our statements and words are all being weighed on that scale, but the people themselves will be weighed! The individual himself goes into the scale in a way that will be known to the people on the Day of Judgment! That is known through the statement of the Messenger (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace):

“Verily, a big, heavy man comes on the Day of Judgment (i.e. a man of great importance, high status and recognition in this life), yet he does not even weigh with Allah the weight of a mosquito’s wing!”

SOURCE: Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (4729) and Saheeh Muslim (2785), from the report of Aboo Hurayrah

The Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) said this as an explanation to the verse [which means]:

“So We shall not establish for them any weight on the Day of Judgment.” (18:105)

Someone of great status and importance, respected by everyone, loved and cherished and adored, can be fuel for the hellfire in the Hereafter and weigh nothing in those scales of justice!

We ask Allah for safety!

Furthermore, ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned that Ibn Mas’ood was being observed by the companions one day, and they remarked about how skinny his legs were. So the Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) said, “What are you laughing at?”

They said, “We are laughing at how skinny his legs are!”

The Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) said: “I swear by Him in Whose Hand is my soul! They are indeed heavier in the scale than Uhud (a great mountain in Al Madeenah)!”

SOURCE: Musnad Ahmad (2/243), authenticated by al-Albaanee in Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah (3192)

The thin legs of Ibn Mas’ood, skinny human legs, on the Day of Judgment, when it comes to the real weight of that of which Allah loves, shall weigh more than the mountain of Uhud!

Dear brothers,

We have a day coming with a big weigh-in! Some people are on diets; some people try to lose weight, and they have a goal. They have a date they need to lose weight by. There is a day with a big weigh-in in front of them: “By such-and-such date, I need to lose 20 pounds or 30 pounds…” And he struggles, and deprives himself of food, and he pushes himself with exercise and various actions to prepare for that day. Other people have the same challenge, but they eat terrible food, and they do not really adjust their eating habits. Do you know which one of them is really preparing for the weigh-in? You know which one is honest in how he is worried about the date of weigh-in by his actions, not by his claims! The one eating ice cream and fried foods, saying, “I’m really hoping to lose a lot of weight by the weigh-in date!”, such a person is only fooling himself!

More importantly than that, dear brothers, the big weigh-in on the Day of Judgment is coming! The people themselves are really placed on the scale! What are we doing to prepare for that day? Do we have good, positive, beneficial speech upon our tongues, guidance and advice, invitations to good, censoring and forbidding evil? Or do we have frivolity upon our tongues? Do we have gossip, backbiting, and slandering upon our tongues, things which will destroy us when our statements are laid upon the scale?! Do we have prayers in their proper times? Are we taking care of our duty to offer the five daily prayers in their times? Are we fasting with sincerity in the month of Ramadhaan? Are we planning to make Hajj to the house of Allah? Saving our money and preparing properly, like genuine and honest people preparing for their honest goals? Or are we deceitful with our own selves? Are we cheating our own selves and putting off what Allah has made us an obligation upon us?

Are we violating the limits of Allah in our speech, manners, and interactions with our brothers? Or are we living like people who know that the scale is right in front of us? The scale is in front of us, and there is no relationship to any person that will aid us!

May Allah aid us in preparation for the day we stand in front of those scales!

May Allah grant our hearts the fear of that day that moves us to righteous actions, something that will truly aid us to prepare for that day!

May Allah forgive us on that day! May Allah take us to account with an easy account and forgive us!

May Allah enter us into His gardens and have mercy on us!

May Allah overlook our evil deeds and forgive us!

The time is now, dear brothers, with these fresh reminders and this real concern about the scale in front of you!  It is easier than a person with a weight loss goal! He has months and maybe even years of hard work to do! You can free yourself of that baggage and that extra weight that will harm you when it reaches the scale on the Day of Judgment! Those evil deeds that you do not want to represent you on the Day of Judgment, you can free yourself of them right now, by simply repenting to Allah! You can relieve yourself of their burdens today, by abandoning those evil deeds! You can truly prepare for that weigh-in by abandoning the neglect of your obligations right now, with true and sincere repentance to Allah! And right now on this day you can be forgiven! On this day, right now, today, Allah can accept your repentance!

We ask Allah to guide us to true, genuine repentance, and to make our affairs easy in the Hereafter.

Date of khutbah: 1443/3/9

Transcribed by Umm Hamzah al-Makkiyyah

Reviewed by Moosaa Richardson

Original audio: https://www.spreaker.com/user/radio1mm/live-friday-sermon-1443-3-9