Consider the example of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), the greatest man to walk this earth after the prophets.

 الخطبة الأولى (The First Khutbah)

• By Ibrahim Aweda Abdulrahmon

As-salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.

الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء المرسلين، نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين. أما بعد:

My dear brothers and sisters, look me in the eyes today and let us confront a deep, hidden disease that quietens the hearts of millions in our modern Ummah. It is the disease of false security. We live in a world that sells us the illusion of safety. We build strong houses, we accumulate savings in our bank accounts, we take out insurance policies, and we look at our relatively peaceful lives thinking, "I am safe. Disaster happens to other people, but not to me." We cruise through life indulging in minor sins, delaying our repentance, and ignoring the boundaries of Allah, completely oblivious to how fragile our reality truly is.

But Allah, the Knower of the secrets, tears down this dangerous complacency with a single, sharp, and earth-shattering question in the Holy Qur'an. Turn your hearts to Surah Yusuf, where Allah delivers a warning that should cause every sleeping soul to wake up in terror. He says in Surah Yusuf (12:107):

أَفَأَمِنُوا أَن تَأْتِيَهُمْ غَاشِيَةٌ مِّنْ عَذَابِ اللَّهِ أَوْ تَأْتِيَهُمُ السَّاعَةُ بَغْتَةً وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ

"Do they then feel secure that there will not come to them an overwhelming punishment from Allah or that the Hour will not come upon them suddenly while they do not perceive?"

Let these words pierce through the fog of your daily distractions today. Look at how Allah begins this verse: Afa-aminu—"Do they then feel secure?" He is asking you and me: Who gave you the guarantee that you will survive until tomorrow? Who promised you that the wealth you are enjoying today will not be stripped from you by tonight? Who told you that the pulse beating in your chest right now will keep beating for the next hour?

Allah exposes our psychological blindness by using two heavy descriptions of how His reality can overtake a careless person. First, He talks about a Ghashiyah—an overwhelming, suffocating punishment that completely covers and traps an individual or a nation. When a flood, an earthquake, a sudden illness, or a financial ruin hits, it does not tap politely on your door. It wraps around you like a heavy blanket in the dark, leaving you zero room to escape or negotiate.

Second, He warns about As-Sa'ah baghtatan—the final Hour, or your personal hour of death, arriving suddenly. It catches people right in the middle of their worldly planning. It comes Wa hum la yash'urun—while they are completely unawake, completely unaware, and deep in their heedlessness.

To help everyone sitting here fully comprehend the tragedy of this false security, let us look at a practical example from our modern life. Imagine a man who builds a spectacular, multi-million dollar mansion right at the very base of an active, volatile volcano. The structural engineers warn him, the geologists tell him that the mountain is rumbling, and the evacuation alarms are blaring through the valley.

But the man looks at his thick concrete walls, his gold-plated ceilings, and his state-of-the-art security systems. He laughs and says, "Look at how strong my house is. Look at how much money I have. Nothing can touch me here." He throws a massive party, plays loud music, and falls into a deep, alcohol-induced sleep. In the middle of the night, while he is dreaming of his next business venture, the volcano erupts. A river of boiling lava breaches his walls in seconds and buries him alive. Did his strong walls save him? Did his bank account protect him? No. His own pride and false security blinded him to the destruction right above his head.

My dear congregation, that volcano is the reality of death and the accountability of Allah, and our modern luxuries are the concrete walls tricking us into thinking we are safe! We scroll through our phones, we plan our careers for the next ten years, we backbite, we skip our prayers, and we think we have time to repent when we get old. We treat the warnings of the Quran like distant bedtime stories that only apply to the ancient nations of Aad and Thamud. We have forgotten that the Angel of Death does not check your calendar or wait for you to finish your life goals before he pulls your soul out of your body.

Let us leave this first part of the sermon by breaking this dangerous spell of complacency. Look at your life today. If Allah has given you health, peace, and time, it is not a sign that you can play with His laws. It is a mercy and an open window to return to Him before the window slams shut forever.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم.

الخطبة الثانية (The Second Khutbah)

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ. الحَمْدُ للهِ حَمْداً كَثِيْراً طَيِّباً مُبَارَكاً فِيْهِ كَمَا يُحِبُّ رَبُّنَا وَيَرْضَى، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ. صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيماً كَثِيْراً إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ. أَمَّا بَعْدُ:

My dear brothers and sisters, welcome back your hearts to this urgent reminder. If the core of Surah Yusuf ayah 107 is a warning against feeling falsely secure from Allah’s sudden grip, then we must look at how the best of humanity—the companions of the Prophet ﷺ—lived their lives. These were people who were promised Jannah, yet they were the most terrified of falling into heedlessness.

Consider the example of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), the greatest man to walk this earth after the prophets. He used to say: "If one of my feet was inside Jannah and the other foot was outside, I would still not feel secure from the plan of Allah." Look at the depth of his Taqwa! He didn’t use his high status as an excuse to relax.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ left us with an unshakeable formula to protect our hearts from being caught off guard by a sudden end. In a vital Hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), the Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed his hands on Ibn Umar’s shoulders and gave him a piece of advice that anchors our entire existence:

كُنْ فِي الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ، أَوْ عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍ

"Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler."

And Ibn Umar used to expand on this by saying: "When you reach the evening, do not expect to see the morning, and when you wake up in the morning, do not expect to see the evening. Take from your health for your sickness, and from your life for your death." (Sahih al-Bukhari).

SubhanAllah! Think about how a traveler acts when they are waiting at an airport terminal or a train station. They don’t buy expensive furniture to decorate the waiting room. They don’t start picking fights with the people sitting next to them. They don't unpack all their bags and pretend they are going to live there forever. Why? Because they know their stay is temporary. They keep their eyes glued to the departure board, waiting for their ticket to be called.

My dear congregation, your birth was your arrival at the terminal, and your death is the flight you cannot delay. Many of us have unpacked our bags in this Dunya and forgotten that we are just passing through! We have allowed our hearts to grow hard.

Let us fix our relationship with Allah right now, in this very hour. True security is not found in avoiding the thought of death; true security is found in preparing for it. When you leave this masjid today, clean up your hidden life. If you have cut off ties with a family member, mend it today. If you are earning haram income, drop it today. If you have been lazy with your five daily prayers, make a firm vow to never miss another salah starting from this upcoming Asr prayer.

Let us break our arrogance and strip away our stubborn pride. Do not let the Ghashiyah of punishment or the suddenness of the Hour catch you while your phone is full of haram, your heart is full of malice, and your record is empty of repentance. Stand firm, hold onto the rope of guidance, and live every single day as if it is your absolute final opportunity to earn the pleasure of your Master.

عِبَادَ اللهِ، إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا.

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ، وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ.

اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسْلِمِينَ، وَأَذِلَّ الشِّرْكَ وَالمُشْرِكِينَ، وَانْصُرْ عِبَادَكَ المُوَحِّدِينَ.

اللَّهُمَّ يَا مُقَلِّبَ القُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قُلُوبَنَا عَلَى دِينِكَ. اللَّهُمَّ لَا تُؤْمِنَّا مَكْرَكَ، وَلَا تُنْسِنَا ذِكْرَكَ، وَلَا تَجْعَلْنَا مِنَ الغَافِلِينَ. اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ خَيْرَ أَعْمَارِنَا خَوَاتِمَهَا، وَخَيْرَ أَعْمَالِنَا خَوَاتِيمَهَا، وَخَيْرَ أَيَّامِنَا يَوْمَ نِلْقَاكَ فِيهِ.

رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ.

عِبَادَ اللهِ، اذْكُرُوا اللهَ العَظِيمَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ، وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى نِعَمِهِ يَزِدْكُمْ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ، وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ.