(Friday, September 14, 2001) Healthy ambition brings positive results; Emulate examples of Imam Malik The Imams and Khateebs of the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madina in their Friday Sermons this week (September 14, 2001) urged Muslims to fear and worship Allah, perform good deeds that please Him, ask for His bounty, glorify and praise His Name. IN MAKKAH The Imam and Khateeb at the Grand Mosques in Makkah Sheikh Dr. Osama Bin Abdullah Khayat in his Friday Sermon called on Muslim to ask God’s favor and seek what benefits the Muslims most. He said a person’s ambition to reach a high point of virtue, his desire to achieve a good name and the best fortune in life and after death is a clear indication of his sound character and a healthy sign of his mental and physical make-up. Such a person deserves good reward in this life and the Hereafter. He is elevated above the level of those who lack conscience, who abstain from asking for the good, and are afflicted with malady of indifference and laziness, succumbing to a marginal life. Sheikh Khayat added that unlike the ambitious and high-minded and serious individual, there are others who harbor unhealthy ambitions to commit sins and fall into what Allah Almighty and the Prophet (peace be upon him)have forbidden such as craving for the blessing and good things Allah has granted to others. They look with jealousy and greed to what others have been blessed with and wish for them to be deprived of it, he said. God’s Grace and Mercy to his slaves include the Islamic religion and the Shari’ah law that outlines the true path and the loftiest of traits and moral guidance that steer away from lowly tendencies and ugly conduct. God has spread social peace among members of the Muslims Ummah by providing opportunities for each one with due consideration for the talents and capabilities each one possesses with varying degrees, he said. Striving for unlawful ambitions is harmful to oneself as this spoils the peace of mind, undermines the joy of life besides being a rejection of God’s blessings, and a waste of precious time in wishful thinking and fruitless dreams, he noted. IN MADINA In Madina, the Imam and Khateeb of the Prophet’s Mosque Sheikh Abdul Bari Bin Awad Al-Thebeiti in his Friday Sermon spoke about the life and works of Imam Malik Bin Anas, the famous religious scholar and founder of the Maliki school of thoughts who was born and taught in Madina. He was influenced by the many scholars and followers of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alaihi wa sallam) who taught at the Prophet’s Mosques in Madina, the first great place of learning in Islam. Imam Malik was a paradigm of good conduct and exalted personality. He never started to dispense Fatwa (religious ruling) until 70 senior Ulema attested to his eligibility for that, he said. Sheikh Thebeiti pointed out that Imam Malik laid down a moderate and balanced approach, maintaining a position between the opinions of those who zealously followed and copied scholars and those who rejected them, saying: “I am a human being who might be right or wrong, consider my opinions and take whatever conforms to the Sunnah” He said Imam Malik if asked about a religious matter, would study the matter carefully in order to give the right answer. If he did not know the answer, he would say so. Sheikh Al-Thebeiti warned Muslims against giving Fatwa or answering questions they are not sure of, especially on religious matters, which should be left to religious scholars. Matters relating to creed as well as those covered by a written text or consensus (Ijma’a) are not subject to personal opinion, he noted, adding that the Imam is said to have lived for 87 or 90 years. THE HOLY QURAN:THE PROHIBITION OF ALLAH:SURAH 6:AL-NA'AM:VERSES:151-153: 151. Say: "Come, I will rehearse what Allah hath (really) prohibited you from": Join not anything as equal with Him; be good to your parents; kill not your children on a plea of want;- We provide sustenance for you and for them;- come not nigh to shameful deeds(ILLEGAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY). Whether open or secret; take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus doth He command you, that ye may learn wisdom. 152. And come not nigh to the orphan's property, except to improve it, until he attain the age of full strength; give measure and weight with (full) justice;- no burden do We place on any soul, but that which it can bear;- whenever ye speak, speak justly, even if a near relative is concerned; and fulfil the covenant of Allah. thus doth He command you, that ye may remember. 153. Verily, this is My way, leading straight: follow it: follow not (other) paths: they will scatter you about from His (great) path: thus doth He command you. that ye may be righteous. HADITH: 1. Narrated Abu Huraira(RA): The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "Seven people will be shaded by Allah under His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His. They are: (1) a just ruler; (2) a young man who has been brought up in the worship of Allah, (i.e. worship Allah (Alone) sincerely from his childhood), (3) a man whose heart is attached to the mosque (who offers the five compulsory congregational prayers in the mosque); (4) two persons who love each other only for Allah's sake and they meet and part in Allah's cause only; (5) a man who refuses the call of a charming woman of noble birth for an illegal sexual intercourse with her and says: I am afraid of Allah; (6) a person who practices charity so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given (i.e. nobody knows how much he has given in charity). (7) a person who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes get flooded with tears." (Sahih Al-Bukhari vol.2,Hadith no.504) 2.Volume 4, Book 51, Number 28: Narrated Abu Huraira(RA): The Prophet said, "Avoid the seven great destructive sins." The people enquire, "O Allah's Apostle! What are they? "He said, "To join others in worship along with Allah, to practice sorcery, to kill a person which Allah has forbidden except for a just cause, (according to Islamic law), to eat up Riba (usury), to eat up an orphan's wealth, to give back to the enemy and fleeing from the battlefield at the time of fighting, and to accuse, chaste women, who never even think of anything touching chastity and are good believers.

DUA:THE PRAYER OF THE PROPHET:SURAH 3:AL-IMRAN VERSES 26-27.

Say: "O Allah. Lord of Power (And Rule), Thou givest power to whom Thou pleasest, and Thou strippest off power from whom Thou pleasest: Thou enduest with honour whom Thou pleasest, and Thou bringest low whom Thou pleasest: In Thy hand is all good. Verily, over all things Thou hast power. "Thou causest the night to gain on the day, and thou causest the day to gain on the night; Thou bringest the Living out of the dead, and Thou bringest the dead out of the Living; and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou pleasest, without measure."

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With the very best of good wishes, Musa Amadu Pembo Glasgow, Scotland UK. [log in to unmask] May Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,guide us all to His Sirat Al-Mustaqim (Righteous Path).May He protect us from the evils of this life and the hereafter.May Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,grant us entrance to paradise .. Ameen