Prepare to meet Allah while you can
“Trust in Allah does not mean that we become passive. It actually means that we move.”
Because life and death are uncertain, believers should prepare to meet Allah through repentance, active effort joined to tawakkul, gratitude, and ongoing du'a for ancestors and deceased loved ones.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Imagines the Day of Judgment and prays for believers to receive mercy, shade, and Jannah.
- Explains tawakkul through a sailboat metaphor: human effort raises the sail while Allah directs the wind.
- Shares recent deaths and urges gratitude, repentance, and readiness to meet Allah at any moment.
- Reflects on visiting family graves in Pakistan and moving from receiving from one’s homeland to serving and remembering ancestors.
- Calls listeners to make du'a for forgotten ancestors and recite or listen to Surah Mulk, then closes with prayers for the sick and a final-Jumu'ah mindset.
In the khateeb's words
“Trust in Allah does not mean that we become passive. It actually means that we move. We work. We exert.”
“There is no untimely death. It is all perfectly timely. It is all in Allah's time, right?”
“We have to learn about our families. We have to learn about our ancestors. We also have to make general du'as.”
For the dinner table
Today Ustadh Saad told us that trusting Allah is like being a sailboat: we have to work hard and raise our sail, and then Allah's wind of guidance carries us where He wills. He also shared sad news. His teacher's mother-in-law, who had been a refugee from Syria and had only recently been reunited with her daughter after seven years, passed away suddenly in a car accident, just one week after praying her last Jumu'ah. He reminded us that nobody is promised more time, so we should thank Allah for every day and try to always be ready to meet Him. Then he described visiting his family's graveyard in Karachi, where the same relatives who used to welcome him at the airport are now the ones who need his du'as most. He asked all of us to make du'a for our ancestors tonight, even the ones whose names we don't know, and to recite or listen to Surah Al-Mulk for our loved ones who have passed away.
- What is one thing you could do this week to 'raise your sail' and work hard, while still trusting Allah?
- Can you name all four of your grandparents, and what would you like to learn about our great-grandparents?
- Shall we listen to Surah Al-Mulk together tonight for our family members who have passed away? Who should we make du'a for?
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