A Blessed Friday to You, Brothers and Sisters!

Our Lord Almighty says in the verse I have recited: “Indeed, those who have believed and those who have emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah - those expect the mercy of Allah. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” [1]

Our Prophet (pbuh) says in the hadith I have read: “A Muslim is the one who avoids harming Muslims with his tongue and hands. And a Muhajir (emigrant) is the one who gives up all what Allah has forbidden.”[2]

 

Brothers and Sisters!

 

We believers observed the first day of Muharram together. We were excited to enter the Hijri year of 1439. Endless praise and glory be to our Lord Almighty, Who granted us the life to reach yet another Hijri year. I congratulate your Hijri new year with a wish that may our journey of migration which started when we descended to earth from heaven be concluded in heaven. I ask our Lord Almighty to make this new year an opportunity for peace and salvation for the humanity and the Islamic world.

 

Honorable Believers!

Devoid of virtues and the sense of servitude, the society of ignorance could not accept our Prophet (pbuh) who is sent as a mercy to the worlds. The Prophet of Compassion suffered unimaginable oppression and cruelty at the hands of the polytheists of Mecca, to whom he was sent as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner. Instead of embracing him and coming to their senses through him, they exiled him and attempted against his life. Our Prophet had realized that it was not possible to live and spread Islam under such oppression and cruelty so he sent some of his companions to Medina, the city of devoted people, before he went there himself.

 

Brothers and Sisters!

The name of holy journey that the Messenger of Allah and his companions took is hegira. This hegira is no ordinary migration. The hegira, accepted as the first day of the calendar in the reign of Omar, is a milestone for Muslims. The supreme truths of Islam started to spread in waves throughout the earth from Medina with the hegira.

Hegira has many lessons for Muslims. First of all, the hegira is not an escape, but a holy journey that was taken to grow and spread the supreme values on earth. Hegira is the name of the journey from violence to mercy, from slavery to freedom. It is the sign of obedience to Allah, of being a servant only to Him.

Hegira is the arduous and exemplary tale of giving up one’s mother, father, child and even life for the cause of Islam. Hegira is the epic of the Muhajir, who left their loved ones, homes, properties for Allah without a thought, and the Ansar (the helpers) who embraced them with open arms. This is an epic of sacrifice, brotherhood, abiding by your word, unity and solidarity, love, respect, sharing and embracing. In short, the hegira is the tenacity and determination of those who open their hearts to prayers for Allah, to virtues, mercy and civilization; and it is the defeat of those who close their doors to these values.

 

Dear Believers!

In the light of the hadith of Allah’s Messenger, the real hegira is to abandon all that is sin and haram. It is the expression of devotion and loyalty to the Messenger of Allah, the effort and sincerity to become ummah. Hegira is to turn your back to any servile feeling or action that stains the honor of humanity. It is to strive for the cause of divine values. Hegira is to abandon superstition, vanity, and any desire or want that waste your life. It is to walk on the path of God, goodness and morals. It is to protect our pure and clean disposition that our Lord Almighty has created. It is to abstain from polytheism, disbelief and discord, and to stay true to your faith.

 

Brothers and Sisters!

The criteria of having the moral of hegira is to strive to make goodness prevail on earth, with the consciousness of being a servant to Allah and ummah to His Messenger. It is to be sincerely faithful to your brother, nation, and values with a feeling of love, respect, sharing and helping. Therefore, it is a futile effort of those who betrayed their nation and homeland by abusing the values of Islam to take refuge behind the word hegira. The fact that those people try to explain the helpless situation they are in to their followers by defiling the word of hegira is nothing but an exploitation of a holy concept like hegira.

 

Brothers and Sisters!

 

So come! Let us promise to take a journey to goodness and be a real muhajir in this holy hour. Let us mark this day as a milestone for becoming a good and faithful servant, for re-establishing the brotherhood of the Muhajir and the Ansar between us, and for taking on journeys that could bring divine compassion. Let us do what Allah commanded us and avoid what He forbade us, just as our Prophet (pbuh) taught, so that we could gain the merit of hegira. Let our hearts of “Yasrib” be enlightened with the light of Islam and turn to “Medina”, the city that symbolizes virtue, morals and humanity.

Happy are those who could turn their journey of life into hegira!

 

Happy are those who’ll reach the countenance of Allah at the end of this hegira!

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