All praise is due to Allah for all the favours He has endowed upon us. He has created mates and placed between them affection and mercy. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the Servant of Allah and His Messenger. He pbuh said, "The best amongst you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wives." May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his pure blessed family and companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

As to what follows,

I urge you, O servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him the Most Exalted, in line with His orders: "O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer." (An-Nisaa: 1).

O Worshipers,

Affection and mercy are the foundation for a harmonious family and the key to happy marriage life. Indeed, those elements are a blessing that Allah the Almighty has bestowed upon his servants. They are also amongst His signs, for the Almighty says, "and of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought." (Ar-Room: 21). So, one of the signs of the perfection of Allah's favours upon mankind is that he placed love and mercy between husband and wife.

This brings us to advise each other on the meaning of affection and mercy. Affection means love and mercy means kindness and leniency. With these two qualities families can cherish stabile and harmonious life. In this sense, the father should show leniency and care towards his family members as well as discharge his responsibilities towards them by working hard to earn their sustenance and follow up on their wellbeing. Father should also set a good example for them in words and in deeds.

In like manner, mother has also a key role in taking care of her household, nurturing her children and setting a role model in good manners for her daughters. This way, the whole family will enjoy happy life based on love and mercy.

O Servants of Allah,

Having known that love and compassion are the elements which should be the context of marital life, it is good to advise each other on how to maintain them in our homes. Being a key element of the society, family has been given great care in Islam. It has urged for behaviours that are conducive to promote love and clemency amongst spouses, the aim being to strengthen family stability and ensure the sustainability of its happiness.

One of such behaviours is showing forbearance in treating one another, for leniency is really one of the greatest causes of long lasting love. The Messenger of Allah pbuh said in this regard, "When Allah wants good (to befall) the members of a household, He will guide them to the way of gentleness (in dealing with each other)." This Hadith calls for gentleness as a norm of treatment. In it, there is an indication to the importance of maintaining a smiling face, mutual respect and appreciation.

Thus, the relationship between husband and wife should be based on cooperation, sympathy, love, harmony, coordination and share of responsibilities. No wonder since both of the spouses are partners in preserving the family and raising the children and thus they should respect one another and show sincere love and clemency to each other.

In this context, one of the key factors in engulfing the marital life with happiness and love is that each of the spouses understand the conditions and duties of the other partner. As such, each of them will help the other one to discharge their responsibilities, appreciate their efforts, show gratitude to and encourage one another to offer the best they could do. By so doing, both of them will be motivated to strive in touching the hearts of the family members with happiness.

Our Master Muhammad pbuh has enjoined Muslim couples to follow such civilised approach as he said, "Whoever is not grateful to the people, he is not grateful to Allah, the Most Exalted and High." Undoubtedly, gratitude is conducive to maintain affection and mercy in the family and thereby people will enjoy happy social life.

On another level, one of the most successful means for nurturing a happy, stable, cohesive and tranquil family life is to gather family members together very often. Family gatherings give a precious opportunity for understanding and dialogue amongst the family members as well as drawing them closer to each other. Such gatherings can happen in many forms. For example, eating meals jointly with family at home has a great positive impact on the entire family as it brings about Allah's blessing.

On this account, it was narrated that it was said to the Prophet pbuh, "O Messenger of Allah pbuh! We eat but we are not satisfied." He pbuh said, "Perhaps you eat separately." They replied, "Yes." Thereupon, he pbuh said, "If you gather together at your food and mention Allah's name, it will be blessed for you." So, the Prophet pbuh encouraged the family members to get together because such family assemblies and discussions are fundamental in preserving love and mercy in the household.

Furthermore, another effective element that warrants the happiness of family and the continuity of love and stability in the house is keeping the family secrets, solving family disputes through positive dialogue, overlooking each other's small flaws and striving to mend their root cause without the need of others' interference. On this matter, it was narrated that Abu Al Dardaa, may Allah be pleased with him, said to his wife, "if I upset you I shall apologise to you, and if you upset me, you shall apologise to me."

There is no doubt such an approach is the best and quickest means for solving issues. The reason is that if many people get involved in a problem, it will naturally develop bigger and more complicated.



Moreover, the sense of integration and happiness in the family requires each of the spouses to make every effort to respect the ties of kinship of his/her partner. They should show dutifulness towards each other's parents, whether morally or in kind. Indeed, it is from Allah's blessing upon spouses to guide them to fulfil their parents' rights and those of their children, kith and kin.

To achieve such goal, both the partners are expected to treat their relatives as befitting to their status and standing. Emphasising such a culture, the Messenger of Allah pbuh said, "Give everyone who has right what is due to him." This way, hearts will be brought closer to each other and Allah, the Almighty, will grant His mercy on the family.

With this in mind, let us pray to Allah the Most Gracious to give us joy in our wives and offspring. May Allah also protect our children and make happiness and affection spread in our homes.

May Allah guide us all obey him to obey Him and obey His Messenger Muhammad pbuh and obey those He have commanded us to obey in line with His orders: "O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you." (An-Nisaa: 59).

May Allah direct us all to the blessings of the Glorious Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger pbuh.

I say this and ask Allah for forgiveness for me and you, so invoke Him for forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Second Sermon

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon ou­­r Master Muhammad, his pure family, companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

I urge you, O servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him, the Most High and Exalted.

O Worshipers,



Please know that the fruits of cementing the values of love and mercy between husband and wife are plenty. Through affection and forbearance the married mates will, by Allah's grace, live in comfort, stability, happiness, tranquillity and peace. This can be illustrated in the following Aya: "it is He who created you from one soul and created from it its mate that he might dwell in security with her." (Al-Aaraf: 189). That is to say: to find affection and serenity with her, for the love between husband and wife is really the greatest form of love.

In such happy and serene atmosphere, the household will cherish the obedience of Allah the Almighty and its members will strive to perform all that which may attain His satisfaction. As a result, the family bonds will grow stronger. This will, ultimately, reflect positively on the coherence and unity of the whole community, which will enjoy well-groomed young generations who will protect their religion and homeland. Generations who will establish the nation's civilisation and build its glory with their hard work, sincere will, stamina, strong faith, good manners and love to their homeland.

Certainly, a coherent and harmonious family will produce a coherent society with members who are strong-bonded with marriage. Allah the Almighty says, "and it is He who has created from water a human being and made him [a relative by] lineage and marriage. And ever is your Lord competent [concerning creation]." (Al-Furqan: 54).

From this perspective, the social support centres in the UAE seek to achieve such noble goals through launching "Affection and mercy" initiative that is aimed to promote the values of love and compassion as key pillars in the marital and family relationships.

You are, therefore, urged to embed deeply the values of love and mercy in your homes.

That is said, please bear in mind that you are instructed to invoke peace and blessings on the Prophet pbuh. Allah, the Most Sublime, says, "indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace." (Al-Ahzab: 56).



On the same matter, the Prophet pbuh said, "For everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah."

O Allah, please confer Your blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muhammad pbuh, his family and all of the companions.

O Lord You have blessed us with a homeland of tolerance, so we seek Your favour to make pardoning amongst our qualities, tolerance our character, compassion our inherited behaviour and giving our culture.

O Allah, please continue blessing us with happiness, tranquillity and welfare. Our Lord, please continue blessing our nation, houses, families and relatives with contentment.

May Allah have mercy on the honourable martyrs of our country and those of the coalition and gather them with the righteous. May Allah make their dwelling with the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favour of the prophets and the steadfast affirmers of truth. Indeed, You answer to the supplications.

O Allah, please grant the best reward for the families of the martyrs and offer them patience and solace. May Allah grant victory to the soldiers of the Arab Coalition who gathered to restore the rights to their owners. O Lord, please be by their side and guide the Yemeni people to everything that is good. O Allah, make them rally for the word of truth and legitimacy, and bless them with welfare and stability, O the Most Generous.

O Lord, we beseech You to bless all of the Muslim countries and the whole world with stability and peace.

May Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, and all of the noble Companions.

O Allah, we supplicate to You to make patience our way for achieving creativity, seeking knowledge, obtaining higher status and serving our beloved country as well as keeping its flag fluttering high in the sky.

O Allah, we seek Your grace to increase the UAE in delight and beauty and give the best of rewards and recompense to whoever sowed the seeds of goodness and welfare in it. Indeed, You are the Most Merciful of the merciful.



May Allah grant success and continued health and care to the UAE President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. May Allah also ensure success to his Vice-President, trustworthy Crown Prince and his brothers, Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Emirates.

O Allah, please forgive all of the Muslims, men and women, living and dead. May Allah have mercy on Sheikh Zayed, Sheikh Maktoum and the Late UAE Sheikhs. O Lord, forgive and show mercy on them and bless them with Your kindness and satisfaction.

We pray to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, to continue blessing the UAE with stability and welfare and bless its provisions. O Allah, please continue blessing the UAE with safety and security.

O Allah, please grant us wisdom in our speech and in our deeds. O Allah, please make us amongst those who fulfil their promises and are committed to their covenants. Indeed, You are the Possessor of Glory and Honour.

Remember Allah and He will remember you. Be grateful of His benevolence and He will increase His blessings to you.

Please stand up for prayer.