All praise is due to Allah Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. He bestowed upon us His favours abundantly. 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 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 and myself, O Servants of Allah, to be aware that you are asked to obey Him the Most Exalted and High, in line with His orders: "and fear Allah. And Allah teaches you. And Allah is Knowing of all things." (Al-Baqara: 282).

O Servants of Allah,

In the very first Aya that Allah, the Almighty, has revealed in the holy Quran, He urges Man to seek knowledge, for He says, "recite in the name of your Lord who created." This Aya highlights the elite status of reading, elevates the standing of knowledge and urges for pursuing its path.

This was also accentuated by the Prophet pbuh as he said, "To seek sacred knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim." Thus, striving in seeking knowledge is, really, amongst the most important patriotic and religious duties every individual should discharge.

This leads us to advise each other on the reason why Allah, the Most High, made it obligatory on human beings to seek learning. The answer is because knowledge and learning are the foundation for building the human mind and honing the person's experiences. Indeed, knowledge is the true wealth that a nation can ever accumulate and people can benefit from. In this sense, in our world there are many examples of countries that have no fortune other than the intellect of its people who invest in sciences and education.

Such people have contributed to their nations' progress and civilisation. They played key role in their nations' achievements and pioneering inventions. Truly, with knowledge nations do prosper and rise to the highest degrees of glory and honour.

Knowing this, we come to another important point relating to the duties incumbent on any knowledge seeker in order to see their status raised by degrees. Acquiring knowledge entails striving in seeking its path and showing stamina, patience, determination and vigour throughout this process. The Prophet pbuh said, "Indeed, knowledge only comes by learning." On the other hand, learning is about questions and answers, while by asking important and good questions one would gain better knowledge.

On this account, Al Asmaei was asked, "How did you achieve what you achieved (i.e. of knowledge)?" So he said, "By asking much and listening attentively." This means, he asked many good questions and was keenly interested in contemplating on what his instructors had to teach him of sciences and wisdom. Truly, vivid knowledge seekers will not only ensure to study their lessons, but they will prepare for it in advance so as to be interactive during the lesson, attentive to their teachers and duly respect them.

Showing reverence to teachers is really amongst the noble manners that our Master Muhammad pbuh has emphasised as he said, "He is not one of my Umma (a Muslim) who does not show respect to our elders, mercy to our youngsters nor honour our scholars."

Amongst the other qualities that knowledge seekers should embrace is good morals, kind treatment of their colleagues and good choice of friends who will encourage them to excel and become a source of pride to their parents and contribute to the prosperity of their nation.

In fact, any community would look forward to seeing its members who seek knowledge to lead its path towards pioneering and advancement, being abreast of all that is new in the different fields of science, and to continue its march of development and glory.

O honourable Parents,

As our daughters and sons are entering a new academic year, we pray to Allah, the Almighty, to grant our children success in their learning endeavours and make their new school year one full of great achievements. We also should highlight, on this occasion, that parents have a big responsibility regarding their children's learning and development. As such, they need to provide a good environment that is conducive to studying and learning.

Parents' duty calls also for guiding their children in choosing the appropriate discipline of study and knowledge that may be beneficial and by means of which they may innovate, excel, achieve higher status in the future and serve the best interests of their homeland.

As parents, we are also required to encourage our children to continuously seek the path of learning and always remind them with this Hadith by the Messenger of Allah pbuh, "He who treads the path in search of knowledge, Allah would make that path easy, leading to Paradise for him."

More to the point, parents should also know that achieving success is a responsibility shared between the school and parents. To this end, they are responsible to follow up on their children's study and continuously coordinate with the school, the aim being to help achieve their common goal, which is acquiring knowledge and success.

O Worshipers,

For their part, teachers have a great responsibility to discharge in the field of education. They are amongst the sound foundations in the community and on them hopes pins in nurturing generations of scholars and inventors, authors and innovators who may contribute to achieving a superb cultural evolution, for, indeed, the aspirations of the nation is limitless.

In light of their great role, teachers enjoy eminent standing and honour. Their efforts are appreciated and acknowledged not only by people in this world, but also by Allah, the Almighty, Who prepared for them the best of rewards. Emphasising their status, the Messenger of Allah pbuh said, "Indeed Allah, His Angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earths - even the ant in his hole, even the fish - invoke blessings upon the one who teaches the people to do good."

This is because of the significance of their mission in nurturing the generations is tremendous. They have a civilised mission which was also carried out by the Prophets and messengers. Our Prophet pbuh said in this regard, "Indeed, Allah did not send me to be harsh, or cause harm, but He has sent me to teach and make things easy."

In this Hadith there is guidance for the teacher to show patience and tolerance, adorn themselves with wisdom while dealing with the students and make it easy for them to understand the knowledge they are offering to them.

With this in mind, we pray to Allah the Almighty to grant success to all our students, help them reap the fruits of their efforts and make learning easy for them. May Allah also give the best of rewards to teachers.

O Allah, we implore to You to guide us all to obey You and obey Your Messenger Muhammad pbuh and obey those You have commanded us to obey in line with Your 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 be aware that in the UAE, learning is open for all, both adults and youngsters. The government has given great care to education, starting from kindergarten up until the higher education. To this end, it established educational institutions across the emirates based on the latest state-of-the-art international standards, making available for the students all means of learning and knowledge gaining.

Furthermore, the UAE has also supported women's education and encouraged them to rise up to their honourable status in the community by engaging in knowledge seeking. Such endeavour is based on clear understanding of woman's role in raising an open-minded generations that appreciate the value of learning and understand that it is key for building civilisations.

In this respect, the recent plans announced for standardising the educational system in the UAE are conducive to boost women's capability of keeping up with the international developments. In this respect, the unification of the educational system across the country will be implemented in accordance with a comprehensive strategic plan that align to the UAE vision related to shaping the future.

The move stems from the UAE wise leadership's belief that the Emirati younger generations are the cornerstone for the future. Thus, it provided them with a highly-performing education based on the highest standards of quality for the education sector. The aim is to help them acquire the beneficial knowledge that Allah, the Most Exalted, has made a cause for winning happiness in this world and elevated status in the Hereafter.

On this account, the Most High says, "say, 'Are those who know equal to those who do not know?' Only they will remember [who are] people of understanding." (Az-Zumar: 9). That is to say: in the sight of Allah the Almighty people of knowledge are not equal to those who are ignorant.

Knowing this, you are urged, dear worshipers, to strive in the way of acquiring knowledge and nurture the importance and value of learning in the minds and hearts of your sons and daughters.

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 Allah, we beseech You to teach us knowledge that is beneficial to us and help us benefit from what You have taught us. O Allah, we also implore to You to increase us in knowledge.

O Lord You have blessed us with a homeland of knowledge, so we seek Your favour to make knowledge our provision, forgiveness amongst our qualities, tolerance our character 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, O the Most Gracious the Most Forgiving.

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.

O Allah, please provide women with tranquillity and grant them success and excellence.

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.

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.

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 for prayer.



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Official announcement from Awqaf

To be delivered after Friday prayer 8/9/2017

(Exclusive for the Northern emirates)

Dear Muslims,

In light of the directives of the UAE wise leadership that are aimed at enhancing sustainable development in the country, the Federal Electricity and Water Authority will launch an initiative under the motto "For good we rationalise". The initiative is aimed at installing water saving devices in a number of areas. Thus, the authority kindly urges the house owners in those areas to cooperate with the work teams who will carry out the installation.

That is said, we beseech Allah to confer His blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muhammad pbuh.