All praise is due to Allah Who attributed elevated status to mothers and made the greatest of responsibilities rest in their hands. In return, He granted mothers the highest of degrees in Paradise. 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 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: "and fear He who provided you with that which you know. Provided you with grazing livestock and children." (Ash-Shuaraa: 132-133).

O Servants of Allah,

Please know that mother has a high status and a noble standing. How not when she is the source of love, affection, kindness and mercy? For this reason, Allah, the Most Exalted, honoured mother and mentioned in the holy Quran examples on mothers who set role models for other mothers to emulate. For instance, the Almighty says about Mariam (Mary) the mother of Prophet Isa (Jesus), may Allah be pleased with her, "and his mother was a supporter of truth." (Al-Maida: 75). That is to say, she sincerely believed in the revelations of her Lord.

Deep in her heart, Mariam, may Allah be pleased with her, was a true believer in Allah, the Almighty, and honest, both in words and in deeds. Certainly, such qualities reflected in her behaviour and that of her son. For this reason, the holy Quran mentioned her name in many places so that she might become a role model for each girl and woman in her chastity, purity and patience. Allah, the Almighty, emphasised such qualities in her saying, "O Mary, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds." (Al Imran: 42). Truly, Mariam, may Allah be pleased with her, was an ideal mother and set an example for all other women to emulate.

Amongst the other mothers whom Allah, the Most Sublime, honoured is the mother of Prophet Musa (Moses) pbuh who was really a nurturing, moralist and patient mother. In an indication to her special standing, the Most High highlighted her sincere emotions and deep feelings towards her son Musa pbuh when he was away from her. The Almighty says, "and the heart of Moses' mother became empty [of all else]." (Al-Qasas: 10). This means, her heart became empty of all else except Moses' reminiscence.

Sympathising with her, Allah, the Most Merciful, brought her back together with her son as illustrated in this Aya, "so We restored him to his mother that she might be content and not grieve." (Al-Qasas: 13). Allah, the Almighty, re-united them so that Musa can be raised close to his mother, grow under her care and take from her qualities and habits.

O Worshipers,

This calls us to advise one another on the merits of the ideal mother. A good mother has many outstanding qualities. She is a wise educator who sets a good example for her children. She instils in them good manners, noble values and lofty behaviours. Her qualities also include encouraging them to perform the most righteous of deeds, such as being dutiful to parents, upholding ties of kinship, showing hospitability to the guest, maintaining good neighbourly relationship, paying due respect to the elderly people, showing mercy to the young people, doing good deeds for the best interest of people, and taking example of the ethics of the pious and those of understanding.

A good example on this is that of the mother of Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him. She would dress him up while he still was a young boy and she would tell him, "Go to Rabiaa, study his manners before you take from his knowledge."



Furthermore, amongst the other qualities of the best of mothers is that she should show love, affection and sympathy to her sons and daughters. She would also prefer them over herself. Such empathy and altruism would definitely influence the children and, ultimately, spread across the whole community.

In fact, the Prophet pbuh praised altruism and stressed its great reward. An illustration of this can be seen in the following Hadith. It was narrated that Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said "A poor woman came to me carrying her two daughters. I gave her three date-fruits. She gave a date to each of them and then she took up one date-fruit and brought that to her mouth to eat, but her daughters asked her that too. She then divided between them the date-fruit that she intended to eat. This (kind) treatment of her impressed me and I mentioned that to Messenger of Allah pbuh who said, 'Verily, Allah has assured Paradise for her because of (this act) of her, or He has rescued her from the Hell-Fire."

More to the point, the perfect mother would nurture in the mind her daughter the values of chastity, modesty, love of good deeds and giving. She would also grow deep in their hearts the instinctive readiness to build stable homes and establish coherent families whose members are bonded with respect and happiness.

The Messenger of Allah pbuh attributed a high standing to mothers because they are merciful towards their children and set role models for them, taking care of them and striving to achieve the best interests of their families. In illustration of this, it was narrated that the Prophet pbuh said to his daughter Fatima, may Allah be pleased with her, "The best of women is the one who has benefited her family."

In this sense, amongst the greatest benefits that a woman can offer to her family is to take care of the psychological well-being of her children. The reason is that a stable psychological state is the basis for developing a healthy and righteous personality. It is also conducive to impart tranquillity and stability to the children's hearts, promote their confidence, agility and resolve. As a result, they will grow capable of discharging their responsibilities, finding solutions to their problems and surmounting the challenges they might face.

A mother who is adorned with all such qualities is really an ideal mother, one who observes the right of Allah, the Almighty, and shows gratitude to him for endowing upon her the blessing of sons and daughters. The Messenger of Allah pbuh said, "And the lady is a guardian and is responsible for her husband's house and his offspring; and so all of you are guardians and are responsible for your charges."

In respect and appreciation of her lofty status, we should reward mother by treating her in kindness and recognising her favours. Truly, there is no good deed that is greater than being dutiful to mother. It was narrated that Abdullah Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said in this regard, "I have never known a good action that is closer to Allah, the Most Exalted, than dutifulness to mother."

Having known this, it is good to advise each other on how one can be dutiful to one's mother. In fact, the aspects of honouring mother are many. Ways to achieve it include serving her, referring to her seeking her opinion, benefiting from her knowledge and taking lessons from her experience in nurturing the future generations.

There is no doubt, therefore, that the ideal mother is the secret behind the success of women and men too.

Having this in mind, we implore to Allah, the Most Exalted and Sublime, to guide us all 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 be aware that a model mother is the educator of true men and the maker of heroes. She nurtures the love of nation and affiliation to it in the hearts and minds of her children and instils the values of loyalty, gratitude and giving deep in their souls. Moreover, an ideal mother will strengthen the connection between her children and the traditions of their fathers and forefathers. She teaches them to preserve the resources and achievements of their country, protect its lands and defend its boundaries. This way, she plays a key role in preparing her children to be the guardians of their nation.

In this sense, a live example of the role model mother are the mothers of the nation's martyrs. Those have really set the most magnificent examples in preparing their sons to defend the nation while feeling proud of their sacrifices. As a result, they earned the honour and grace of martyrdom. Certainly, the stances of the mothers of martyrs shall always be a school that teaches the noblest of values to the generations to come.

Let us, therefore, entreat Allah, the Most Compassionate, to grant the best of rewards to the mothers of the martyrs as well as their wives and families.



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 implore to You to forgive our fathers and mothers. O Allah, please give a long life to whoever is alive from them and guide them to the best of deeds. Yet, whoever is dead amongst them, may Allah show mercy on them and admit them to His Paradise.

O Lord You have blessed us with a homeland of tolerance and love, so we seek Your favour to make forgiveness amongst our qualities and tolerance our character.

May Allah make the UAE a country of knowledge and civilisation, and a nation of building, prosperity, cleanliness and beauty.

O Allah, we supplicate to You to provide for us the love of reading, attachment to books and passion for seeking knowledge.

O Allah, please make our tongues wet with Your remembrance, busy with uttering Your praise and kind to Your Creation.

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 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, all of the Companions, and all those follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.



O Allah, may we ask You for all that is good, in this world and in the Hereafter. O Allah, we seek Your favour to admit us, our parents, whoever has done a favour to us and all Muslims to Your Paradise.

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 our parents, relatives and whoever has done a favour to us.

O Allah, make this gathering one of compassion, and our dispersion after it one that is infallible. O Allah, do not let anyone amongst us be deprived or desperate.

We pray to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, to protect the UAE against any of temptations, both apparent and hidden, and continue blessing the UAE with safety and security.

Our Lord, give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire.

O Servants of Allah "indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded." (An-Nahl: 90).

Remember Allah and He will remember you. Be grateful of His benevolence and He will increase His blessings to you. Allah says, "and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do." (Al-Ankaboot: 45).