All praise is due to Allah, the Most Generous, the Most Giving. He made food a basic need for sustaining life and physical survival. He also praised those who offer food to people and promised them to enter Paradise in peace. 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 was one of the most generous people in acts of goodness. 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 High and Exalted, in line with His orders: "and it will be said to those who feared Allah, 'What did your Lord send down?' They will say, '[That which is] good.' For those who do good in this world is good; and the home of the Hereafter is better. And how excellent is the home of the righteous." (An-Nahl: 30).

O Worshipers,

Offering food as a charity is really a great character of generosity and a noble tradition. From the dawn of Islam, it put great emphasis on feeding the hungry and urged Muslims to help the poor and needy all over the world. This is conducive to promote love, harmony and compassion amongst people.

On this account, the means and aspects of Ihsan (excelling in good deeds) are many. Of them, the most important is feeding the needy. Allah, the Most High, praises amongst His servants those who offer food to the poor, as He says, "and they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive." (Al-Insan: 8). That is say, they give food in spite of their own need to and love of it, seeking the satisfaction of Allah and hoping for His rewards at the Day of Judgment.

So, they offer food as charity saying, "we feed you only for the countenance of Allah. We wish not from you reward or gratitude. Indeed, We fear from our Lord a Day austere and distressful." (Al-Insan: 9-10[DZ1] ). This means: we are not seeking recompense or gratitude from you in return of the food we are offering to you. Yet, in return, Allah, the Most Exalted, protected them from what they feared and rewarded them for their good deeds. He says, "so Allah will protect them from the evil of that Day and give them radiance and happiness, and will reward them for what they patiently endured [with] a garden [in Paradise] and silk [garments]." (Al-Insan: 11-12[DZ2] ).

It is, indeed, such an excellent reward for those who give food in the way of Allah.

Dear Muslims,

In his first speech at Medina, our Master Muhammad pbuh said, "O people, exchange the greeting of peace, offer food to people, honour ties of kinship and establish prayer at night when people are asleep so that you will enter Paradise in peace." In this Hadith, there is an indication that the act of giving food in charity is a cause for entering Paradise and one of the greatest deeds to Allah, the Almighty. This is because food is a basic need for sustaining human's lives and their physical survival.

More to the point, it was narrated that a man asked the Prophet pbuh, "What Islamic traits are the best?" The Prophet pbuh said, "Feed (the poor), and greet those whom you know and those whom you do not know." Thus, the Prophet pbuh clearly explains that the best of deeds after performing the prescribed acts of worship is offering food to others and exchanging greetings of peace with people.

Following such great teachings, the Prophet's companions, may Allah be pleased with them, strived to win the gracious reward of feeding those who are in need. For instance, Suhaib Ibn Sinan, may Allah be pleased with him, was a generous donor, feeding the poor too much. So, when he was asked about why he was doing so, he said, "I heard the Prophet pbuh say, 'The best of you is the one who feeds (others) and respond to the greeting.' And this is why I am keenly interested in doing that."

O Worshipers,

Speaking of offering food to others begs the question: what are the ways of doing that? The answer is that food can be offered to others in many ways in our community. One of them is showing hospitality to our guests. In this regard, the Prophet pbuh said, "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should serve his guest generously." This can be done by meeting our guests with a smile, speaking to them kindly and offering food to them.

Giving food can also be done by giving it to one's neighbours as a present in accordance with what the Prophet's pbuh said, "O Abu Dharr! Whenever you prepare a broth, put plenty of water in it, and fulfil your duty to your neighbours (give some of it to your neighbours)."

In the same regard, he pbuh also said, "O Muslim women! None of you should look down upon the gift sent by her female neighbour even if it were the trotters of the sheep." That is to say: one should not consider insignificant a food gift sent by a woman to her female neighbour even if it were a fleshless bone, because such a gift is conducive to strengthen the relationship amongst them and bring their hearts close to one another.

Another way of excelling in good deeds is to offer food to the poor and needy people. Indeed, this is one of the acts that are most loved by the Lord of the Worlds as evidenced in this Hadith, "The most beloved of deeds according to Allah is that you touch the heart of a fellow Muslim with happiness, or relieve him of distress, or pay off his debt or stave away hunger from him."

On another level, it is a duty incumbent on Muslims to offer food not only to their fellow human beings, but also to other living creatures, including birds and other animals. In this respect, it was narrated that the Prophet's companions, may Allah be pleased with them, once asked him, "O Messenger of Allah! Is there a reward for us in serving the animals?" He pbuh replied: "Yes, there is a reward for serving any animate (living being)."

Furthermore, amongst the merits of giving food to others is that it opens the doorway to Heaven and to Allah's satisfaction for those who offer it. The Messenger of Allah pbuh said in this regard, "Indeed in Paradise there are chambers, whose outside can be seen from their inside, and their inside can be seen from their outside." A Bedouin stood and said, "Who are they for, O Messenger of Allah?" He pbuh said: "For those who speak well, feed others, fast regularly, and perform Salat for Allah during the night while people are asleep."

In interpretation of this Hadith, a scholars said, "it means for those who offer food in the worldly life to the poor and guests, and similar kind of people."

Knowing this, let us pray to Allah, the Most Compassionate, to make us amongst those who give food for charity and are courteous with Allah's creation.



O Allah, we seek Your grace 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.

As to what follows,

Please be aware, O Worshipers, that the most important thing we should advise each other about is obeying Allah, the Most Exalted and Sublime, and to give food to others in the way of Allah. In this sense, the humanitarian initiatives in the "Year of Giving" has already started with the launching of the UAE Food Bank by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The bank is aimed at distributing food to those who are less fortunate within and outside the UAE. It will allow the opportunity for volunteers to participate in food distribution.

Indeed, such an initiative reflects gratefulness to Allah for the blessing of food He bestowed on us. Allah, the Almighty, says, "and be grateful for the favour of Allah, if it is [indeed] Him that you worship." (An-Nahl: 114).

Let us, then, think and decide whether we are being wise in dealing with the blessing of food or not. We should also strive to join efforts to deliver food to the needy people. Moreover, it is also our duty to nurture such values of benevolence and generosity in the minds and hearts of our children and instil them in our community.

That is said, please bear in mind that you are instructed to invoke peace and blessings on the Prophet pbuh who said, "for everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah."

O Allah, we seek Your grace to help us in being pious and steadfast in performing acts of goodness. O Lord of the Worlds, we implore to You to make us amongst those who will enter Paradise as their eternal dwelling.

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 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 Companions.

O Allah, may we ask You for all that is good, in this world and in the Hereafter. O Allah, we seek Your grace 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 the 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 Allah, we implore you to send upon us wealthy rain and make us not amongst those who are desperate. O Allah, relieve us! O Allah, relieve us! O Allah, relieve us! O Lord, provide us from the blessings of the sky a beneficial rain and make our crops grow.

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).