All praise is due to Allah, the Ever Kind, the Most Merciful. He knows whatever is said throughout the heaven and earth, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing (Al-Anbiyaa: 4). 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: "indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and rivers, in a seat of honour near a Sovereign, Perfect in Ability." (Al-Qamar: 54-55).

O Worshipers,

Allah, the Most Exalted has endowed upon mankind abundant blessings. The Almighty says, "and if you should count the favours of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (An-Nahl: 18). Amongst the most important of such blessings is the sense of hearing. Allah, the Almighty says, "and Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and intellect that perhaps you would be grateful." (An-Nahl: 78).

Thus, Allah, the Most Gracious, mentions His blessings to His servants in that He brought them from their mothers' wombs not knowing a thing, then He gave them hearing to recognize voices, and sight to see visible things. One way to appreciate the blessing of hearing is to make use of it in worshiping our Lord and obeying Him. This is because man is accountable before Allah for such faculties and how he uses them. The Most Exalted says, "indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned." (Al-Israa: 36).

There are many ways through which one can make good use of the blessing of hearing that Allah has endowed upon them, the foremost of which is developing a culture of listening. The latter is a skill that enables the listener to give full attention to others while in conversation and focus on what they are saying.

Indeed, Islam has attributed great importance to such a civilised etiquette. This was emphasised in the holy Quran as it mentions that Allah, the Most High, from above the seven heaves, listened to a woman who came to complain about her husband to the Prophet pbuh. In this regard, the Mother of Believers, Aisha may Allah be pleased with here, said, "Praise be to Allah Whose hearing encompasses all voices. The woman who disputed concerning her husband (Al-Mujadilah) came to the Prophet when I was (sitting) in a corner of the house, and she complained about her husband, but I did not hear what she said. Then Allah revealed: 'certainly has Allah heard the speech of the one who argues with you, [O Muhammad], concerning her husband and directs her complaint to Allah. And Allah hears your dialogue; indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing.'" (Al-Mujadilah: 1).

The woman mentioned in this Hadith was Khawla bint Thaalaba. It was narrated that she once stopped Umar Ibn Al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, when he was moving with an army. He stopped and went to speak to her. He smiled at her, nodded his head, solved her problem and then let her carry on. Thereupon, one of his men said, "You stopped the entire army for one old lady?" So, Umar said, "Woe to you! Do you know who she is?" The man said, "No." Umar replied, "This is a woman whose complaint Allah, the Most Sublime, listened to from above the seven heavens: this is Khawla bint Thaalabah. By Allah, if she did not leave me until night fell, I would not tell her to leave until she had got what she came for."

O Servants of Allah,

Being a good listener is a noble character, a praiseworthy merit and amongst the refined attitudes. It is one of the key elements that enable us to communicate effectively with others. Moreover, it reflects interest in, care to and appreciation of what is being said by others. In this sense, the first and foremost words that we should listen to and contemplate upon are the words of Allah, the Most Sublime, and the Sunna of His Messenger pbuh.

In this regard, it was narrated that Abdullah Ibn Masood, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "If you hear Allah saying: 'O you who have believed,' listen to what He has to say, for it will be either a good conduct that He enjoins or an evil deed that He forbids."

Indeed, the Prophet pbuh was the best of people in speech and in listening too. He did not speak until his partner has finished what he had to say. He listened to people and respected their opinions. For instance, he used to listen to his wives, may Allah be pleased with them. Truly, such a Prophetic guidance is conducive to promote the culture of understanding amongst married couples, thereby strengthening affection and trust between them.

Another occasion where listening plays a very important role, is when parents listen to their children. In fact, this has a great impact on positive rearing. It contributes to building the youngsters' personality, making them feel that they are cared for by their parents, extending the bridge of understanding and harmony between them, and establishing the foundations of a culture of constructive dialogue and transparency that is based on trust. As a result, the children will never hide any secrets from their parents, which in turn will help in finding the best and most prompt solutions for any issues that any of the family members may face.

One other instance where the art of listening can be seen is in gatherings and assemblies. In such occasions, people will listen to the eldest amongst them, avoid interrupting others while talking, following in this the example of the Messenger of Allah pbuh when he received Otba Ibn Rabiaa. He pbuh listened to him without any interruption. When Otba finished what he had to say, the Prophet pbuh said, "O Abul Waleed! Are you done?" Otba said, "Yes." Then the Prophet pbuh said, "Then listen to me." He said, "I will do."

Furthermore, the people of wisdom and knowledge used to teach their children such a wise attitude of listening well to others. For example, a wise ancestor said to his son, "My son! Learn the art of listening as you learn the art of speaking. Listening well means maintaining eye contact, allowing the speaker to finish the speech, and restraining your urge to interrupt his speech even if you already knew it."

This is because interrupting someone while talking may prompt their anger. On the same matter, a poet said, "And you see him listening to the speech with his ear and heart, though he might be well knowing of that."

In fact, attentive listening is one of the good manners and etuiquettes related to gatherings. It is a right that one should fulfil to those whom he gathers with in an assembly. One of the righteous Salaf said in this regard, "There are three rights for my sitting companion on me: if he comes, I give space for him to sit; if he sits I welcome him; and if he speaks I listen to him."

More to the point, through good listening and concentrating on others' speech, one will learn from their experiences and knowledge. A word of wisdom said in this regard, "If you sit in the company of the people of knowledge, make sure that you listen more than you talk." On the same matter a Bedouin once said, "A man will not benefit from a speech until he listens to it attentively."

Indeed, listening has a significant positive impact on learning and quick grasping of the meaning of what is being said. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah pbuh urged us to listen attentively to the Imam. He pbuh said, "Whoever takes a bath on Friday, and bathes completely, and goes early, arriving early, and walks and does not ride (to the mosque), and sits close to the Imam and listens to him, and does not engage in idle talk; for every step he takes he will have the reward of one year, the reward of a year's fasting and praying at night."

With this in mind, let us pray to Allah, the Almighty, to teach us that which will benefit us and make us benefit from that which He taught us.

May Allah 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 Sublime.

O Worshipers,

The merits of good listening are many. By paying attention to what is being said, one will draw lessons from others' experiences and benefit from their opinions and ideas. Attentive listening is also conducive to promote affection, harmony and mutual respect amongst people.

A good illustration of this can be seen within the one family. When husband listens to wife and vice versa, and parents listen to their sons and daughters, family bonds and cohesion with be strengthened. In like manner, the elders should listen to the youngsters, the teacher to their students, the manager to their employees and subordinates so that all will be in harmony, understand one another and cooperate with each other.

You are, therefore, urged to nurture the culture of listening well to the speech in the minds and hearts of your sons and daughters. Likewise, we should embrace such a great etiquette in our gatherings, our dealings and dialogue with the people around us.

That is said, please bear in mind that you are instructed to invoke peace and blessings on the Prophet pbuh. He 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.

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, 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 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).

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Official announcement from Awqaf

To be delivered after Friday prayer 14/04/2017

Dear Muslims,

The Department of Civil Defence urges families to install smoke detectors in their houses. Smoke detectors are instrumental in detecting the fire before flames break out, saving people from fatalities caused by inhalation of toxic fumes resulting from fires. The aim is to ensure implementation of the highest safety and prevention measures in residential units.

That is said, we beseech Allah to confer His blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muhammad pbuh, his family and all of the companions.