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Your first gray hairs can be really, really stressful.
They're a wake-up call.
And that's why many of Ulama
they say when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says
awalam nu'ammir'kum ma yatadhakkaru fihi man tadhakkara
wajaakumu l-nadhiru
Haven't we given you a long enough life
to figure it all out.
And the nadhir, the warner came to you.
They say that gray hair is actually the warner
that Allah is talking about.
It's a sign that you're getting closer
to your return to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
which is why the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said
a'dharallahu ilamri in akhara ajalahu hata balagha sitenas
sala
Allah will forgive a person
up until they reach the age of 60.
Meaning the proof has been established
against them at that point.
So that's one element of this.
The other element is,
what caused that gray hair to sprout other than old age.
Gray can be induced of course, by stress.
And Allah says about the day of judgment,
yawman yaj'alu l-wil'dana shiba
that it would be so severe
that it would turn a newborn's hair gray.
The prophets SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
He was known to not have much gray hair,
but he had this sudden onset.
And when he was asked why he said,
shaya batni Hud wa akhawatuha
it was all from Surah Hud and its sister Surahs,
the Surahs that are like it.
So what's the takeaway in this regard,
anything that was used for Allah,
anything that aged for Allah,
anything that was induced for Allah,
is actually a great sign of honor.
You look at the person who has endured a wound
in the cause of Allah
or someone who put their joints through stress
from the amount of worship or service that they did
or someone who has a mark of prostration on their forehead
and the list goes on and on and on and on.
But the point is, that the marks of the righteous
in this world will certainly
be streaks of reward in the hereafter.
One of the people the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
said Allah would not even look at or
speak to on the day of judgment,
is shaykhunzani an old man who committed adultery
because with all those years and with diminished desire
he still went ahead and disobeyed
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
but on the other hand you have those people
who lived long lives of worshiping Allah
and they're special.
And by the way, we should be honoring them as well.
The prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said
laysa mina manam yarham saghirana
waya'rif sharafaq birana
He is not one of us who does not have mercy on our youth
nor knows the honor of our elders.
And so SubhanAllah the youth require mercy, not harshness.
The elders on the other hand require honor not mockery.
And that's how you start to build a prophetic
and balanced community.
So how does Allah honor that age on the day of judgment?
the prophets SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said
man shabashaybatan fi sabilillah
kanat lahu nuran yawmul qiyamah
Whoever grows a gray hair in Islam
it will be a light for that person on the day of judgment
and the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam also said
that practically
do not pluck your gray hairs for that reason,
you can dye them if you want to,
in ways that are permissible, of course
and you can cut your hair, but don't pluck them entirely
as they will shine on the day of judgment for you.
So as Imam Hasan al-Basri Rahimahullah said
afdhur nasi thawabin yawmul qiyamah
al mu'minun mua'mirul
He said Rahimahullah ta'ala the most rewarded people
on the day of judgment are believers
who led long lives of righteousness.
Now, in the broader sense, it's not just about gray hairs,
the gray hairs merely speak to this trend
of marks of righteousness that are shinning on the judgment.
So for the Shahid, for example, the martyr,
the prophets SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said
ma min majruhin yujrahu fi sabilillah
wallahu 'alamubiman yujrahu fi sabilihi
No one is wounded in the cause of Allah
and Allah knows who is sincerely wounded for his cause.
Ilaja a yawmal qiyamah wa jurhuhu kahay atihi
yawma juriha walawnu lawnudamin warihu rihu misk
He will come on the day of judgment
and his wounds will be looking just like the day
that he was wounded.
And the color of that blood will be the color of blood.
But the difference is that, the blood will have
the smell of musk and no one is feeling sorry
for that person on that day
because they are beaming with light in all of the places
that they were wounded for the sake of Allah.
So I think about Hamza radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
with his chest beaming on the day of judgment
or Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu said
every part of my body has been marked for the sake of Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la at this point in my life.
And then you connect that to this other group of people.
You see Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
and this large group of people coming forward
and they have these long elegant necks
and the prophets SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said
al mu'adhinuna atwarunasi 'anakan yawmul qiyamah
that the callers to prayer,
will have the longest necks of the people
on the day of judgment.
Imam an-Nawawi Rahimahullah, he explains that the Arabs
refer to nobility and people of leadership
as people of long necks.
So these people are the forerunners.
Now some of the scholars, they say that
Muadhin is connected to the masjid
because there is a person that is so regular in the masjid
that the people yield to them for their decision making.
And so there is also a position in this life
that's denoted by that position in the hereafter
and then there's something that connects to the tongue here
because this tongue is shouting out what?
shouting out the dhikr of Allah,
the remembrance of Allah.
Abu Saʽid al-Khudri radiAllahu Anhu
Said that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam taught
that even if you're alone in the mountains,
call the adhan for verily
the sound of the muadhin's voice is not heard by a jinn,
by human being or any creation
except that it will testify for him on the day of judgment.
So what's the takeaway from this.
If I'm not old, I'm not a muadhin, and I'm not a warrior,
one of the questions that you're going to be asked
on the day of judgment is
anjismihi fi ma abla
It's one of the first things you're asked about,
what consumed your body?
So any wrinkle, any gray hair,
any one of those stretch marks for the mothers out there
who literally were in jihad with their pregnancy,
any dark circle under your eyes, due to the sleeplessness
from qiyam or from concern that you had for this ummah
all of that is going to be light on the day of judgment.
So long as it was for the sake of Allah.
So long as it was sincere Fi sabilillah
and the practical side for the community
is just like Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
is going honor those marks on the day of judgment,
we see those marks in our community
as badges of honor amongst us.
(upbeat music)
fa-amma man thaqulat mawazeenuh
fahuwa fi ishatir radiya
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