I begin with the name of Allah the most merciful and the most kind, peace and blessing be upon beloved Prophet (S.A.W)

All praise is for Allah. We praise him and seek his help and his forgiveness and we believe in Him and rely on Him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and the vices of our deeds. There is no one to misguide whom Allah guides and there is no one to guide whom Allah lets go astray (refuses to follow the divine guidance). I bear witness that there is not God but Allah alone. He (the most high) has no partner. I bear witness that our authority, our prophet and our master (beloved) Muhammad is His servant and His messenger. May Allah have mercy on Him (S.A.W), His household and His companions and bless them in great abundance.

PARENTS OF THE PROPHET

The most fortunate father and mother in the whole are Abdullah (R.A) and the mother Amina (R.T.A) of the Holy Prophet . Abdullah's mother is Fatima and the father is Abdul Muttalib (as discussed in the previous khutbah). Hadhrat Abdullah was the most handsome, smartest, chaste and the most loved son of Abdul Muttalib.

ABDULLAH ONE OF THE ZABEEH (SACRIFICED)

Abdul Muttalib had everything. He had wealth, health and power. He was also respected by the people but had ones source of sadness. He didn't have many sons while the Arab prided themselves on their many offspring. Abdul Muttalib had only one son and made Dua (prayer) for many sons to help and support him in the cause of serving the pilgrims every year. Abdul Muttalib made dua's (prayers) and vowed that if he should have ten sons and they all reached manhood, he would sacrifice one of them in the way of Allah (S.W.T). Allah (S.W.T) accepted his prayer and gave him eleven sons.

Abdul Muttalib became the head of his tribe. He was respected and honoured by all. He now realized that he should fulfil his vow of sacrificing one of his sons. It was difficult time for him to choose any of his sons who were dearer to him. He finally drew lots and the name of Abdullah came out - Abdullah the youngest, the most handsome and the closest to Abdul Muttalib. Abdullah did not show any resistance but rather prepared to be sacrificed more willingly to fulfil the wishes of his father, but since Abdullah was most loved and respected for his honesty, purity and other good qualities, the men and women of Quraish protested to protect Abdul Muttalib. Abdul Muttalib did not know what to do, listen to the Quraish or to fulfil the vow he had made. Then some of the wise people in Makkah-tul-Mukarramah advised him to consult a renowned KAHINA soothsayer. Abdul Muttalib accepted the advice and went to see the women with a group of the nobles of Makkah-tul-Mukarramama. She asked them about the ransom of a human life in their land and answered that it was ten camels. She told them to draw lot between the name of Abdullah and ten camels. When the lot was drawn the result was the same, that is the name of Abdullah. She told them to keep on increasing the numbers of the camels until the result of the lot shows camels. They kept on drawing the lot by increasing ten camels after each lot. The result was Abdullah but when the number of the camels reached One Hundred (100) the result of the lot were camels not Abdullah. Abdul Muttalib repeated the lot three times and each time it was the camels. Now he and the other nobles of Makkah were satisfied in sacrificing the camels and to complete that vow. All the camels were slaughtered and the meat was left for anyone, both human and animals.

Due to this historical incident the amount of blood money was declared one hundred camels instead of the ten camels in Arabia before Islam. Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) also approved it and declared it as blood money of Islam. It is due to this incident that our Beloved Prophet (S.A.W) has mentioned one of his titles by saying: "I am the son of the two "Zabihain", two slaughtered meaning Ismaeel (AS) and Abdullah (RA)". See Ibn Hashim 1/151-155 and Rahmatul-lil-Alameen 2/89, 90

THE BELOVED PROPHET'S MOTHER AMINA (RA)

Though many noble women of Makkah wished to marry Abdullah but by the will of Allah (S.W.T), Abdul Muttalib chose Amina (RA) daughter of Wahab bin Abd Manaf bin Zahra bin Kilab. Her father was the head of Bani Zahra tribe who was also blessed with great respect and honour amongst his people.

Abdullah (RA) died in Al-Madina during a business trip to Syria and was buried there. Amina (RA) wrote a heart touching elegy in the memory of her dearest husband by whom she became the mother of the greatest Prophet of Allah. Amina (the peace maker, peace loving) took her son to visit the grave of his father Abdullah (RA) in Al-Madina, she became ill on the way back to Makkah and she was buried in the village called Abwa. Hassan Ibn Thabit one of the Sahaba (companions) has said in his poetry for Islam: 'There is no mother who has given birth to the most beautiful like You, meaning (The Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W)". Though it is the praise of the Prophet but at the same time the Sahabi mention the mother of Rasulallah with respect.

SOME LESSONS WE LEARN FROM TODAYS KHUTBAH

The parents of the Prophet (S.A.W) must be respected by all of us.

If we do our best to educate our children, make them to be the most beneficial for the society, we will be rewarded by Allah (S.W.T) and remembered as good parents by our children and other people.

The Parents of the Prophet (S.A.W) will be blessed with great status because they did not practise polytheism (a talk will be delivered on the Iman of the Prophet's parents in the future).

The good Muslims are those who try their best to prove that Prophet's parents died on Iman or purified from Shirk and those who do their best to prove that they are polytheist, must study the explanations of Great Muslim Scholars such as Imam Zurqani, Khatib Al-Baghdadi, Imam Suyuti and Imam Ahmad Radha Khan Al-Qadri (Rahmatullahi Alaihim) concerning the subject.