Friday Khutba of Tokyo Camii “Ramadan: The Month of Goodness”
Honorable Muslims!
After our Prophet (saw) migrated to Madinah, many people began arriving in this blessed city to learn about Islam. One of them was Nawwas, who was honored with Islam at a very young age. One day, Nawwas (ra) asked our beloved Prophet (saw) about the nature of good and evil. The Messenger of Allah (saw) gave him this wise answer: “Righteousness is good character and sin is what gnaws at your conscience and that which you dislike for other people to become aware of.”1
Esteemed Muslims!
There is always a good deed that each of us can perform—with our hands, our words, our wealth, our knowledge, our profession, and our experience. Sometimes, goodness means being a dutiful child, a loyal spouse, a compassionate parent, or a person who greets others with a smile and kind words. At other times, goodness means greeting everyone with kindness, regardless of their age. It is taking the time to ask about their well-being. It is showing love to a child and respect to an elderly person. It is showing mercy to every living creature. It is refraining from harming anyone with our hands or words.
Esteemed Believers!
Unfortunately, we are living in an age where goodness is being diminished, and evil is being encouraged. War, anger, hatred, enmity, and violence are increasing daily in our world due to those who lack goodness. The oppressors who thrive on evil continue to massacre innocents in Islamic lands, especially in Gaza. They deny our brothers and sisters even their most basic needs. What falls upon us is to do more good and not leave the oppressed to the conscience of the oppressors, as the verse urges, وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوٰىۖ “Cooperate with one another in goodness and righteousness.”2 It is to keep the products of those who support the oppressors away from our tables, our homes, our workplaces, and, in short, our lives.
Dear Muslims!
Goodness has a transformative power. Our Lord Almighty states, “Good and evil cannot be equal. Respond ˹to evil˺ with what is best, then the one you are in a feud with will be like a close friend.”3 The Messenger of Allah (saw) also says, إِنَّ اللّٰهَ كَتَبَ الْإِحْسَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ “Indeed, Allah has ordained excellence in everything.”4 So, let us start doing good, beginning with our family. Let us bless our homes with goodness. Let us plant seeds of goodness in the hearts of our children. Let us extend our hand of goodness to our brothers and sisters who are immersed in sin, involved in evil, or have lost hope in life. Let us do good so that our lives may flourish. Let us do good so that our world can change. May our capital be goodness and our reward be paradise, this Ramadan and always.
I would like to conclude this Friday’s khutbah with our Prophet’s (saw) following supplication: “O Allah! Make my life a means of accumulating good, and make death a respite for me from all evil.”5
[1] Muslim, Birr, 15.
[2] Ma’idah, 5/2.
[3] Fussilat, 41/34.
[4] Tirmidhi, Diyat, 14.
[5] Muslim, Dhikr, 71.
Friday Khutba of Tokyo Camii “Ramadan: The Month of Goodness” PDF
