UAE Friday sermon: how to earn God's pleasure

Mosque-goers will be told to honour their parents and lead pious lives to achieve God's pleasure

God’s approval is the greatest reward believers can attain after leading an honest and pious life, mosque-goers will hear on Friday.

God, in the Quran, promised believers a paradise full of pleasures but said it should be secondary to the ultimate goal.

"Allah has promised the believing men and believing women gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally, and pleasant dwellings in gardens of perpetual residence; but approval from Allah is greater. It is that which is the great attainment." (At-Tawba: 72).

The Imam recalled the story of Aisha, the Prophet’s wife, who saw he was missing from his bed in the middle of the night only to find him awake, prostrating and seeking refuge in God and asking him for his pleasure.

Mosque-goers will be told that there are many ways to achieve God’s pleasure.

God says, "there has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book. By which Allah guides those who pursue His pleasure to the ways of peace and brings them out from darknesses into the light, by His permission, and guides them to a straight path." (Al-Maida: 15-16).

The sermon will tell worshippers that honouring one’s parents is one of the best ways to achieve that goal, as Prophet Mohammed said “The Lord’s Pleasure is connected to the parent’s pleasure”.

Children are advised to obey their parents, treat them kindly and go out of their way to please them.

Another method to achieve God’s pleasure is found in giving charity and spending money to help those in need.

"And the example of those who spend their wealth seeking means to the approval of Allah and assuring [reward for] themselves is like a garden on high ground which is hit by a downpour - so it yields its fruits in double." (Al-Baqara: 265).

The Imam also gave examples of how attaining the pleasure of God has been a lifelong goal of many believers even those preceding the Quran like the Prophet Suleiman and the Prophet Moses.