Is it prescribed for the khateeb to say “Aqoolu qawli haadha wa astaghfir-Allaah (I say these words of mine andI ask Allah for forgiveness)?

At the end of the Friday khutbah the khateeb says, "Aqoolu qawli
haadha wa astaghfir-Allaah (I say these words of mine and I ask Allah
for forgiveness). Is there any basis for this in Islam? Is there
anything wrong with that? We prayed in one of the mosques and at the
end of the khutbah the khateeb said, "I say these words of mine andI
ask Allah for forgiveness for me and you and for all the Muslims."
When the prayer was over, one of the congregation of the mosque
objected to that and said: "This is an innovation that is said inthe
khutbah." Then he said: "It is not only your words, you quoted
Qur'aanic verses and hadeeths, and the wordsof the Salaf, so how could
you say that these are your words?".
Praise be to Allaah.
There is nothing wrong with the khateeb saying at the end of his
speech, "Aqoolu haadha wa astaghfir-Allaah (I say this and I ask Allah
for forgiveness)" or "Aqooluqawli haadha wa astaghfir-Allaah (I say
these words of mine andI ask Allah for forgiveness)", whether this is
the first or second Friday khutbah or any other kind of speech. These
are words that arenarrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) and from the khateebs among his Companions (may
Allah be pleased with them).
Ibn Hibbaan (3828) narrated from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with
him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) gave
a speech on the day of the conquest of Makkah. He praised and
glorified Allah then he said: "To proceed: O people, Allah has taken
away from you the pridein ancestry of Jaahiliyyah. O people, people
are of two types, the righteous and pious one who is dear to his Lord
and the wretched evildoer who is worthless before his Lord." Then he
recited the verse (interpretationof the meaning): "O mankind! We have
created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and
tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of
you with Allaah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. he is one of
the Muttaqoon (the pious. See V.2:2)]. Verily, Allaah is All-Knowing,
All-Aware" [al-Hujuraat 49:13]. Then he said: "Aqoolu haadha wa
astaghfir-Allaah (I say this and I ask Allah for forgiveness)."
This hadeeth was classedas saheeh by Shu'ayb al-Arna'oot in his
Tahqeeq, and by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 2803. The
biographers narrated that Thaabit ibn Qays ibnShammaas, the khateeb of
the Ansaar (may Allah be pleased with him) said it in the presence
ofthe Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). Ibn Ishaaq
said in the report of the delegation of Banu Tameem and their boasting
in front of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah upon him): The
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah upon him)said to
Thaabit ibn Qays ibn al-Shammaas, the brother of Banu al-Haarith ibn
al-Khazraj:Get up and answer the man's speech. Thaabit got up and
said: Praise be to Allah Who created the heavens and the earth and
established Hisrule therein, and His knowledge encompassesHis Throne;
nothing exists but by His bounty. By His power He made uskings and
chose the bestof His creation as a Messenger, who is the most
honourable in lineage, the most sincerein speech, and the noblest in
ancestry, and sent down to him His Book and entrusted him (to guide)
His creation. He was Allah's choice from among the worlds. Then He
summoned mento believe in him, and the emigrants (Muhaajireen) from
his people and his kinsmen believed in Allah's Messenger; the most
honourable of men in lineage, the highest in dignity, and the best in
deeds. The first of creation to answer and respond to Allah when the
Messenger called them were ourselves. Weare Allah's helpers and the
assistants of His Messenger, and we will fight men until they believe
in Allah. He who believes in Allah and His Messenger has protectedhis
life and property from us; and he who disbelieves we will fight for
the sake of Allah unceasingly and killing him will be a small matter
to us. These are my words and I seek Allah's forgiveness for myself
and the believers,both men and women. Peace be upon you.
End quote from al-Seerah al-Nabawiyyahby Ibn Hishaam, 2/562; al-Seerah
by Ibn Katheer, 4/79.
These words were also narrated from Abu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Ali (may
Allahbe pleased with them) intheir khutbahs, and some contemporary
scholars use them in their khutbahs such as Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may
Allah have mercy on him).
As for the objection to the khateeb mentioning things that are not his
own words, such as verses, hadeeths and reports, this objection is not
valid, because what these words refer to is everything that the
khateeb said in his khutbah, even the verses, hadeeths and reports
that the khateeb quoted.
The point is that saying these words is permissible and there is
nothing wrong with it, and there is no justification for objecting to
it.
We ask Allah to help us to understand His religion properly.
And Allah knows best.

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Mullah Nasruddin stories

More useful
One day Mullah Nasruddin entered his favourite teahouse and said
"The moon is more usefulthan the sun".
An old man asked "Why Mullah?"
Nasruddin replied "We need the light more during the night than during the day."
Promises kept
A friend asked the Mullah"How old are you?"
"Forty" replied the Mullah.
The friend said "But you said the same thing two years ago!"
"Yes," replied the Mullah, "I always stand by what I have said".
When you face things alone
"You may have lost your donkey, Nasruddin, but you don't have to
grieve over it more than you didabout the loss of your first wife."
"Ah, but if you remember, when I lost my wife, all you villagers said:
"We'll find you someone else. So far, nobody has offered to replace my
donkey."

Jabril How Does Archangel Gabriel Quiz Muhammad in the Hadith?

The Hadith (a collection of Muslim narratives about the prophet
Muhammad) includes the Hadith of Gabriel, which describes how
archangel Gabriel (also known as Jibril in Islam ) quizzes Muhammad
about Islam to test how well he understands the religion.Gabriel
appeared to Muhammad over a 23-year period to dictate the Qur'an word
by word,Muslims believe.
In this Hadith, Gabriel appears in disguise, checking to make sure
that Muhammad has received his messages about Islam correctly. Here's
what happens:
Answer:
The Hadith of Gabriel
The Hadith of Gabriel's tells the story: "Umar ibn al-Khattab (the
second rightly guided caliph) reported: One day when we were with
Allah's [God's] messenger, a manwith extremely white clothing and very
black hair came to us. No tracesof travel were visible on him, and
none of us recognized him. Sitting down before the Prophet, (peace and
blessings be upon him) leaning his knees againsthis, and placing his
handson his thighs, the stranger said, 'Tell me, Muhammad, about
Islam.'
The Prophet replied, 'Islam means that you should bear witness that
there is no god but God and that Muhammad is Allah's messenger, that
you should perform the ritual prayer , pay the alms tax, fast during
Ramadan, and make the pilgrimage to the Ka'aba at Mecca if you are
able to go there.'
The man said, 'You have spoken the truth.' (We were amazed at this
man's questioning the Prophet and then declaring that he had spoken
the truth).
The stranger spoke a second time, saying, 'Now tell me about faith.'
The Prophet replied, 'Faith means that you have faith in Allah, His
angels , His books, His messengers and the Last Day, and that you have
faith in fate as it is measured out, both its good and evil aspects.'
Remarking that the Prophet again had spoken the truth, the stranger
then said, 'Now tell me about virtue.'
The Prophet replied, 'Virtue — doing what is beautiful — means that
you should worship Allah as if you see Him, for even if you do not see
Him, He sees you.'
Yet again the man said, 'Tell me about the Hour (that is, the coming
of the Day of Judgment).'
The Prophet replied, 'About that he who is questioned knows no more
than the questioner.'
The stranger said, 'Well, then tell me about its signs.'
The Prophet replied, 'The slave girl will give birth to her mistress,
and you will see the barefoot, the naked, the destitute, and the
shepherds vying witheach other in building.'
At that, the stranger wentaway.
After I had waited for a while, the Prophet spoke to me: 'Do you know
whothe questioner was, Umar?' I replied, 'Allah and His messenger know
best.' The Prophet said, 'He was Jibril [Gabriel]. He came to teach
you your religion.'"
Thoughtful Questions
In the preface to the book Questions And Answers About Islam by
Fethullah Gülen, Muhammad Cetin writes that the Hadith of Gabrielhelps
readers learn how to ask thoughtful spiritual questions: "Gabriel knew
the answers to these questions, but his purpose of disguising himself
and posing these questions was to help others attain this information.
A question is asked for a certain purpose. Asking a question for the
sake of displaying one's own knowledge or asking merely to test the
other person is worthless. If a question is asked for the purpose of
learning in order to let others find out the information (as in the
example of Gabriel above, the questioner may already know the answer)
it can be considered a question that has been posed in the correct
manner. Questions of this kind arelike seeds of wisdom."
Defining Islam
The Hadith of Gabriel summarizes Islam's majortenets. Juan Eduardo
Campo writes in the book Encyclopedia of Islam : "The Hadith of
Gabriel teaches that religious practice and belief are interrelated
aspects of the Islamic religion – one cannot be accomplished without
the other."
In their book The Vision of Islam , Sachiko Murata and William C.
Chittick write that Gabriel's questions and Muhammad's answers help
people Islam as three different dimensions working together: "The
hadith of Gabriel suggests that in the Islamic understanding, religion
embraces right ways of doing things, right ways of thinking and
understanding, and rightways of forming the intentions that lie
behindthe activity. In this hadith, the Prophet giveseach of the three
right ways a name. Thus one could say that 'submission' is religion
asit pertains to acts, 'faith' is religion as it pertains to thoughts,
and 'doing the beautiful' is religion as it pertains to intentions.
These three dimensions of religion coalesce into a single reality
known as Islam."

Muslims in Americ

"Growing up in America, Eddie lived the American dream. He achieved it
all before the age of thirty—money, cars, women."
These are the narrator's opening words to the ground-breaking
documentary film about how Eddie Redzovic, founder and host of the
worldly-renowned The Deen Show, came to Islam.
However, the narrator's next words are those thattruly open this film:
"But beneath the surface…"
And "beneath the surface" is the story of one man—a troubled and
broken soul—who makes the streets his battleground and the nightclub
his place of refuge. Yet, as he repeatedly throws himself into throes
of violence and death, he discovers that his most dangerous
battleground lies within…
The story of troubled Eddie—who was born in Buffalo, New York, to
Yugoslavian immigrants—begins while Eddie is inChicago, where his
parents moved while he was still a child.
With two working parents and lots of time on his hands, young Eddie
fills his days with what could only be described as every parent's
nightmare: bad friends, complete disregard for school, and,ultimately,
gang membership.
"Children are like a garden," Eddie's uncle reflects regretfully on
what happened to his nephew during those years. "If you miss [even]
one week of watering, it's overcome with weeds."
Like so many troubled souls before him, it is within the somber
solitude of a jail cell yearslater that Eddie realizes that his life
is in disarray. Ironically, it is the absence of his closest
companions—his fellow gang members, his "family"—that inspires this
realization.
"I'm in a jail cell thinking…These people don't care about me."
Then comes the ultimate question that every soul must surely ask
itself at least once upon this earth, "What am I doing with my life?"
Yet, even after his release, the light still doesn't come on for Eddie…
It isn't until he sinks deepinto the insobriety of self-indulgence
that the fault lines begin to make way to redemption…
But even after he embraces spirituality to feed his ailing soul,
Eddiefinds that his battle of the self is not yet over…
"You have three types of brothers…" Eddie tells theattendants to a
lecture at a school he visits after accepting Islam and founding The
Deen Show, "blood brothers…brothers in humanity…and brothers in
[faith]."
And this film offers a moving story for each and every one of them—the
members of our families, our brothersand sisters in humanity, and all
people of faith.
In a world of Islamophobia, media-hyped "Islamic extremism," and
spiritual depravation, this documentary is a "must-see" for every
journalist, every writer, every intellectual…And every soul.
This film will touch each differently. But each will be touched.
This movie truly is, as the commentator said of Eddie himself, "an
example of redemption."

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