Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – The Secrets of Ramadanic Success
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My dear respected brothers and sisters Assalamu alaykum
Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Ramadan is not a misnomer, or an unknown guest to any of us.
We've all
I'm sure many of us most of us have probably spent many long
months and anything that I'm going to say today is not necessarily
anything new. However, just like Ramadan comes each year, there's a
purpose behind it. And we're reminded a year in year and year
out what this Ramadan is all about. So, in sha Allah, what I'm
about to say is actually a reminder for myself for inshallah
for all of us
and the benefit of it being or the purpose of it being that insha
Allah if we can do something better for this Ramadan then that
is the level of an enhancement and that is the closer that we get to
ALLAH SubhanA Medina.
The one thing about Ramadan is that
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam appeared to make
preparation from it well in advance $1 that I find to be
extremely valuable, very, very insightful, very beneficial, is
the dollar that works and allows us to make two months in advance.
Allah is methodical enough, Elijah was shut down. Well believe it or
not, Allah. Allah, Allah bless us in this month of Rajab, and in
this month of Sherborn. And allow us to reach Ramadan.
The Baraka in the month of Rajab and Shabbat, that is very
necessary. This is essentially precluding anybody who is just
going headlong in his engrossment in worldly activities, Ramadan
suddenly comes up. The first time he hears about it, although he's
been hearing about it, but he's kind of been dismissing it or not
really concentrating on it, not really taking it to heart. And
then suddenly, the decision is made, the moon has been cited. Or
it's been declared, and now it's Ramadan. But he thinks, Oh, I've
got all of these projects to finish off yet. And now he's
beating himself up. Because
no preparation has been made. Got some major tasks, either school
tasks, either work, employment related tasks, and they have to be
finished. There's deadlines to meet. There's other people in the
project. You can't let everybody down. And now by the time he gets
out of the
Ramadan is halfway out, and by the time he gets into it, last five
days of Ramadan, and it's gone.
And especially now as we draw closer to the day of judgment
without being pessimistic or fatalistic, or sounding like you
know, I'm here to warn us about that, which we should be worrying
about anyway, but I'm not here to talk about those theories right
now. And those ideas right now, the whole point is that yet of
course, it was a man time has contracted. Definitely. I don't
know. I mean, one thing is that some of us have clearly said that,
and I'm sure from five years ago and what we see right now if you
just look at last Ramadan, it was just there, and now it's gone. And
the next Ramadan will come up and despite the fact that it's in peak
summer,
last year, people are very concerned. I remember, people were
very concerned in the beginning, how are we going to spend these
days in this heat of the UK as though it's a big deal, you know,
and suddenly Ramadan was over.
Ramadan was over.
And most likely you will have Allah give us Baraka in these
months so that we really can do something about it. The wisdom of
this dawn Subhan Allah is that oh Allah give me a blessing in this
month of sharp burn and Roger. So I can one of the wisdoms I've seen
I see in the prophets of Allah was or what he had in mind in
explicating to us, but the one thing that we see that the one
reason I would make that dua, is that Oh Allah, what are these
things that I've got to do before Ramadan that will allow me then to
single mindedly with full concentration really myself into
Ramadan? Really? Work for Ramadan allow me to complete all of
these things beforehand. So you've got issues, whether it's a phone
contract that you need to renew, and those things are not easy to
do because most people have to kind of
shop around for the best contract. That's it's a task on its own,
using one of these modern amenities that made life easier
they have to a certain degree, but they've added many complications
to it. You just get the wrong bill for a phone contract, what are you
going to do?
For two, three days, you're going to be on them and if we can, an
awkward person who doesn't sort out your issue very quickly,
you're going to be on there for two or three days trying to get
them to sort it out for you. That's a lot of time taken.
You know, you might be better off in the villages without a phone.
Sometimes you think that's fine, Allah, you know, you got a bill
for 300 pounds, you didn't spend anything. And now you have to
fight with them. Right? Anyway Subhanallah so if you've got
things like that at work projects, to complete household things that
have to be done and the work that needs to be done, the women they
make a lot of mashallah they get a lot of him a lot of aspiration in
Ramadan to cook this IG Baraka in the month of Ramadan. So, you
know, we even want to prepare a lot of stuff so that they don't
have to do it Iran as a good thing. Right. It's a good thing
that they will do it before Ramadan. So whatever it is that we
need to do, we need Baraka during these months, so we can finish it
off so that when Ramadan comes in, we can stand in taraweeh relaxed
and enjoy and do this. And hopefully Allah subhanaw taala
will forgive our previous sins, and our Ramadan and we can spend
time that we can tell our employees we've done these things.
We need some time off my shoulder there are brothers who take off
the whole month of Ramadan they save their holidays just for the
month of Ramadan. They take it off so that they can spend it in the
ministry.
It really is something you don't realize you see the Promise of
Allah values instead of one inch in one instance.
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Cathedral, which means if you
knew what I know, you would love less and cry more, that conviction
that you're keen that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had
drove him
to do so much despite the fact that he was forgiven and he was
the most blessed. He was the most Beloved of Allah subhanho wa
taala.
That's why regardless of what we've done in the previous months,
Ramadan is the time when we need to really give it our utmost and
for that, for that we have to prepare for it. Yes, right. We
have to prepare for everything nowadays has come to a time when
you don't just go to somebody's house, knock on the door and come
visit and you have to you have to you know, you we take appointments
nowadays, it's come to that, you know, ask the people 50 years ago
wasn't like they just kind of turned up and they were ready for
you. And they put out a big meal and everything but now it's people
are busy. We need to prepare for Ramadan.
Now the fact is that why shouldn't we change our life for among our
habits, our daily routine for the month of Ramadan? Well, Allah
subhanho wa Taala is making some major changes.
And even Buhari the province of Allah.
Allah on reports, that is at the heart of Ramadan and Ramadan
enters.
A number of things are taking place, not just in this world, but
in the whole cosmic system in the universe. Places where we can get
to and places where nobody can get.
Allah subhanaw taala is making some major cosmic changes during
this month of Ramadan. As mentioned in the Hadith, it says
when Ramadan enters the doors of the heavens opened up
for the above with sunlight and other versions of the Bible
agenda. Essentially, the doors of paradise are flung open.
signifying that it's easy for you to enter if you want to.
You want entry, you want to guarantee yourself some entry
here. Well, it's the time it's the best option to do it. It's the
best option to do it. And then it says, Well, what kind of world
would you handle?
The doors of hellfire are closed. So you're really going to have to
really be serious to go into hellfire to want to go into
hellfire to get into hellfire. Because it doesn't Hellfire close
we're gonna have to really pry them open.
Which means only the most
deprived sort of person will enter into hellfire in the month of
Ramadan because the doors are closed Allah is making these look
I'm going to close the doors for you. So you can't just kind of
saunter in you're really gonna have to try hard to get inside
number three the doors of hellfire close the door of those of
paradise opened up was Sophie the dish out
and Shayateen are locked up. And believe me if you spend Ramadan
before that is something which is beyond you know any other
explanation. I mean, yes, there is definite
Eat the collective inspiration we get from everybody else also
fasting and everybody else making taraweeh. If done an increase in
people's religiosity and piety and so on, there's no doubt that when
people do things as a group, you also feel inspired. There's no
doubt that there's some effect of that. But there has to be an
effect beyond that, even when you are alone. You feel shy to commit
a sin. You feel shy to do the same thing that we were doing just a
few weeks ago, before Ramadan, we feel quite embarrassed. Nobody's
watching us. It's not that okay. Nobody else is doing why should I
do it? No, there's some other feeling. There's just a greater
ability that I don't want to do that say, Okay, fine.
There is a much easier way of restraining ourselves from sins.
Regardless of what we've been doing, because the shayateen are
not around. This doesn't mean that we won't do it, because this is
where we really need to understand this, just so that this hadith is
not misunderstood. And the more we become aware of the reality of the
way our system works,
not our biological system, but our spiritual system, which is very
important, because one alone is all about spirituality.
Essentially, what happens is,
if we're not if we've never been into a bar or a pub before, right,
we will hardly ever want to go in. However, you got a few friends who
have gone to a new school, new college, university, whatever you
a bunch of friends at work, or they've gone to a meeting or
somebody's let's go to the bar, and like no, I can't go to the
bar. And now they really start to put that emotional pressure on
you. You know what's wrong, you can just have orange juice, you
don't have to sit outside on the on the chairs outside.
You can have orange juice, you know, you can have a J or they
really call it a J.
G Tube or something like that. You can have one of those. So
eventually, I think when they can't really do much harm in that,
I'm going to sit outside, you know the rest of it. So eventually
you'll get that much closer. And then eventually a person may start
drinking.
Drinking is one issue, there could be many and many other issues. Now
the issue is this that there's a hadith in Muslim which makes it
very clear that every human being has a shape on designated with
them. From the birth, every new human being there are many
Shayateen available, each one is designated and shaytan has a lot
of progeny he produces quite a bit, so it designates one with the
new human being. But Allah subhanaw taala in the Quran was
wersal Hundreds he speaks of Swaziland is the one who whispers
but then who has to retreat when the vicar is made as related to
the Muslim. Whenever vicar is made use our lives we live in a shape
on Origin let you know, Allah Subhana Allah hamdulillah anything
that you may remember a lot, the shaytaan will retreat. The
question is that in any other time as well, and also in the month of
Ramadan if shelving are not supposed to be there, and if this
is supposed to be the formula for the shaytaan running away from us,
then why doesn't it? Why do we still feel inclined to do sin. And
there are people who mentioned very clearly that I am in the such
that and I'm planning my next day
I'm in such that I can't be in a greater position than that. The
prophets of Allah Islam said, coloboma ignited ALLAH SubhanA wa
Tada, fish sujood. The closest that is seven is when Allah
subhanho wa Taala is to Allah subhanaw taala is in the
prostration. And yet this person is just so overcome by this
desire, that is plenty. I'm going to finish this person that I can
go and I can look at this, look at that or can be so candid and is
planning a sin and his sense of harm or Bill Aleem, because we
live in a shape on the regime and it's, he can't help it. So what do
these Hadith mean that? Well, you see, the issue here is that this
is not no longer shaytani issue anymore. It's progressed to not
the shaytaan himself, but it's progressed to our knifes becoming
habituated to something and this is where it gets more critical. So
essentially, once a person has committed a sin many times it
becomes a habit. It becomes a habit. And then what happens is
you can't just say oh, good law and your runs away. Because the
knifes is a bit stronger than that it's become accustomed to do so
it's a habit. I mean, you can't just stop cigarettes, just like
that. Right people with alcohol problems, they've stopped for 10
years they will they'll relapse if they just smell it sometimes, or
they'll see an advertisement. This is the way the nurse works. The
nurse is very powerful, extremely powerful.
As Bill said, he says that the nuts is like a young child that's,
you know, that will continue to suck and that will continue to
nurse unless you really force it away and it will have its
withdrawal
That's essentially what the left is all about. And we need to
realize that that when we now read our own biller it's not enough
because it's a habit now that's why they're really mad they have
this science they've written that you have to then make a plan and
understand that you they found this this is not mentioned Hadith
necessarily, but they found this through experience that for
something of that nature, this is all psychology, right? This is all
spiritual spiritual psychology as such that you would have to
abstain from that thing seven times for four hours for us to
wean ourselves off that thing.
Which means that if it's a problem of looking at something or
I don't know you know, whatever whatever the case is, then you
have that desire to do you're either on the relationship trying
to achieve nothing's happening because we've let it progressed
too far. The roots have become stronger says that you will have
to abstain consciously seven times Okay, now so once again, once
again, once again eventually will become slower and slower, you will
eventually then we'll be able to get out of it.
Same thing happens in Ramadan, the effect of the shaytaan is still
there even though the shell Tina away. That's why another thing
when think about it, when do Muslim communities have the
greatest discord? There are two times in the year where they have
the greatest sense of discord.
That's Ramadan and that speed over the moon.
Right shaytaan has a big hand in that she knows he's going to go
away for a while. So he deals his blow before he goes. Right. And,
you know, somebody says he sees the moon or somebody says he says
this or that or whatever. And then that's it. The one week of
Ramadan, the first week is what are given of the moon.
Then eventually, I mean, people come to do come off it but we've
just lost seven to 10 days.
Then after the month of Ramadan is over we've mashallah done enough.
And we've abstained from everything on the rest of it.
Now shaytan comes out on the day of Eid, and believe me, it is
their faith.
You know what he does? There are people who have come in, they've
said, I did so well in the month of Ramadan. I abstained from
listening to music, I was listened to Corolla, my iPod was just
wiped, wiped clean. May Allah give us all a trophy to do that, right?
And put a lot of Quran you know, good machine, not music machines.
Right. And I was really good. I was reading solid and I have the
Mr. Prayer of a Papa and I did this and they did that.
On the day over eat.
Halfway through the day, I did something and I messed up
everything.
Something that day after eat, some say the third day of it.
She turns come back out He wants us to erase everything.
That's why one of the most important times to save ourselves
is on the day of reading. And about for three days minimum or a
week. If we've saved that much, then we've allowed the good of it
to continue. And the wisdom that I see in the six fast offshore
world. And the prophets of Allah is the moment it has been said
about it, we have a faster ship six, fast of Chawan gets the
reward of fasting a lifetime or a year. I mean, as the understanding
goes of the year, which means the rest of the benefit of it is that
in the month of Ramadan, with fasting we're making our way we're
doing this we're doing that we do a lot of things and we abstain
from sin. Now, the day of eating is not available, it's not
permissible to fast, but the day after that it is permissible to
fast and it's preferable to keep the six of us as soon as possible.
The benefit of it is that while the shaytaan is out, and Ramadan
is not the light of Ramadan is not there anymore, with fasting so it
keeps us psychologically gives us a reminder of how we will be still
fasting. So we're prolonging that state even though the shoutouts
Allah is helping us to Allah is helping us to habituate ourselves
with an out of Ramadan experience with the shayateen around. So one
of the greatest benefits of the six facets of Chawan immediately
after eat is that it helps us to preserve it and still keeps us in
check.
There's no I mean, haven't you felt a marked difference in
Ramadan, an ounce of Ramadan in terms of the desire to do things
and not to do things the desire to do good things that desire to do
bad things, but there's a marked difference.
Allah subhanaw taala is making many changes. According to
Sheikh Mohammed, Hindi, one of the great revivals of the sentence and
theory
He said that every moment of Ramadan, every literally every
Saira moment of Ramadan is so valuable and so potent that
the mercy that is disseminated during that time, the baraka and
the blessings that are concentrated in that one moment,
you can't make that up with an entire year.
One Hadith that gives you an understanding of this is that
anybody who who forgoes a fast of Ramadan, you missed the fast of
Ramadan because you didn't feel like fasting that day. Right
without a valid excuse, not that you're extremely ill or sick or
had to travel or something, you just didn't feel like fasting that
day, for whatever reason, without a genuine excuse. It says that the
person will not be able to attain the same reward if he fasted his
entire lifetime outside Ramadan. Think that
if we fasted for every single day, that was not Ramadan for the rest
of our lives.
Right? For 11 months, every year, we would not be able to make that
same amount of reward in that one day of fasting in Ramadan.
That's concentrated reward.
So you can understand for going for going fast is absolutely I
mean, it'd be suicidal in a sense, because we're going to need every
aspect of this reward in the Hereafter.
And then another thing that backs this up is to show that Okay, that
one night in Ramadan, which has not been told to us as to exactly
when it is
the link that will cover the night of destiny or power.
So you know, that that's the idea, the idea is that you do tick off
in the last 10 days that you can most likely find it.
That is how your artificial superior to 1000 lives. I mean, I
don't want to speak about that, really, because that's obviously
something that will be spoken about later. But the main thing
here that we need to realize that if Allah subhanho wa Taala is
making these major cosmic changes around the world, helping us
essentially encouraging us helping us then why is it that we can't
make preparations beforehand and go into Ramadan with these things
and to do these things properly?
You know, the barakato of Ramadan. The blessings of Ramadan are such
that
have you noticed that some of the best foods that you will eat will
be in Ramadan? Some of the most variety I don't know about you
guys, but I definitely do. Write in Allah subhanaw taala is to feed
to the women.
Those who are cooking to cook everyday cooking these IG marching
things.
Right? I don't know. I mean, I'm sure you can agree to that. But
they get Baraka in the month of Ramadan taco polities. RGPS Baraka
in the head is baraka everywhere.
If you can see bollock in the food, can you imagine that Allah
subhanaw taala is like manifesting his baleka in the open.
You can see it is not behind the veil. It's clear it's out there.
So we want to benefit from it as much as possible.
Essentially the point of Ramadan, the point of Ramadan, as mentioned
in the verse, Allah subhana wa Tada says, cultiva rd camassia
fasting is prescribed upon you. In the beginning it wasn't prescribed
it was recommended. Then it became prescribed, according to many
written by the first fast that were prescribed with a 10th of the
10th of Muharram the Ashura then after that was abrogated, it
became sunnah and Ramadan, and Ramadan was only legislated as an
obligation in this in Madina, Munawwara not in Macomb Corona.
One of the reasons that
the ruler might give for that one of the wisdoms behind that is in
Makkah, there was constant turmoil. People were always on the
edge, the Muslims and speaking out, they were always on the edge,
they were always very careful. They always had to be very
connected to Allah subhanaw taala because it was precarious. The
situation was a dire situation in the sense that it was about
survival. It was persecution, it was essentially that they had this
was a fledgling community that was trying to survive, and people were
connected to Allah subhanaw taala. However, when they moved to
Madina, Munawwara now now they have their own place. Yes, there
were still challenges, but they had their own place. They were
winning wars. There were many victories, and the dunya was
opening up.
The dunya was opening up, prosperity was coming in. So some
of the other might have mentioned that fasting was only legislated
there. Because fasting, it is so important, it is more important
for the wealthy person for the person who eats and is gluttonous
than the one who is poor.
There is a
concept nowadays that fasting is
you know, fasting is there to give you see you know, to make you feel
happy.
To be with a how the poor feel, and there's all these wisdoms that
are normally mentioned, especially in interfaith interfaith programs
and things of that nature. But really, Allah subhanaw taala tells
us why fasting was prescribed like the taco
Yes, there is willing to compete Allah Allah. What are the
conditions? Kuru that is there as well. But the main thing is that
the groom the comb, so that you can tuck
the cord on Ramadan. What's that? What's the relationship?
Essentially, the relationship is what I've tising with what we
spoke about before about the knifes the way our knifes works is
that we feel like having a cup of coffee, we'll go and get one. If
we can get it we'll get right I remember a friend of mine came
from America, right this that time. This was about 10 years ago,
England was masala tea right? Hardly any coffee. So he comes in
he's looking for coffee in the morning. So I took him out looking
for coffee and there was no Starbucks there was no Costa
Coffee and de rose and Stefan the other and whatever you know, this
is only the last 510 years come up.
So eventually, you know because Nescafe is
not coffee, right the instant stuff he was like that he didn't
want to he wanted proper coffee.
You've got the desire you will go to great lengths to get some
coffee
come the month of Ramadan you're fasting you're you've got this
habit at 11 o'clock to go to the vending machine and get a cup of
coffee or you know go and get some coffee or tea or whatever Why am I
promoting coffee for right TV or whatever the case is right the
juice or whatever it is that we drink. You go there and you you're
about to have a you remember your fasting
so you think oh, I can't have that anymore. You're not really once
you're very thirsty. You know that the caffeine really your system
needs it but you said no no icon what have you just done we've
suppressed this inner feeling. Think about this inner feeling
this inner faculty that is desirous of this thing and we
normally translate for it we do its bidding essentially. Now we're
not doing its bidding the second day it's still gonna want it but
we don't do its bidding the third day is not gonna it's gonna be
kind of be weak is going to come up and ask too much today. Right?
So it's gonna get a bit calmer on the third and eventually the fifth
day is gonna forget him and he's not gonna give me one.
What have we just done? We have just subdued our desire that's
essentially what it is I'm looking to topple there's no way that you
can fear Allah subhanho wa Taala if this knifes is rearing its
head.
So what Ramadan teaches us is that we're going to make you abstain
from the halal things. The three major Halal things that tie into
the desire of a human being, food, drink and *, sexual
*. These are the three main aspects of desire, everything
else is related.
We're going to make you stop doing these things. These are
permissible things that we're doing the right way to handle food
and the wife, the husband, right? So we're gonna make you stop doing
the permissible things, that maybe when you're not is suppressed from
the physical, permissible things, permissible things. You will also
find it easier to abstain from the Haram things which there's an
additional reason to abstain from learn Lakota taboo and then you
can be fearful of us to hang with Allah. Because when the nurse is
so strong, you want to be fear of Allah, you want to be fearful of
Allah subhanaw taala theoretically you believe in you agree with your
desires of it, but it's very difficult in practice to do it
because of the nerves.
So when we've curbed our desires, then we can say yes, we are now
trying to be fearful because without the coming of the Nasi
doesn't work.
That's the under Content taco. The other factors that Allah subhanaw
taala told us something else could give an equal cm kamati vinylidene
I mean, publico that you have been. Fasting has been legislated
upon you just as it was legislated on the previous nations on the
people before you that is supposed to give us an idea that we're not
the only ones who are being put through this. And subhanAllah it
is not a punishment for us, according to say Sunni man that we
when he speaks about the history of fasting, he speaks about in the
Torah, or in the Torah. It speaks to fasting as an affliction as
afflicting you in Leviticus I mean, if you want to go and check
it out, I'm not making this stuff up. Right in Leviticus, Leviticus
1629, and numbers 29 Seven, is speaking about fasting as
afflicting you
whereas that is not the case in Islam? The Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam is in a hadith.
In a famous Hadith sahih Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam said that when you do a good deed, it's multiplied several
times until 700 times
You've got, I mean, you can imagine this as even 100. Ashkelon
explains that you've got a certain base reward that's allocated for
actions for different deeds. We have angels, the key Roman
category in the novel writers that write that, okay, he prayed a lot,
he did this, he helped a poor person, he put something, you
know, he cleaned something off the road, he moved something that was
irritating somebody else he abstained from this, there are
certain base rewards that are allocated which the angels does,
which the angels then give, according to each deed we do, then
the amount of effort we've put into it, the amount of love and
understanding we've done it with the amount of fervor we've done it
with that amount of burden, we've had to, we've had to undertake to
be able to do this, there's an additional bonus is added to that.
In the song, the Prophet sallallahu in the Hadith makes an
exception of fasting, he said in the song,
for in this interview will be one HCV.
Because fasting is done for me, and I will directly reward the
person for it. Which means there is no stipulated amount, then the
bonuses that Allah gives directly. And if Allah is saying, that look,
you can give for everything. But when it comes to fasting, it's
going to be for me, that's why I'm going to directly deal with it.
What do you expect? What do you think Allah wants to do with that
thing is going to be stingy, that not I'm going to give less for
that one. Subhan Allah, he's going to give a huge amount for that
one. Fasting in absolutely no way, shape or form for us is a
calamity. That's why Allah subhanaw taala says after it makes
it very clear to make it distinct from any other concept that a
person had you read, the love will be commonly used as the body read
just before you need to learn how you can use it or whether you need
to be cumbersome.
When he took me read when he took a bit of law and
when I look at the screen, the more you fast, the greater Taqwa
you gain, you will thank Allah subhanho wa taala, you will have
thanks for him because of the great thing that he's given you.
The whole purpose of fasting is that it's to make it easy for you,
that's what I was around with and says fine if you're on a journey.
If you're sick, you can make up the days and other times you can
forget it. So it's not that you have to do in fact, the
the way the fasting started, Musa alayhis salam did a Saudi Salam
was taught to do it. Fasting is one of the oldest forms of
worship.
Fasting has been considered the one of the oldest forms of
worship, there's a certain benefit in staying hungry in certain
measurements of time. And the wisdom in the fast on the Muslims
in the characteristics is numerous. Imagine if we were told
to fast the whole year from a certain time, so same time,
more than 30 days.
It just become changing habit of when you eat and when you when you
have your lunch or when you have your supper. Essentially, that's
what you want to be what ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada is doing here is
that in one month, he is totally disturbing our system.
Because without this disturbance of this system, the heart cannot
be purified.
There are many people that you know, that they in a particular
job, and they become very complacent. And then the employers
they they cause a big problem and throw him out or really demote
them or do something then this person wakes up. And then he does
realize
that okay, I've been lacks and I've been complacent and I've been
lacking here and there the other than a lot becomes a lot more
productive afterwards when there's a bit of a shake up.
It happens in many cases like that. Allah subhanho wa Taala is
doing that for us. That's why Hakimullah my mama should get
hungry. He says one thing he says that what I've seen in fasting is
essentially three things.
One is called a two parter.
A decrease in eating
number two can lead to no decrease in sleep. And number three can
literally SDLT barrenness at decrease in meeting with people.
This is if a person does it properly. So essentially the idea
of a decrease in,
in in eating is understood, we can eat from a certain time to a
certain time.
Number two less sleep. And the idea of the lessening is that
because there's taraweeh your sleeping time recommended saving
time after Isha is going to be now at
Standard,
it's going to be shortened. In fact, then you have to wake up
earlier for school. And for those people who don't take softball and
think that it's, you know, they don't need to do it, you've got
something missing, believe me, you got a problem. The reason is the
promise of the laws themselves. That's a help for in Vista, holy
Volcom.
Have some have that pre Dawn meal.
I don't even want to call it a meal, because it's not what he
said. He said, the Sahara Desert do so whole,
have something at that time, because there's blessing in it.
Now, what a lot of people they say to you, when you tell them, why
don't you do so? Well, they say, Well, I can't eat anything at that
time. I can't have rice at that time. I kind of biani at that
time. When Nobody's telling you to do that. That's your culture.
Subhan Allah, what is your who get up, have a date, have a glass of
water, have a sip of water, just follow the Sunnah, because the
professor wasn't saying you can get Baraka in it. Why wasted?
And the other benefit is that that standard time.
So even in Ramadan, you can't make the 100 prayer, look in the rest
of the year. It's difficult, especially in England, it's
difficult because you've got these weird times, all the way from two
o'clock in summer to, you know, seven, eight o'clock in winter. I
mean, you know, we don't have modern times they say, really, our
system is all new. If you really want to work hard, it's different
coming in. And that's why it may Allah reward those who don't know,
give us a little fee to do it. But it's a good time.
You know, get up, this is what I would recommend. This is what I
would recommend as a very practical because normally the
federal Shannara in Ramadan is earlier anyway.
Right? Even in the Hanafi masjid, which normally push it towards the
when things become bright, about half an hour before sunrise. We
normally
when it comes to Ramadan, they only do it straight after 20
minutes, 30 minutes after the ending of soul time, beginning of
February. So this is what I would recommend for the brothers and the
sisters. You get up about habit timing, get up about minimum, this
is what you want to achieve. You want to have some support, if
you're not a big eater, you're not saying you shouldn't be and it's
good. If you're not right,
have five minutes for that. Five minutes to do and so on 10
minutes, if nothing five minutes for solid 102 records, or for just
just two tour cuts every day, everybody should make a firm
intention that this Ramadan, I'm going to spend every single day
I'm going to do at least two records on the hijab,
and five minutes per dollar, how many minutes does 20 minutes, five
minutes of washing up five minutes to quickly something five minutes
for
five minutes for Dawn 20 minutes for your time comes in. If you're
working, or if it's women, they can quickly make their budget
goals. They are obviously normally we understand that we were not
going to be preparing if they are then they would wake up another 20
minutes beforehand. But they'll sleep earlier because the guys
will normally go to the frigerator Pro. But that's it. That's all you
need about 20 minutes, everybody should make a firm intention that
I'm going to make toilet cuts of tangent every single day. And you
know when we hear about all these great people of the past who have
achieved became in terms of spirituality in terms of their
connection, Allah subhanaw taala we know their names you see him or
him on Mala. The rhythm I mentioned that the success comes
down one major aspect of success aside from you know, fulfilling
the obligations and abstaining from the Haram and so on.
Is the 100.
The 100 prayer is the way to connect to Allah subhanaw taala
was so low bid lady would nurse Wynia as a personal license,
pray at night when people are sleeping.
And believe me is difficult throughout the year. I'm not
trying to make it difficult. I'm just mentioning the fact.
But in Ramadan, it's easy.
So now you're not obliged to have rice, you're not obliged to have
all of these other things. Just have a cup of water that you sold
them because the promises often said do it because you can
you know the way he used to work in the beginning is that initially
when fasting began just like with solid there were certain
there were certain laws within and that changed into came into the
form that we see it today. So what it used to be in the initial in
the opening days in the early days is that
you are allowed to eat or drink until you fell asleep. After
mothering after Iftar time you are allowed to eat or drink until you
fell asleep whatever time that was before federalism
Once you fell asleep, then now you're fasting began. So if you
fell asleep at 12 o'clock at night, and Fisher was at four or
six, your fasting had begun.
So once Harvey came in, very tired from the work that he'd been doing
all day in the fields, and he sat down and in modern time, he said
to his wife, is there any food and she said, I'm going to prepare you
something. She went to prepare something, and he was so tired,
that he fell asleep as soon as he fell asleep, his fasting began.
What do you think, brother? How would you feel like that?
Can you imagine you just passed it the whole day? And now you fell
asleep because you just dozed off. And now you can't eat anymore
until the next day moment in time, if you're still awake at that
time, right? What do you think, would not be tough? So now
this has been when this happened. Allah subhanho wa taala.
Afterwards, he was the cause of a change in the system. That's why
then Allah subhanaw taala said in the one of the verses that was
recited that Kulu was wrong. Now you can eat and drink at Dieter
Bay and unlockable height and OBO tominaga fee to us with the minion
photo from A to Z in a lane. Now, there was a time so you can now
eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct
from the black thread of dawn. So essentially, when the true dawn
comes, you can eat unfettered, you can eat until then,
things were made easier. This is not a calamity for us seriously,
the benefit in there is for us, but we must not do it for physical
benefits. We must not do it just because it's an obligation. Allah
subhanho wa Taala and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
mon Sol MANOVA Alana Iman and YT serve and all of your honorable
man Takata women. Listen to the words carefully. It seems like a
very simple idea. But do we really act upon it? And are we really
becoming? Are we really under the under the people that are
encompassed within this hadith that are receiving the benefits of
this idea? Whoever fasts Ramadan, with Eman and with the sun, Iman
will faith and belief and with
anticipation
for the reward for the love of Allah subhanaw taala whatever the
anticipation is, that's connected to Allah subhanaw taala then all
the previous sins will be forgiven.
That's what the prophets of Allah is himself. Are we doing it like
this? Are we recipients of this?
Will Fear Allah Houma. Takata wept.
The way to become recipients of this is that when we are fasting,
every time that we are fasting, throughout the day that we're
fasting, we're constantly thinking that I'm doing this for my own
muscle.
Whenever we feel a pang of thirst or food, or whatever the desire
is, and we feel that it's tough, it's hot, and our my mouth is dry.
We think doing this for Allah, and that expression of love comes,
that's where we are expressing our iman. And we know that we're doing
this for the pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala this up, then the
previous sins will be forgiven. If we're doing it as we've been doing
it for many years, we're doing it because we must seems we have to
do it in Ramadan. I mean, why do we first of all think about it for
a moment?
The last time I've done that we first what was our motive of
fasting? Is it because we'd be punished if we didn't? That is
definitely a motive for many of us in it. We don't want to be
punished. We don't want to be seen or those man what kind of a Muslim
is he doesn't even fast. That's what we say. Because even people
who don't pray five daily prayers during Outside the month of
Ramadan, when it comes to Ramadan, they're fasting and they make it
taraweeh prayer as well. Mashallah. So is that why we're
fasting because it's an obligation because we want to be because
everybody else is because we don't want people to know. I mean, that
can't be that bad because at the end of the day, if you really
don't want to fast and you want people to think of it, you can
easily do that. Because you can sell on fasting but go home and
have lemonades secret lemonade drinker
right. You know, like kids when they when they
when they go into the toilet and you know in the base and they
drink water then So how long is a good practice anyway? But they
shouldn't do it okay, you shouldn't do it. If you don't do
it do
is my friend was talking to I don't know your name. What's your
name? Ibrahim inshallah. Very good.
Inshallah, if you get to join the first you take me okay.
So, the point that the point is that why are we fasting for
seriously we fast for 30 days here in and year out? Honestly, why are
we fasting?
Are our previous sins being forgiven because of our approach
to fasting? This is what
We want to do this year
more difficult still, especially if you don't understand the Quran
if especially if you're working holiday and it's an even more so
if the imam is reading very slowly
right there's a constant battle, read faster or read slower. Right
and I've been in the situation you've got two guys come right
you're in too fast man. You know another guy two guys, too slow we
have to go to work. What do we read? You know, how am I supposed
to read Subhan Allah. But anyway the point is that the other Hadith
which is very similar is men karma Ramadan EBA and unblock yourself
and
whoever stands in the month of Ramadan Why would you stand in
among the standing is not enough is not a worship is not an
independent worship standing you have to do for prayer for Allah,
that should be our name. And corollary,
we have a stand stands for prayer in the month of Ramadan, their
previous sins are forgiven, as long as it's with iman an empty
cell. So when we're standing, and if you're stuck in a masjid where
the person doesn't read properly, still, this is the my notes
column, I'm stuck here, I'm happy with Allah subhanaw taala I have
to stand I'm getting reward I'm standing in front of Allah don't
do this throughout the year, this one hour of my standing with two
hours at my standing is for the sake of Allah, Allah will reward
me the pleasure will come. previous sins will be forgiven
previous sins to be forgiven is a big deal. And the act that has to
happen has to be a magnanimous one has to be a great one for that to
happen. So this is a bigger basis, it's an aspect of the mind has to
be trained. So when Ramadan comes this time, our young brothers and
sisters as well and our older people, we need to nurture
ourselves to think in the right way to have the right perspective.
That is very important for us to do. The prophets of Allah some
sending
that every day and night in the month of Ramadan, where he now he
wrote a thought. Allah has people he frees people who may have been
written to be going going into the Hellfire because of the deeds that
change in the month of Ramadan. Because Allah subhanaw taala has
made it easy for them, they've taken that opportunity and Allah
subhanaw Doesn't mean I'm free, you are free, you are free, you
are free.
And for the fasting person is a happiness the Prophet sallallahu
sallam said it's so early on, he said there are two happinesses
like, you know, when you first right, when do you feel the most
happiest?
If downtime and all that nice food comes on in it. Right? Tell the
truth. I mean, it's a good feeling everybody gets. Right. It's a good
feeling. And that's why and you're allowed to express that you're
allowed to infect if somebody tries to act a bit overpriced and
says, you know, I don't need to eat right now I'm gonna do another
one out.
It's better. It's wrong, it's my crew to do that. is not in our
favor. You've done what Allah wanted you to do. That's it now
eat, do is start again. You don't have to be big if that's where you
get wrong. You know, it's just about eating something
you saw me for
the first thing person will have two senses of happiness or joy.
One is in the filter. When he breaks his fast. When he opens his
first, there's a sense of joy. Right? And number two, when he
meets with Allah subhanaw taala.
If we can replicate that joy we get when we have if 30 from like
gifts that it gives us that kind of agility with Allah subhanaw
taala. That's great.
That's great. May Allah give that to us?
So as I mentioned, in the beginning, none of what I'm going
to say is new. It's year in and year out, we do this. But what we
want is we want our forecast for the coming year to be better than
last year.
And then we want the year after that to be even better.
So
for the Quran, this is what I want. This is a prescription
in terms of the Quran, which is shahada, Ramadan, and the the
currency the fee in the Quran, Ramadan is the month in which the
Quran was revealed. The aroma have dealt with the discussion as to
where whether it's the month of Ramadan, that was chosen because
of its own virtue for the Quran to be revealed in it, or was it that
Ramadan received its virtue because the Quran was revealed in
it? Both opinions exist, but it's a technical discussion that
doesn't that shouldn't hinder anything that we do because at the
end of the day, it's come in that month anyway. So it's a done deal.
Month of Ramadan is the month of the Quran. It is the time to
rectify our mistakes. It's the time to
deal with the shortcomings that we've
had with our relationship.
What is the best way to deal with our Quran in the month of Ramadan?
Well there are a number of aspects. Firstly, there's the
reading of the Quran which is the easiest of the three because the
three things that we can do with the Quran four things but the
fourth thing we have to do whether we read the Quran, Allah which is
act on the Quran, which the reader might have made easier for us by
extrapolating the Messiah, the rulings and provide them to us in
various different languages to make it easy in our in the form of
Fick and Messiah so that we can act upon it. May Allah bless them.
However, this reading Quran of the Quran number two, there is
memorization of the Quran because on the Day of Judgment, we want to
be told, read and climb and ascend and your
status your station is wherever you start.
We'd like the highest station, the more we know. So there's
memorization, there's reading and there is reflection, which is one
thing which many people, especially from the Indo Pak
subcontinent are missing out.
Many people from indo Pak subcontinent they love to read the
Quran. 50 6070 year olds have been reading Quran all day like, never
picked up a translation, or a commentary and pondered over what
Allah subhanaw taala is saying, Never mind an Arabic.
If you don't have the mind to learn Arabic anymore, I would
definitely encourage it. But if you don't have that mind to do it,
at least, ponder over the suitors that you normally reciting the
Quran in your salad. Are we going to pass our lives and die without
knowing what we're reciting? Despite the great love and
attachment that we have for the Quran, we've been reading urine
finishing 10 Quran is in the month of Ramadan.
But we've never pondered over it. So this is what I would suggest.
If you are spending I mean what's the average person spends behind
the Quran? I mean, how far to spend a good mashallah 578 hours.
I know one brother who is in Lancashire he works in the post
office sorting office are something he finishes one Khurana
day every day of the year.
It's a mundane job, other people will have
Michael Jackson or somebody else in the air. And this guy is
reading the Quran. He finishes one Quran in a day while he's sorting
the papers is sorting the letters. You know that's difficult for us.
But what are we going to do in the month of Ramadan? How much time
are we going to dedicate if you're a full working time person you
might be dedicating I don't want to make it too low. But let's just
say for argument's sake, one hour. You're reading one hour of Quran
in Andhra, maybe you might want to do more than that. But let's just
say you do one hour. How should you split split this time?
Normally, if you're just accustomed to just reading for one
hour, right?
Change it out of the one hour spent half of that time if you
want reading to just do what I call Ramadan reading. Because for
every letter you get a reward, you know, smoothly Allah Allah says
that for every letter, you get a reward. And to clarify that he
gave an example that Elif la meme is not one letter Alif Laam Meem
is three letters. And for every letter, you actually get 10
rewards he said. So for Elif lambin, you get 330 rewards. Now
if you if you you know when you go home, just count Alhamdulillah
European item and just that one iron is about I forget how many 29
or 30 letters in there or something. Right? That's about 300
rewards, just for that much. So for the whole of sorter Fatiha,
it's a few 1000. And if you're finishing the Quran, and you're
finishing many of Quran, imagine the amount of rewards that you're
accumulating, but
30 minutes for that, let's just say 15 minutes for memorizing
something.
There may be things that you've memorized when you were young and
going to the local madrasa author, a local teacher, and he made you
memorize all these tourists and when you grew up, you forgot them.
You need to memorize those again. It's a big deal to forget what you
have memorized this warnings against that. So you want to
memorize whatever you have memorized earlier on and you've
forgotten and if you've got everything memorized and now start
adding to that so if you know the last 20 Soldiers order, you have
seen is your next one maybe? Right so the thermal prophets Allah
since so little Monk will argue your case it's going to be your
solicitor, barrister, QC on the Day of Judgment.
Certain work will say Allah, he used to read me every day.
He needs to go to paradise. Otherwise take me out of your
Quran
it's a moon Jia, it's a that will deliver somebody from the Hellfire
so it could work every night. So that he has seen in the morning
according to a weak Hadith but he mentions that wherever he says he
has seen in the morning when his days needs are fulfilled.
So this is not the time to talk about that in detail but in June
General, memorize, memorize extra so that the closer every year we
memorize more and more, and the third 15 minutes, the 25% of that
time, we pick up a tafseer or a translation and just ponder over
what we read maybe the corollary of the day, or listen to some
stuff, see if you've got some tafsir audio to see, but do some
pondering over the Quran. May Allah give us a trophy to read, to
memorize and to reflect over the Quran that will inshallah get us
even closer to the Quran.
And finally,
the main thing which I alluded to before, is that mashallah, because
of the feedback we get during the month of Ramadan being the month
of mercy and forgiveness, we're able to very easily abstain in our
car when we're traveling, when we're doing this from all sorts of
haram things. We keep our gazes down. We don't swear we don't talk
too much when we try not to argue, you know, we do all of these
things. We're just generally more kind of compassionate. The
prophets of Allah some said, you know, you should be good with your
employees, you should, you know, take it easy with them, you should
not work them harder. There's a big fitna in the Muslim ummah
today because Ramadan is the time for business. Ramadan is the sales
season. So we don't see it in the UK as much. But you go to places
like Malaysia and
many of the Arab countries as well. People are watching TV in
the month of Ramadan. And there is a heavy bombardment of
commercials. Because eat is going to come up people have to buy new
clothes. So there's this Ramadan is a big time for business, Big
time, big time for business. So there's a lot of focus on that as
well. That's another thing that we need to we need to think about.
But the main thing is that after we've done everything in the month
of Ramadan,
remember shaytan is about to come out and be released. So on the day
of aliens, it's a day of happiness. It's a day of eating
and drinking. But it's not a day of haram. It's not a day of
freedom to do whatever you wish, we I'm the imam in sun in Stamford
Hill.
Right? Stamford Bridge, Stamford Hill, Stanford is different area,
right? It's in London. And that's where one of the biggest
communities of Orthodox Jews live. And one of the first times on one
particular day, normally they're going around with very well
dressed and very formally, they're just walking around, not messing
around nothing. And then suddenly, on this one day, you just see
loads of drunken people playing loud music, same guys, they're
just doing all of these strange things in the backs of big trucks.
And but what happened to these guys, and apparently, is that one
day when they say that God looks the other way.
I'm telling you, they go on out, young kids,
young young children getting drunk.
And we're still I mean, I was just like, No Hamdulillah we don't have
that. It's our hours is a way of moderation throughout. One thing
that hits me one of the Fatah Nana when he says that, when you go to
somebody's house, simple issue, because when you when he says when
you go to somebody's house, he says, then you must behave, you
must eat, you must have pretenses, you know, you, you must eat in a
way of with Adam. And he says that, the easiest way to do that
is to make sure that you do that at home. So if you do it at home,
and that's your normal habit, and when you go somebody you don't
have to put any pretenses on, you won't have to, like, try to force
yourself not to do something weird, like coffee all over the
place or big to this big burps and, you know, subhanAllah so
that's the whole purpose of it. Is that Muslims, it's a way of life,
it's not about 364 days of the year, or 354 days of the one year
is something that's an eight day is not one of those days.
A day is yes, you can now eat and drink and you know, meet people
and you know, you can do all of those things. But remember,
Shintani is out you just want to know all that hard work. You've
been writing up this major report your thesis, your essay is being
reported on your survey and your study of something. And like any
of you you didn't, sorry, you didn't
save it.
And the computer crashed. You just lost 30 days of work.
Save it
because she fine is going to want to come and delete it. He's gonna
cause the system to crash. And people cry afterwards seen this
myself people cry afterwards because they just feel and it's so
demoralizing as well. It's so demoralizing. May Allah subhanaw
taala keep us away from the conflicts. May Allah subhanaw
taala bring some unification with regards to the Ramadan
Ramadan and Eid issue because it's just one one, you know, to two
days of the year that sometimes
The war rages on for a very long time. May Allah subhanaw taala
give us until fake and give us the baraka during this month before
Ramadan to fulfill everything that we need to do so that we can be
very clear and very open for when the Ramadan comes. And may Allah
subhanaw taala give us Tofik in the month of Ramadan to do much
better than last year, and then to preserve what we do during the
month of Ramadan so that it can help us for the next six, seven
months. There was one brother who told me that he was one brother I
know he said that he's really accustomed to watching haram
things. But he said that in Ramadan he really tried hard he
avoided a lot of liquor and he really strengthened his heart. And
mashallah he said that I was able to have steam for the next six
months and it took six months for the shaytaan and then on the
seventh month, that's when I fell back down.
He says that that's when I fell back down and I went back to what
I was doing. But then Hamdulillah that was only another five months
I had to really like ON and OFF ON and OFF and then the next month of
Ramadan King Rama Allah if you've got problems if we have things
that were that are challenging us that are difficult for us Ramadan
is the time to work on make lots of Breil to Allah subhanaw taala
and do lots of worship because these things can only go if we
improve our iman and enhance our iman Ramadan is the time to do it
because we saw so much Quran reading some of the theory
abstaining so hard to becoming pure that will last for two months
if we've done only a bit of worship
or to one day, right but two months, three months, four months
we need to make Ramadan very strong so they actually last us
for 11 months. And then mashallah the next month of Ramadan is
coming.
If we understand the system, Allah will make it easier for us and it
will become easier for us working with that right