Abu Bakr Zoud – The Correct Fasting Of Ramadan
AI: Summary ©
The Queen was approached by a guest who wanted to eat and stay in a house for a night, but refused to eat. The guest eventually gave up on the guest's food and slept. The guest later discusses the importance of fasting and avoiding false speech, evil words, and backbids during the year, criticizes the idea of anyone giving up on fasting, and discusses the negative consequences of rewarding one's actions. The segment ends with a discussion of the concept of the Queen and negative consequences of fasting.
AI: Summary ©
All praise and thanks belongs to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and may the peace and blessing
of Allah be upon his servant and final
messenger
Muhammad As to what follows,
dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam,
one of the greatest
rewards
that a person receives
as he fasts this blessed month
is no doubt. This is the greatest of
them all.
Being drawn nearer and closer and closer to
Allah
Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he said,
Allah
he said
that the greatest things that bring you close
to Allah
are the matters that He obligated
upon us.
And no doubt Ramadan
and fasting
is an obligation.
And so the greatest
the greatest
reward that you receive from Allah
is that you draw nearer and closer to
him
Allah
in the Quran, he commanded us to draw
nearer to him when he said,
come close.
And perhaps this is the wisdom, Allahu Alem,
for why the name of Allah azza wa
Jalal Kareeb
was mentioned in Surat Al Baqarah within the
ayat of fasting.
Within the Ayat of fasting, Omar Azarijani said,
If my slaves were to ask you about
me, then I am me, I am close.
The name of Allah Al Kareeb was mentioned
within the Ayat of fasting
to teach you and I that if we
fast correctly
because that's the only obligation,
that's the only unique special obligation in Ramadan,
it's the fasting during the day.
If you do that correctly,
then you will be close to Allah
and what an honor and what an achievement
it is for a person.
You see, today,
people kill each other.
They kill each other
just to draw nearer to people of social
status and people of wealth and authority and
position and power and rule and so on.
People fight over this.
Imagine
you're not coming close to someone here on
earth that has power and authority.
You're getting closer to Allah
the almighty, the all powerful.
This is this is something incredible and something
special.
Look, even in the time of Fir'aun,
when the, when his magicians
wanted to do magic and work,
they stopped. They said,
Are you gonna pay us for the work
that we'll do for you? He said,
I won't only pay you, but I'll bring
you close to my circle. You will all
become ministers.
And this is something look, they were running
to
come closer to Fir'aun. Of course Allah saved
them later on and they made a tawba.
But the idea is people have this in
their nature, to come close.
Every closeness you come to a servant, then
you're going closer to someone who is weak,
someone who is
powerless. Because at the end of the day,
we're all human beings, we're all going to
perish, we're all going to die. So there's
actually no honor, there's no worth
in fighting and killing yourself to get closer
to someone.
The only worth, the only honor,
is that you go and draw nearer to
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah
loves this deed of fasting.
You know, there was a man,
he came to Al Madinah
and he was hungry.
So Nabi
he came out,
and he called out his companions.
He said, who will entertain this guest
tonight?
Who'll take him in his house and feed
him and clothe him and give him a
place to rest for tonight?
So a companion volunteered, he said, You Rasulullah,
I'll take him in.
So this man, the poor man, new visitor
in Al Madina was taken to this
Sahabi's house. And this Sahabi, him and his
wife cooked some food.
And they turned off all the lights
and the Sahabi made it as though he's
eating with the guest, but he wasn't eating.
The guest was eating alone. This is the
guest of Rasoolallah
So he wants to make sure that he
is full and he's fed and he sleeps
well.
A night went by, no one saw anything.
Even the guest himself couldn't even see what
the host was doing.
After that night finished,
Nabi
went to this companion.
He called him out.
He said to him about him and his
wife,
He said to them that Allah was
amazed.
He is pleased. He was happy
with what you too did with your guest
last night.
Lawu Akbar. I'll tell you something.
This is a man
who gave up food. He gave up food
for the sake of his guest, for 1
night.
Allah
was amazed by that which he did.
Imagine then.
Imagine then the reward
and the pleasure of Allah
for a person
who not only gives up his food for
the sake of guests, he gives it up
for the sake of Allah.
And 30 days,
how much more is Allah
amazed with this servant? And pleased with this
servant? Ask Allah
to accept for us.
See, Sheikhaman told us a lot about the
virtues.
I started off with telling you about al
Qurba and coming close to Allah
This is an honor, this is a virtue.
And when we look at Ramadan,
what is the greatest
greatest obligation and greatest pillar in Ramadan?
It's not paying Zakat
Zakat and man. No. Actually Zakat and Man
is better to be paid at the beginning
of Muharram, not in Ramadan,
how people do. The month of Ramadan is
a month of voluntary
sadaqaat.
That's what it is. It's a month of
voluntary sadaqaat.
Your zakat and val, it's best to be
paid at the beginning of the year, Muharram.
So it's not that.
It's not
Atarawih, of course, highly encouraged, recommended,
great reward and virtue, but at the end
of the day it remains a recommended matter.
A sunnah.
If you observe Ramadan,
the most important thing in Ramadan
is the day activity and that is fasting.
It is fasting.
This is what you're supposed to focus on
and this is what you're supposed to understand
fasting.
You see what is upsetting
is when we begin Ramadan
and you don't understand how to fast correctly.
Some people think fasting is only keeping away
from food and drink from sunrise to sun
from pleasure to sunset, and we're all done.
You miss out on great reward, and you
have misunderstood
what fasting is.
Fahedan, it is very important for us all
to understand quickly in a few minutes
what is the proper and correct way of
fasting?
What is the fasting that
Allah wants from you and I? What is
the fasting
that Nabi salallahu
alaihi wasallam taught his companions and taught the
ummah?
Is what we need to discover.
If we look at fasting,
we find that Allah
already informed us in the Quran
that the greatest purpose of fasting
is to earn a taqwa.
Right? Allah
says,
That's the greatest wisdom and purpose of why
we fast.
So that the so that the taqwa could
be nurtured in the heart.
What is a taqwa?
A taqwa
is to do what Allah commanded to keep
away from what He prohibited.
A taqwa basically is to increase your good
deeds
and to decrease, reduce your sins and your
disobedience and your transgression
and fasting was prescribed for that reason.
So now you understand that fasting,
it wasn't about you starving.
Fasting is not about starving, becoming hungry and
thirsty.
This is why Ibn Al Qayyib
He
said fasting is 2 things. It's 2 things.
It is the fasting of the body
from food, drink and intimate relations.
And the second part is the fasting of
the limbs
from sin and transgression.
When Rudama
from among us Salaf, they used to say
that the easiest type of fasting
is the fasting of the body from food,
drink,
and Internet relations.
That's the easiest fasting.
That even 7 year old kids do this.
10 year olds do it. Even non Muslims
do it. People do this on a daily
basis for their diet and so on. They
avoid drink. They avoid food for a few
days. Everyone does this.
That's the easy type. You see how dangerous
it is to start Ramadan?
And all your thinking is that fasting is
to give up food and water.
Yes, anyone does this.
The the most difficult
and the correct type of fasting
is that alongside
giving up food, drink and intimate relations for
Allah's
sake,
is that you give up a few other
things
that Nabi
himself told us.
It's not me making it up. He
told us
about the correct type of fasting. He said
He said,
Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he told us,
in addition, in addition
to abstaining from food and drink and intimate
relations
there are 3 other things you need to
abstain from.
Number 1
he said, Col Azure.
You must abstain from false speech,
from evil words.
So that's the sins of the tongue.
The gossip,
the slander,
the backbiting,
the lying,
all of the evil of the tongue,
the tongue must fast from that as well.
Especially backmighty.
This is one of the greatest sins, a
major sin.
Some Ulama
mentioned
their opinion was that whoever backbides during Ramadan,
his fasting is void.
It's
invalid.
He said you must make up the day
again.
This is a minority opinion even though the
majority opinion is that it only diminishes from
your reward, and you don't have to make
up the day. But look at this discussion.
They would say whoever backbites
during the day,
While he's fasting,
he invalidates his fast
This is someone who didn't put anything in
his food. He didn't eat anything
He said words of evil.
Words that are displeasing to Allah. How does
it make sense? You know, there's a big
contradiction here. Because you when you fast you
leave out that which is halal.
Here this this food, this rice, this chicken,
this water, this is all halal.
You left it. How can you leave something
halal
and then you do something Haram?
There is a contradiction in this you're not
fasting properly, you're not fasting correctly.
You haven't understood the purpose and the wisdom
of fasting.
It wasn't to starve you from what's Haram
Rather it was to nurture this heart
that you keep away from that which is
haram and forbidden.
Look at the case of Abu Bakr Umar
I narrate to you an authentic hadith narrated
by
Anas ibn Malik
authenticated by imam al albani.
He said and as said that the Arabs,
when they used to travel, they used to
serve one another used to serve one another.
So Abu Bakr and Umar
were traveling once
and they had a man that was serving
them.
So they slept
and this servant of theirs slept in.
So when Abu Bakr and Umar woke up
one of them said to the other
Look at this
man, he sleeps
like he's sleeping at home.
So they went and woke him up.
As he got up, they said to him,
go to the Messenger
convey our salaam
and request some food for us. We're hungry.
So he went.
He saw Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said,
you Rasallahu wakaranaumal
convey a salam and they request from you
some food. They're hungry. Nabi
said to him,
they've already eaten.
Go and tell them that they've already eaten.
This servant came to Abu Bakr, Umar and
said to them both Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam said you've both eaten already.
So they're astonished, they're amazed, surprised. They went
to Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and they
said, yeah Rasulullah,
you have said to the servant that we've
eaten, we haven't eaten any anything.
Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he said,
that you had back bit your brother.
I can see his flesh
between your teeth.
So then they said, You Rasulullah,
ask Allah
for forgiveness for us. He said, you go
and seek forgiveness of your brother. This is
Abu Bakr o' Omar radiAllahu anhu. What did
they say? They just saw a man sleeping
and they said he's sleeping like he's at
home.
This is an evil deed Allah
is not pleased with. It's a major sin.
How many fall in this major sin during
the day of Ramadan and thinking they're still
fasting and their fasting is safe and it's
good?
Little did they know that lots of reward
is being diminished and reduced to the point
where
they might end that day. There's no reward
other than they have just done a fault,
and they earned no reward from it.
SubhanAllah.
This is why Abu Hurayrah radiallahu an, when
he used to fast,
he used to sit in the masjid beholding.
They would ask him, why? Why are you
in the masjid for? He would say
I want to purify my fast to keep
it protected.
I don't want to go outside. That's where
evil is. That's where filthy is. People are
talking among each other. People are swearing. People
are shouting.
I don't want to be in that environment.
I stay in the Masjid
to preserve and protect my fasting.
Why? Many of Atavirim were salaf. They used
to keep away. If he used to fast,
he remains at home.
Like Tulk ibn Habib,
he'll stay at home.
He will only leave for us salat. Why?
Because he wants to purify his ease. He
doesn't want to hear anything haram. Doesn't want
to get in an argument with someone or
in a situation where he's going to talk
something haram.
Then it'll affect his fasting.
These are people that understood what fasting is.
It's not giving up food and water, that's
very easy.
It's more than that, it's a Taqwa, it's
this leaving of the Haram.
So when Nabi
says, Anyone
who does not abstain from evil speech, and
he doesn't abstain from evil actions.
How that's by the sins of the eye,
the sins of the e, the music that
people hear, the sins of the hands and
what they do on social media, and the
Haram commenting they
put, the backbiting. This is also considered
and and real from real to real. An
average person, he scrolls about 60 meters a
day. How much Haram do you see in
60 meters?
Did you make effort to walk 60 meters
to Al Masjidullah?
This is during the day of Ramadan. This
is what people are doing.
So the idea is
whoever doesn't abstain from evil speech and evil
and whoever doesn't abstain from evil speech and
evil actions and whoever doesn't abstain
and keep away from ignorance.
And Jahal here means 2 things.
Number 1, ignorance and ignorance
is to do opposite to what you know.
You know that a salat is obligatory
but you don't pray tajjahl.
Just like you know a fire burns you
put your finger in it tajjahl. You did
not act upon your knowledge.
Leave this matter of having knowledge and not
acting upon it.
And the other meaning of Al Jahal is
foolish arrogant behavior.
And that's why Nadi
would tell us,
Falayasqrub,
don't scream and shout and argue with people
on a day of fasting.
And if anyone does want to pick a
fight with you, and argue with you, and
quarrel with you, we're told by Imari Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam to say to him in his
face, and you saw him, and you saw
him twice.
I am fasting, I am fasting. What does
that mean?
It means I am fasting,
and I don't want to invalidate and break
this fast and reduce its reward by talking
back to you arrogantly
and with rudeness and bad manners. I can
do that. But what holds me back is
because I am fasting. Tell him I'm fasting
and walk away.
Otherwise,
I am fasting everyone knows. You know you're
fasting. Why would you say to him you're
fasting
When it has nothing to do with food
and drink? In context, I'm fasting, he means
what?
He didn't he's swearing at you, he's not
offering you food.
For you to tell him I'm fasting.
He's swearing, he's cursing you, he's being foolish
and arrogant towards you.
So when you say to him I'm fasting,
it means
I need to hold my tongue back.
I can't talk now. I'm in a state
of worship.
When Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Salam has said
that I need to refrain from evil speech.
You know what he said
at the end of the hadith? He said,
Whoever doesn't leave evil speech, and evil action
and ignorance and foolish character and behavior,
Allah doesn't Allah doesn't work from him
to leave his food and drink. There's no
need. There Allah, Nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
is saying that Allah is not in need
of you leaving food and drink.
Go and eat and drink.
Might as well eat and drink because you've
already
destroyed your fasting. This is important. Nabi sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, he said,
says perhaps a fasting person.
The only thing he gets out of his
fasting is hunger.
What does that mean? Meaning he gets no
reward. He only got hungry because he did
all these violations during the day.
What happens?
The reward is gone. The only thing he
remained with was was hunger.
We need to understand this point very carefully.
So brothers and sisters in Islam,
make sure you understand
that the correct and proper fasting,
alongside
giving up food, water,
and intimate relations
is to also give up
the sins
of the limbs,
all of them, from the tongue to the
ears, to the eyes, to the hands, to
the feet.
Keep it all out of your life, And
this is how Ramadan and fasting trains the
heart upon a taqwa.
When you keep away from a sin,
don't think that,
Oh, I could have benefited, I could have
hex satisfied myself a little bit with a
sin.
When you keep away from a sin, you're
practicing taqwa.
This is exactly what Allah wants. This is
what a taqwa is.
And you earn reward for restraining yourself from
sin. Look at the mercy and the generosity
of Allah.
The sins that you keep away from,
in obedience to Allah, you're earning reward.
You're earning because there's a worship. Keeping away
from a sin grants you reward.
Keeping away from major sins
all along purifies you, cleanses you from the
minor sins, as Allah
said.
So we be careful, bi idhnillahi ta'ala this
will ask Allah Allah to purify our fast
and to make us from those who fast
correctly and properly. And we ask him
to accept
from