Abu Taymiyyah – Don’t Destroy your Reward (Ramadn MCL)

My dear respective brothers and sisters,

in this short reminder

I would like to speak about

something that hopefully will inspire us this Ramadan

and that will give us a better understanding

in how we should conduct ourselves in this

month. The attitude that we should have towards

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala while fasting in this

blessed month of Ramadan.

Did you know my beloved brothers and sisters

that when Muhammad,

Khadija,

Abdullahi

and Fatima

are carrying out acts of worship,

it may seem from the apparent that they

are doing the exact same thing. However,

it could possibly be that their rewards are

completely different.

The messenger sallallahu

told us about the salah.

When one finishes the salah

salah, he only received 1 tenth of the

reward.

It could be that he got only a

9th, an 8th, a 7th,

a 6th, a 5th,

a quarter,

a third, and half of the reward.

Is my brothers and my sisters the one

who is focusing on his Lord. Because when

you're standing in front of your Lord, messenger

sallallahu alaihi wasallam he said

When one stands in front of his Lord

in the salah, he's interacting with his Lord.

He's the one who's focusing

on Allah

the same as the one who's thinking about

what his wife has cooked back home?

Of course not.

Likewise, the messenger of Allah ari was telling

me told us in a hadith

when he prays for 60 years

But his no salah is accepted from him.

Perhaps he does the ruku properly but he

doesn't actually do the sujood properly and because

of the his salawat his prayers are not

being accepted from him. And likewise my brothers

and my sisters the prophet sallallahu

ahi wa sama told us about the Hajj.

Whoever performs the Hajj and he doesn't engage

in obscenity,

any transgression

then this person will come back like a

newly born baby. My brothers and my sisters,

can the one who is in the state

of Ihram

concentrating and focusing on his Lord, staying away

from that which you shouldn't be engaging in,

can he be the same as the one

who might spend the days of hajj arguing,

swearing,

slandering,

backbiting,

spreading rumors about others.

Maybe even going as far as pushing people

and getting onto the bus to move from

one place to another. Something we see every

single year. Can they be equal?

Of course not my beloved brothers and sisters.

Again it shows us that one may do

these acts of worship however

people come out with different rewards and that

brings me on to our discussion today and

that is about fasting. The Messenger Sallallahu alaihi

wa sallam told us about fasting

Perhaps one may fast and he gets nothing

out of the fasting except

thirst

and hunger.

The same is said about the fasting, my

beloved brothers and sisters.

It may be that one withholds from the

things that he should be staying away from

like food,

drink and sexual *.

The reward on your Marqiyama

is completely different. Imagine to yourself my beloved

brothers and sisters that you come on Yawmul

Qiyama

and the fasting

that overwhelmed you,

that really tired you, that exhausted you, you

have absolutely nothing from it.

And that is because you didn't

stay away from the things that you should

have stayed away from. That brings me on

to what a soul means. What does a

soul mean my beloved brothers and sisters?

A soul linguistically

means Alimsak

to withhold from something.

If I say to you you need to

do a song from social media it means

you need to withhold from it. If I

say to you that you need to do

a song from haram relationships it means that

you need to withhold from it. If I

say you need to do a psalm from

Netflix it means that you need to withhold

from it.

And this meaning is also mentioned in the

Quran in reference to our

mother Maryam alaihis salatu was salam. When she

gave birth

she was very worried about what the people

are going to say to her

when they see this newborn.

Jibril Alaihi Sallatu Wasallam he said to her

When you go to the people and they

ask where you got this baby from say

that you did a

vow.

What was this vow to do a psalm?

What was this psalm? What was this thing

that she was going to withhold from?

I'm not gonna speak to anybody today.

Technically my brothers and my sisters there is

a 4 part definition to what a soul

means from a technical perspective and we're just

going to stand over the first part Insha'Allahu

Ta'ala. It is

It is to withhold from something specifically

and this is split into 2. Number 1

that which is going to nullify your fast

like food, drink and sexual * and all

the other things that is going to nullify

your fast. And the second thing that is

going to my brothers and my sisters or

the second thing that we need to withhold

from and this is what really concerns me

in this reminder

is that which is going to reduce your

reward.

Ramadan is so much more than just staying

away from food, drink and sexual * guys.

It's so much more than that.

That brings me on to what

Jabir ibn Abdillah radiallahu ta'ala Anhu mentioned. And

this second part my brothers and my sisters

is that which is going to reduce your

reward, that which is going to destroy it.

What did Jabir ibn Abdillah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu

say? He said

When you do fast

then make sure that your hearing

is fasting as well and also your eyes

are fasting and also your tongue is fasting.

From what? From lying and all sorts of

sins. If you're listening to music

you are working towards destroying your fast. If

you're watching things that you shouldn't be watching,

haram things and we all know that which

is out there that people fall into. This

is going to affect

that which you attain from this month my

beloved brothers and sisters.

And that which we say with our tongues,

the swearing, the backbiting that we do. In

fact my beloved brothers and sisters it's not

just about killing time as we hear

every single Ramadan. Let's go here, let's sit

in this place in order to kill time.

My brothers and my sisters is much more

than that. Look what Ibnuqayim

says

The best of those who fast are those

who remember Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala the most

while they are fasting and the best form

of dhikr guys is

reading the book of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

Reading the book of Allah Azzawajal

in this blessed month. So it's a month

of activity,

it's a month of getting closer to Allah

Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Not a month my brothers

and my sisters where we spend

the days of fasting,

sleeping,

or not doing anything.

It may be that one comes across that

narration that I see every single year going

around

and then he acts upon it and thinks

that he's actually doing something

great. What is his narration guys?

The narration that has been attributed to the

prophet

that he's completely free from. One

One being silent is like him saying SubhanAllah

SubhanAllah SubhanAllah.

And him sleeping is a form of Ibadah.

So he sleeps for 17 hours

or maybe even sometimes more than that.

From Fajr all the way up till after

Maghrib

because he spent the whole night

maybe engaging

in things that only Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

knows best about. And then he sleeps, wakes

up at Maghrib time,

and he may think that khalas now I've

managed to attain so much reward. But in

reality, my beloved brothers and sisters, that narration

is mawdur.

It is fabricated

and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us

to have a productive

Ramadan

where we attain the maximum and the optimum

reward.