Adnan Rajeh – An Additional Three Ramadanic Reminders
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the lack of documented opposition to the current stance on the lack of evidence for the lack of evidence and the importance of acknowledging the weight of responsibility and the burden of the umjit on the community. They emphasize the need to make a decision about their behavior and not mess with the caravan and not want to earn money. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of removing physical distractions from the day of crisis and avoiding drinking or eating until their spirituality is back. They encourage listeners to help their children and turn their behavior towards Allah Subhanahu Wa'ala.
AI: Summary ©
Today is 19th Ramadan.
It's 2 days after the memory
of the battle of Badr, which I'll be
sharing some words about Insha'Allah Ta'ala.
But before I get into the midst of
the Khutba,
we're talking about 6 months
6 months
of witnessing
the first ever documented genocide.
Genocides have happened historically
many times
throughout the world.
This is the first time it's been documented
live.
This is the first time that we have
actual proof of its occurrence as it's occurring
with everyone's knowledge of its occurrence. This has
never happened before.
It sounds pretty ridiculous now when you look
back, doesn't it? At the beginning of all
this when the question that was the hottest
question was do you condemn the resistance? Do
you can remember that question?
How stupid does that question sound now? 6
months into this.
Just so you understand that these tactics
they're used for a specific reason
to keep people
you see if if you
if you give people the illusion
that the range of acceptable
opinion,
acceptable discussion
is between a and b, then they'll they'll
likely believe that and they'll keep their discussions
between a and b. All you have to
do just reinforce that you can't go beyond
this by stating ridiculous questions as the one
that we had to deal with at the
beginning of all this. Every time someone came
on TV, that's what they had to answer.
Not before
before they talked about the children that were
being pulled out of the rubble and the
and the parents were mourning them and the
story. But before we talked about that, before
we talked about hospitals being bombed, and doctors
being murdered inside of the inside of the
OR rooms, before we talked about that, we
had to answer this question.
I think as Muslims at this point, it's
safe to say that we will never ever
forget
what happened over the course of these 6
months.
We will never forget this. At least I
know I will never forget this. I will
live and die a 100 times. I'll never
forget.
And I've I lived through war. And I
saw my country
destroyed. And I was kicked out of it.
And I watched it fall.
And that's a pain that unless you went
through you cannot understand.
Meaning it's not something I can have a
discussion with you about because if you didn't
go through it specifically, if you didn't watch
your country crumble and be destroyed in front
of you and stolen,
and you removed you and your legacy removed
from it almost forever, then it's a pain
that I don't know you can proper properly
understand. But everyone sitting here today comes from
a legacy of that. When you
why did we come here?
Why why are you here?
Look around you. Look at the diversity of
of the people around you. Why are people
here? Why do they come and live here?
You think if their countries
were functional,
you get their countries had some degree of
justice, some degree of human rights, if there
was some degree of dignity that people would
be here
and they would choose to stay here, the
answer is unequivocally
no.
Of course not. People don't leave their countries,
don't leave their homeland unless they have no
choice.
We are here because of all of that.
And it's time for us as Muslims to
state certain things clearly.
That what occurred over the course of these
last 6 months is something we will never
forget
and we will never forgive those who were
involved in any form or manner.
And to add to that, I will never
trust another politician
for the entirety of my life. For a
politician to gain my trust, the amount of
work that that person has to put in
for me to even consider maybe trusting him
is something I don't think most politicians are
willing to do because
it's rare you run into a politician who
actually has some degree of integrity and actually
lives by any ethical code whatsoever.
And we will never stop.
We will never stop fighting
for reform and justice.
That's a decision that you must make,
and I can't think of a better time
to make it than just about now.
Throughout the whole year, there's really no better
time for you to make a decision than
just around this time of the year,
just as we enter those last 10 nights
of Ramadan.
But it's something that I believe every Muslim
has to take a step back and think
about. Think about how they've lived their lives
up to this moment and ask themselves, how
do I want to live myself?
How how do I live my life afterwards?
What changes are going to be
introduced into my lifestyle, into my routine, into
my mentality and understanding, to my perspectives and
world views after all after Ramadan?
To prevent something like this from ever happening
again, and it's hard to say that when
it's still happening.
How many of us believe that 6 months
into this, we would still be talking about
this issue?
I I, for 1, didn't.
I'm naive, but I, for 1, didn't think
it would go on this long.
I didn't think that anyone would have the
audacity to bury 33,000 people under the rubble
of their own homes.
I didn't think that the world would be
okay with it. At some point, there'd be
enough pressure to say, maybe maybe it's enough,
but apparently not. And apparently, what's
the worst has not even come yet.
Apparently, the worst
when you treat people like that, what do
you think you you you you produce?
When you treat people like subhuman, what do
you think you produce from them?
You think the children of that area you
think the children of Gaza will ever forget
this? Do you think the next generation are
going to be?
How do you think they're going to see
the world?
How are you going to think they're gonna
see their brothers and sisters
and those who did this to them?
No one's thinking about that, but that's that's
actually what we're what's happening right now. That's
why it's upon all of us, specifically Muslims
who are in the west to have a
little bit of an advantage. A little bit
of an advantage of having more than what
they need on a daily basis.
They have the ability to speak their minds.
They have the ability to advocate openly.
We carry a responsibility that I don't think
most people in the West fully understand.
I don't think that our community here in
in the west fully understand
the weight of the responsibility,
the burden that they carry on behalf of
their own ummah. I just don't think we
do.
And it's time for us
to
we have we have to we have to
reclaim that narrative again. We have to reclaim
that narrative
of where we are historically and where we
are for our ummah and what we're going
to do about that.
I'm going to offer you today 3 Ramadanic
reminders
as my hukbuz are always
reminders during Ramadan.
The first reminder comes from the sort the
verses that I recited for you at the
beginning of this khutba.
To take a moment to reflect on that
amazing day, Yom al Furqan, Yom al Taqal
Jam'an, the day where Haqq and Ba'athil were
differentiated clearly
And Arabia saw the difference
and Haqq
defeated Ba'al
when the two groups met.
Little do we know how it all started.
We don't stop even when I tell the
Sila for years, I I didn't tell this
piece, because it wasn't told to me that
way. It was told to me as the
books of seerah tell it. But then when
I went to the Quran to because I
want to hear the Quranic recitation.
The Quranic
record of what happened on the day of
Badr. I was I was surprised with these
verses that I recited to you. That this
is how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells this
story differently than how I was taught it
growing up. It starts by kamaa akra jaykaraabook.
It is like how your Lord had you
leave your home
and he is it is like he is
referring to the beginning of the Surah where
he was talking about how the Muslims did
not behave
exactly the way they should regarding the bounty
regarding the infar.
So he's pointing out another issue subhanahu wa
ta'ala that people that Muslims that the sahaba
that us after them need to take some
time and reflect upon.
Your lord how do you leave your house
in pursuit of righteousness,
for the claim of righteousness, for truth.
And there was a group of believers, not
of hypocrites,
not of Munafiqin.
No. Of mumminin.
I've established mumminin.
You see, you start to enter Islam, you're
Muslim.
Mu'min is a higher level. You have to
really internalize what this what the teachings are.
So not anyone gets to be called that.
But in this ay Allah subhanahu establishes that
no no it's the Mu'minin. The people who
are established Muslims, they are not hypocrites. They
are not people who are evil. They're not
people who lack commitment. No. They are committed
Muslims. But a group of them
indeed like Harihun, they they were not in
favor of of this of this pursuit. See,
the prophet
knew about the caravan of of Abu Sufyan
coming down
from Damascus towards Mecca
and he knew where it was going to
pass. And he knew that the wealth that
they used for that caravan specifically did not
belong to him nor to the people of
Quraysh. It belonged to the Muslims. It was
taken away from the Muslims as they immigrated
from Mecca to Medina.
The homes that they left behind, they sold.
Their possession they left behind they took and
then they used it for their own
their own purposes. So the prophet
kept kept tabs on that and he waited
until they sent a caravan
with trade to trade it. And on the
way back, he told them we should go
and get what is ours, what is rightfully
ours. A lot of the believers,
they didn't they weren't in favor. Why?
They're arguing with you about whether it's worth
or not worth to pursue their rights.
Whether it was worth or not worth to
pursue that which is righteous.
After it became clear,
after it became clear that some of them
felt that they were being
marched towards their deaths.
That's how some of them saw this. They
saw this as if you were you were
marching us towards towards our death.
To go and mess with Quraysh. You don't
mess with Quraysh. Mess with anyone, but not
with them. They have way too much support.
They have the biggest army. They have the
most resources.
They have allies everywhere. Why?
We don't need money.
Taught us that money is not important. Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has given us better than the money that
was taken away from us. Our possessions, we
never cared for them to begin with. Now
we have more here in Madinah with you.
We have more with you than we would
ever imagine. We don't care about that wealth.
And Allah
when he promised that one of 2 things
would happen. Either you get the caravan or
you would go into battle with Quraysh and
you would have victory.
And you're hoping and what what you really
wanted is just a caravan.
You didn't want that ishoka. That ishoka means
the one with the,
with the with the tip with the sharp
tip. The shoka.
And he's referring to war here because it's
it's harmful. It's painful.
The Muslim did they didn't want to earn.
They should
And Allah
wants to establish
righteousness for it to be clear to all.
For
for righteousness, for it to be established,
for it to be clear, for the between
for there to be no question of what
is correct and righteous and what's truthful and
what is falsehood and what is not.
And for
the
and for the the disbelievers and their enemies
to be to find their demise.
For righteousness to be established.
Falsehood to be exposed to what it is.
Even if the criminals don't like it.
Take these verses and count the number of
times. He said the word within these verses.
6 times in 3 or 4 verses.
Because they were arguing with them. Well, we
don't need the money. It has nothing to
do with the money. Who said any this
had anything to do with the money?
I don't want the money. These are your
rights.
There's a
that occurred. There was an act of oppression
that occurred. An act of persecution.
And that has to be rectified. That has
to be corrected.
You don't want the wealth? Fine. Go get
what is yours, and then give it back
to them. Hand it back gift it back
to them. Here. You want the money? Take
the money. But I'll take what is mine
because it's mine. Because it's my right, and
because I don't stand back. I don't stand
down when it comes to someone
trampling over my rights and the rights of
people.
When people are oppressed, you have to make
a point of refusing
to ever accept that oppression. It doesn't matter
how many years pass. Doesn't matter if it's
a 100 years or a 1000 years or
a 1000000 years. It doesn't make a difference.
An act of oppression occurred and that act
of oppression has to be pointed out day
in and day out
by every Muslim.
This is not just acts of oppression that
occur upon Muslims, it's generic.
It's for all.
We refuse it.
It has nothing to do with money. They
thought for a moment that let's go back
get back our wealth. They're all like, we
don't need both. Why do we care about
it? It's not about the wealth. It's about
It's about standing by
and refusing baqil. That's what this is about.
It was never about money ever.
But it took them a little bit to
understand that the Sahaba got tunnel vision for
a moment.
For a moment in time they got tunnel
vision thought thought this was about the caravan.
It wasn't about the caravan. It's about the
fact that you were oppressed. And for you
to forgive when you're oppressed, that is not
forgiveness. That is not that's not a there's
nothing positive about that. When you're oppressed and
persecuted to forgive your oppressor and persecute him,
that's not brave.
That's cowardly.
That's cowardly. That's there's nothing impressive
about that. Forgive when you have your haqq
in your hand. When you when you take
when you reclaim what is yours, you can
go ahead and you can and you can
give it back. You can gift it back
to whomever it is that took it away
from you if you care not for the
wealth itself.
That's the lesson of Badr.
That is the lesson of the battle of
Badr. That's what this Quran at least wants
us to learn from it.
When I tell you the story, we talk
about all of the courageous human beings who
stood their ground and those who fell.
And he on the day of Badr and
all these beautiful stories. It takes a couple
of weeks for me to tell the story
in Sira.
But this piece here is how it began.
This is what Allah
says to listen to this. Listen. This is
this is it. It's Haqq. That's why it's
called Yom Al Furqan, the day that Haqq
and Ba'al were differentiated.
Because it was about
you speaking up for what is correct.
To speak out for righteousness.
This is a an extremely important principle and
value for us as Muslims.
And we have to take it today and
apply it on our reality.
And the and the
of the Palestinian people.
It's not just their
it's the of all Muslims across the globe.
There are haqq for people within the muslim
world that have been trampled upon for the
last 100 years
all across it.
And as Muslims we we refuse we refuse
to stop pointing out
and we refuse to stop speaking out for
Haqqah. It's just the lack maybe of full
commitment for that. We're just lacking a little
bit the full commitment for the dedication. We're
just lacking that piece.
We slacked a little bit over the years.
We got a little bit too comfortable.
What happens today, what's happened over these last
6 months
serves as a wake up call for all
of us. And if it doesn't
then I am going to tell you very
clearly that nothing will.
If what has happened over the 6 months
does not serve for you as a wake
up call within your life to make different
decisions and choices and to live differently, then
I'll tell you very, very comfortably that nothing
will. There will be nothing that will cause
you to make a difference. So think long
and hard before the end of Ramadan about
this point.
The second reminder for this holdupa,
my intention was to come out and actually
complain about something. And now I feel that
it doesn't work anymore.
My complaint was going to be on the
fact that this Ramadan for me was the
Ramadan where I witnessed the largest drop down
of people coming to Masjid,
the earliest I've ever seen it. The graph
of Ramadan, I know how it works, and
I explain it over here. I've never witnessed
it happen so early. And the numbers come
down so quickly. Not just in this Masjid,
but all across the city. And I think
I probably made a mistake when I got
into Myanmar a few weeks ago, and I
said in a couple of places that that
Alhamdulillah, Isha Yeah. Isha across the city was
65100 people. I think I probably I shouldn't
have done that. I take it back. I'll
never do that again. May Allah Subhanahu wa'ala
accept from all of us. But I think
what happened is I said that and people
said, there's a lot of people. So if
I stay in for a couple of days,
no big deal. There's 65100, and everyone ended
up doing that. You know how that works?
When there's like a, a banquet and everyone
brings water because everyone thinks the other person
is going to bring something to eat and
then we just sit down and drink water
for the whole time.
And this is what I believe, appallahu alayhi,
I don't know. But I found it very
discouraging.
Discouraging that in the midst of all of
this, in the midst of what we are
seeing, you must have social media and you
must be seeing the images that are emerging
from from the holy land. The children that
are starving. The 3 year old that's eating
grass. The the parents that are carrying a
a child that is nothing more than a
skeleton anymore. These these are images you must
see. You see when stuff like this happen,
when when when stuff like things like these
occur, what if 2 things happen?
One of 2 things happen when things like
this occur in the world, when the the
the level of of brutality and atrocity occur
like this. 2 of thing 2 1 of
2 things happen. Either people come closer to
Allah
and commit themselves or they go the opposite
direction.
It's no no nothing ever stays the same.
I've watched it go the opposite direction during
the the last maybe 12 years since since
2010, maybe to 2,020.
I I want to go the opposite direction.
In my own country, I saw it. I
saw people lose their faith altogether.
And I'm saying, I what I'm what I'm
requesting of you is may
to turn to him Subhanahu wa ta'ala with
our pain, with our complaint, with our concern,
with our worries to come back to Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala if we were not.
Especially now that we are approaching the last
10 nights of Ramadan. It doesn't start tonight.
It starts tomorrow night. So you have a
night to still contemplate what you're going to
do.
This last 3rd makes up for the first
2 thirds if you didn't do too well
during them. It's never too late in Ramadan
to make a decision. It's never too late
to decide I'm going to do differently.
Within these last 10 nights is a night
that has the potential to change your life,
to change the fabric of your reality even
if you may not feel it physically,
spiritually that's what it can do for you.
So
walk
in
these
last
10
nights
with
that
intention.
When the last 10 nights entered, he would
he would pull his mitzar. This is reference
to that even at night, he wouldn't have
relations or it's a referral to the fact
that he just focused. He did nothing else
aside from worship. And he woke up his
family. He would leave Aisha to sleep all
throughout Ramadan at night if she wanted to.
And then the last 10 10 nights come
in, he wakes her up. Get up. You
you you can't I'm not letting you waste
these 10 nights. For your own sake, I
can't let I can't if I love you,
I can't watch you do it. You don't
know the potential of these 10 nights. You'd
break them up.
When you spend the majority of his night
praying
And that's what that is what I advise
myself and I advise you. That if this
Ramadan
for some reason didn't work out the way
you wanted, it's not too late. Those last
sun nights
are, alright, are coming right towards us. Jum'ah,
timing is perfect for us to remind ourselves
of that and to commit ourselves
for it.
The 3rd reminder that I want to offer
you,
this is just something to contemplate on your
way out.
Why is it that we don't eat and
drink? What are the main reasons of why
we don't eat or drink or have relations
within the day of Ramadan?
Because these
behaviors are very physical, they're very, very physical.
In Ramadan Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala opens the
doors of heaven, close the doors of of,
of Al Jaheem. He chains up all
of and he calls upon the hearts of
his servants to come near to him.
It's a spirit it's a hyphen spiritual time.
A lot of physical
it it it distracts you. So throughout the
day of Ramadan, he removes food and drink
and physical relations so that your spirituality
is heightened as well.
So that you have a stronger sense of
your own of your own.
So that you you you're in touch with
with it again.
You can listen to it because it removes
all those distractions. That's what that's why we
don't do these things. Because all of these
because all these physical distractions makes you focus
on the body. Allah said, no. No. Forget
about that. I I've opened the doors of
Jannah for you. I've closed the doors of
Jannah for you. I've closed the doors of
Jannah. Listen. Listen to listen to the voice
inside of you. Are you listening? Do you
hear your
Roah starving just like the people in Gaza
are? Do you hear your Roah starving because
it's not connected to its Lord appropriately?
Because it's wanted to all this time just
like your body needs food. Your Rooh needs
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And if you starve
it, it starves. And it shrivels and becomes
weak. And the nafs becomes too strong and
it guides you and it ruins your intentions
and it ruins your deeds and it ruins
your life.
He removes all these distractions so he gets
so you can listen, you can hear it.
So you can listen carefully and hear what
your rosh is saying and then you and
you respond to it inshallah and you respond
to it in a good way and you'll
turn your life around and you'll start actually
committing yourself to that which which fulfills your
rule. And I swear to you,
I swear by Allah to you that if
you do that then you will find a
degree of fulfillment in your life that is
unparalleled,
that nothing nothing will come even remotely close
to, that you will find nowhere else, that
you'll be willing to work day and night,
that you'll be willing just to work day
and night because of the amount of fulfillment
you find in the connection you have with
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Alallah. The people the people of, of of
of our a set of usalih, the people
from our from our past.
When you read their stories of their lives
when I was a kid, I used to
read the stories and say, nah.
We're a Arab. We like to exaggerate. And
we do. Arab love to exaggerate. I always
do. I always give numbers that are not,
but, no, the 65100 was correct. I didn't
lie about that. That was actually that was
calculable. We calculated and I added them all
up and I made we we have a
margin of error that was that was reasonable.
But in general, as Muslim, I I don't
sometimes we like to exaggerate. So I'd read
the stories. I'd read the stories of what
they did, of how they lived their lives,
of how they worked all day and prayed
all night and did dawah all throughout their
lives and they accepted having nothing and they
died leaving nothing behind, being totally happy with
that. Having the happiest family even though they
had very little means. Even Even though the
inheritance was nothing for their children, their children
loved them for it and lived like them.
And read these stories like it's impossible that
you do that. Who does that?
And then you get one simple taste of
being close to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I
say, oh, no. No. No. It not make
sense. If that person was experiencing that all
throughout their lives then I of course. Of
course, if you get a whiff of it,
you just get a whiff of it to
Ramadan like that that's just imagine someone who
continuously experiences that love,
Continuously experiences that compassion, that closeness. Of course,
they're not gonna care about whatever dunya has
to offer because it has no it has
no real meaning to it. Doesn't mean that
you don't work and make money. No. Go
and work and become rich and then take
that money and pump it into khair.
But for your own self,
regarding your own self, you just don't care.
You're not looking to you're not looking forward
to duniya. You're looking forward to to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You're looking forward to being
closer to Allah. To experiencing more from Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala, to being on the side
of his satisfaction and his rilla Subhanahu wa
ta'ala, and that's enough.
And that's what I think is worthy of
contemplating.
That's why we don't we don't eat and
drink in Ramadan.
So you can listen to your spirit a
little bit more.
We have outside inshallah today Islamic relief. They
continue to support our brothers and sisters in
in difficult spot places, specifically, Gaza. So please,
help them. And there are the chronic journals
as well outside for for your children if
you'd if you're interested in in getting them
something that will connect them to the Quran.
I hope that was a benefit to you.