Ahsan Hanif – Lessons Of Ramadan
AI: Summary ©
The importance of practicing the path of the d Darth, which is full of temptations and desires, is emphasized in Islam's actions during Easter. Sh basis of behavior is from the blessings of the month of Guinea, and the actions of the creator are reflected in sh basis of worship. The speaker emphasizes the importance of avoiding shaitan and not trying to achieve something, as it is a natural evolution. The speaker also announces upcoming events and announcements, including a tour of a clock tower and monthly secondary school club.
AI: Summary ©
Yeah. On
an
Today is the 3rd day of Shawwal, 3
days since the passing of the month of
Ramadan.
On this blessed day of Friday we ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he accepts from
us that which we did and that which
we put forth in the month of Ramadan.
That Allah accepts from us our salah and
our fasting
and our sadaq and our dua and our
recitation of the Quran. That Allah makes us
better now in these days after the month
of Ramadan
than we were during the month of Ramadan
and before the month of Ramadan.
I want to reflect in today's short
on one of the major objectives of the
month of Ramadan,
and how not only did we by Allah's
permission achieve that objective,
but that it is something therefore that shows
that it is something which is doable,
possible,
something which is actionable throughout the rest of
the year.
Allah says in
the Quran
Oh, you who believe, oh, people of Iman,
fasting was legislated upon you as it was
legislated upon those who came before you, that
you may attain taqwa,
attain piety and god consciousness of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Taqwa is that term that speaks about constantly
being mindful of your lord and creator, subhanahu
wa ta'ala, that he is ever watching, all
hearing, all knowing,
all observant of you, subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That Allah, by knowing Allah, by knowing his
commands, by knowing his halal and his haram,
you prepare yourself for that day that you
will stand before him.
The companion, Umar ibn Khattab,
as the other illustrious companion, Ubayi,
he said to him, oh, obey. What is
taqwa?
He said, oh, leader of the Muslims,
have you ever come across a road that
is full of thorns,
full of things that will harm you and
prick you? He said, yes. Ubay asked him,
so Amirul Munin, what did you do on
that road? He said that I lifted up
my garments
and I was careful where I placed my
foot, and I was diligent in the way
that I made my my way across that
road. He said,
that is taqwa.
Taqwa is to know that the path of
the dunya is full of that which Allah
has made haram, full of temptations and desires
and sin. So therefore to lift up your
toe, to be careful where you place your
foot as you tread, and to be diligent
in the way that you make your way
across, that is
Taqwa Khabib
Rahim the famous scholar of the Tabireen,
he said in his definition of taqwa, it
is to know that which Allah has made
his ta'a,
his obedience to him, by having knowledge from
Allah
hoping for Allah's reward, and to be aware
of that which Allah has made haram that
which is disobedience
to him from knowledge upon knowledge from Allah
fearing Allah's punishment, that is taqwa. And if
one of the things that these 29 or
30 days of Ramadan have just passed have
shown to us that it's something which is
possible.
How many times during the month of Ramadan,
especially at the beginning of Ramadan,
were you tempted to eat? Were you tempted
to drink? Were you tempted to sin and
disobey Allah azza wa jal for every single
time? There was that voice that came into
your head. There was that warner that was
in your heart that said, it's Ramadan.
It's Ramadan, you're fasting.
Be careful.
Don't do anything that will diminish your reward.
So you stopped.
You didn't eat. You didn't drink even though
eating and drinking are from those things that
Allah has made halal normally
outside of the month of Ramadan. But you
stayed away from that which is usually halal
because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for that month
of Ramadan made a haram for you. So
then what about the rest of that which
is always haram in Ramadan, outside of Ramadan?
That reminder that comes to you, that you
pay heed to, that you listen to, that
you take that you take heed of its
warning, that is taqwa.
That is what Allah gives in the hearts
of all of the believers.
That warning that comes that tells you stay
away from that which is displeasing to your
Lord and to your creator. The month of
Ramadan shows that it's something which you can
do. Yes, it may be at a lower
level. It may not be the greatest form
of taqwa or the highest level of iman,
but it shows that it's possible. And just
as everything with this religion, it takes practice.
Knowledge comes from studying.
Patience comes from acting and trying to be
patient. So likewise, taqwa comes from practicing taqwa,
and that which leads taqwa.
The month of Ramadan shows that it is
possible.
However, the month of Ramadan is also a
set of ideal conditions.
They make it easy for us or easier
for us to practice that which gives us
taqwa, and that is from the blessings and
the virtues of the month of Ramadan.
So one of the challenges after Ramadan ends
is to recreate and to maintain
as many of those conditions as is possible.
So thereafter the month of Ramadan, you can
continue to know and benefit
from those conditions that Allah gave to you
in the month of Ramadan. So thereafter in
Ramadan, you continue upon that path that you
began in the month of Ramadan. So after
Ramadan, you're from those people that is a
negligent of Allah a sa wajal and heedless
of him for the remaining 11 months, but
you continue upon that path and those good
practices, those good habits that you instilled within
yourself and your family in the blessed month
of Ramadan.
And that's why that's why I want to
address in these few minutes.
From that which Allah
made from the virtues and the blessings of
Ramadan,
which helps you to attain and maintain taqwa
is what prophet told
about the virtues of that month. And that
is that as the gates of the paradise
are opened
and the gates of the fire are locked
Allah commands that the devils are chained.
The devils are chained, meaning that there are
less temptations
and less desires in the month of Ramadan.
You're less inclined towards haram and to do
haram because those Shayatin are locked up. Now
after the month of Ramadan,
those shayateen are no longer locked up, but
Allah
taught me and you a vital lesson in
the month of Ramadan.
If you minimize the impact of shaitan upon
you, you lessen the door, you close the
door, or you lessen that gap that leads
you to temptation and desire. It's from one
of the greatest ways of attaining and maintaining
the taqwa of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Shaitan,
he he is as the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam described him,
He runs in me anew like our blood
flows. So he knows our weaknesses.
He knows which temptations and desires will lead
us to sin. He knows which keys to
turn and which buttons to press in order
to make us disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But in Ramadan,
he was weakened.
In Ramadan, we were too strong and powerful
for him for the most part by Allah's
permission.
So after the month of Ramadan, you also
have to keep maintaining
that lesson of Ramadan.
Lessen the temptations from Shaitan. You know that's
a weakness that you have, that particular sin,
that particular issue, don't go near it. Don't
approach it. Stay away from it because you
know that this the closer that you get
to it, the more likely that shaitan will
overpower you.
Ramadan teaches us that. The prophet said salallahu
alaihi wasallam, someone comes to you and he
swears, he curses, he does something to provoke
you, what do you say?
I'm fasting. I'm fasting.
Stay away from that temptation.
So you're not fasting anymore, perhaps each and
every single day, but it's the same principle,
the same concept.
Stay away from the doorways of shaitan. The
pastor shaitan open up for you. You know
what they are. You know them better than
anyone else.
Every single one of us is different.
Every person knows themselves best even if they
make excuses.
You know what's going to lead you to
temptation,
so stay away from it. And from that
which will help you of this or with
this is something else that we learned from
the major lessons of Ramadan.
Something which Ramadan does to a maximum scale,
and that is that it encourages us to
do as many good deeds as possible. Within
that limited period of a month, you're told,
pray as much as you can pray. Give
as much sadaqah as you can give. Make
as much dua as you can make. Read
as much Quran as you can do. All
of this is something which helps you overcome
shaitaan.
Because
great acts of worship and many of them,
especially
the nawafil,
because the sharia assumes that me and you
will do the obligations.
Obligations are not something which should be a
question mark or perhaps, maybe, if possible, if
I have time, it should be a given.
So what does Ramadan say to you? Do
that which is optional and do as many
as you can. Read Quran.
Pray qiyamulayl.
Give more sadaqa. Make more dua, make of
Allah
feed the poor,
give these are the actions that Allah loves.
The something you should be doing anyway. And
if that's something which you're struggling with, then
all that after the month of Ramadan, that
should be your priority.
But then to do more and more as
much as you can, even though we will
not be to the level or the scale
of that which you achieved in the month
of Ramadan,
it is still something
which which will bring the help of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah azza wa jal describes
Iblis in the Quran, and he says, al
waswas
al khanas,
the retreating whisperer.
What does that mean? It means that shaitan
attacks
and shaitan retreats.
Shaitan attacks when you're negligent of Allah,
when you're heedless of Allah, when you're too
busy with everything else except Allah azza wa
Jal. But when you remember Allah and you
worship Allah and you're thinking of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, then shaitan retreats.
That's the nature of shaitan. In Ramadan,
most of our days and nights revolved around
the worship of Allah azza wa jal. And
that is one of the major lessons of
Ramadan.
When your day and your night revolves around
Ramadan,
the worship of Allah, the remembrance of Allah,
it gives you a great deal of strength.
And that was the practice of the siddeh.
The way of the companions and the early
Muslims is that their day and their night
was revolving around the acts of worship. But
the problem that we have today is that
our days and nights revolve around everything else,
and the acts of worship are that which
we fit in as and when we can.
Ramadan taught us, you woke up in the
morning before Fajr. Most of us struggle to
wake up for Fajr for the rest of
the year. But in Ramadan, you wake up
20, 30 minutes early. You wake up and
you have that surhom meal and it's a
sunnah meal. So you wake up early because
you know that your Ramadan day begins with
a fajr salah.
And it ends with the maghrib salah and
the iftar.
And then you have in your mind that
I have to get to the masjid, rishah
and taraweeh. So your day and your night
was revolving around the worship of Allah azza
wa jal. And that is how the Muslim
should be throughout the year, because he gives
you a great deal of strength, Because you're
constantly remembering Allah as a wajah. You may
not be physically
remembering Allah, but in your mind, the next
major thing that you have to do is
when is the Anakasala?
When is the next time of prayer? When
is that and if that's your mindset, then
you're going to be thinking of wudu. You're
going to be thinking of reading some Quran.
You're going to be thinking of getting to
the masjid. You're going to be thinking of
all of those other things that surround those
obligations of Islam.
That is something which Allah loves.
It is something which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is beloved to him. So Ramadan created for
us many of those ideal conditions.
If you, to some
extent,
can maintain those conditions outside of the month
of Ramadan,
where you are thinking of Allah and remembering
subhanahu wa ta'ala, where your day revolves around
the worship of Allah
When you do as many good deeds as
you can pack in to the best of
your ability, read a bit of Quran every
day, give some sadaqa every so often, remember
Allah
make dua, use those other times and seasons
of worship throughout the year to come closer
to Allah
and resist temptation.
Know the traps of shaitan, beware of them,
and stay away from them to the best
of your ability. And when you do fall
down and you do sin and you do
turn away from Allah
then know that the path and the door
of Tawba is always open. Just as it
was in Ramadan when you made Tawba and
made istighfar,
Allah keeps that door open for the rest
of the year. Turn to
Allah and show shaitan that he hasn't overpowered
you. But every time you turn back to
Allah
you, by Allah's permission, are given strength and
power over shaitan.
One of the greatest lessons of Ramadan
that we also have to keep in mind
is what the prophet told us salallahu alayhi
wasallam in the hadith al salami forhatan.
There are 2 moments of joy and happiness
for the person who's fasting.
The first of those two moments of joy
and happiness are when that person breaks their
fast. And some of the scholars of the
of hadith said that the meaning is every
single day at the time of Maghrib. When
you broke that fast, the joy that you
found as you tasted food, as you tasted
water, that sense of accomplishment that is the
happiness that comes from Allah
And another meaning is when the month of
Ramadan is complete, the day of Eid ul
Fitr. That's also the day of breaking their
fast, that you look back of those 30
days of fasting, that by Allah's permission that
you completed a major act of worship, a
major pillar of Islam fulfilled by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala's mercy. So you have a sense
of accomplishment, a pride that you feel in
the worship of Allah
One of the greatest lessons of Ramadan
is that it teaches us the sense of
delayed gratification
to continue to work and to worship Allah
day in and day out. And Allah knows,
just as we know, that Ramadan sometimes can
be difficult upon a person. The first few
days may be difficult for some people. For
some people, it's the middle days. After a
week or 2, 10 days, 2 weeks of
fasting, your energy levels lessen. Some people find
that difficulty. Other people towards the end of
Ramadan as they're exerting more and more, pushing
themselves more and more, staying awake the nights
and worshiping during the day. Ramadan takes its
toll, but you continue.
You strive.
You keep patient.
You are steadfast. You show discipline
as you continue to worship Allah because you
know that Allah has prepared a great reward.
You know that the day of Eid is
coming. That is from the lessons of Ramadan.
Ramadan is like a microcosm
of the person's life.
Allah tells you to keep on worshiping,
to continue to be diligent steadfast,
to maintain
the path that you are upon
for the rest of your life.
So Allah
maintains upon us these acts of worship because
of their importance.
These seasons of worship may finish, but the
lessons that we learn and what we benefit
from, they continue.
The fasts of Shawwal are a very good
example of that. The 6 days of Shawwal
to continue to read Quran, to wake up
even if it is 15, 20 minutes
before you pray fajr and pray some.
If that's too difficult, then to pray before
you go to sleep just as you did
with the taraweeh.
Pray some nafal, some qiyam before you go
to bed after.
All of these are things that people can
do, but it just requires from us to
continue to maintain some of those conditions that
we had in the month of Ramadan. Bless
Allah
by his most beautiful names and love attributes
that Allah
allows us to continue to worship him for
the rest of the year, That Allah
accept from us our deeds. That
Allah blesses them with his acceptance. That Allah
grants us and mixes from its people. That
Allah makes us better after the month of
Ramadan than we were before the month of
Ramadan, for that is from the signs of
an accepted deed and action that you continue
to go from strength to strength. May
Allah show his mercy and blessings upon us
and upon the Muslims across the world. May
Allah
relieve from them their hardship and their distress
and their difficulty. May Allah protect us and
them. And may Allah
keep us all steadfast upon its religion.
Straighten your roles. Fill in the gaps.
Assalamu alaikum, brothers and sisters. Just a quick
announcement.
There are some people,
outside the Masjid,
protesting. They're not very happy about an event
we held at the Masjid, where we invited
local councilors and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
They're not happy and have decided to protest.
Unfortunately, the emotions and the actions they are
doing is misplaced and a gross overreaction.
As a masjid, we strive to be balanced
upon the Quran and sunnah,
and I would like to ask all our
congregation not to engage with those outside.
Let them be and,
enjoy the rest of your Friday.
Just a few announcements.
The Tutor World team will be available now
at Dawe.
That's the clock tower entrance.
If you would like information regarding our tuition
service
for 11 plus GCSEs and a levels, you
can speak to them, inshallah.
We have launched a monthly monthly club for
secondary aged children called Blossoming Believers.
Registration is open. You can find more information
on the website.
Tutor World are back with another GCSE intensive.
If you are taking your GCSEs this year
and want to boost your grades, we will
be covering maths, English,
combined, and triple sciences.
We have teaching vacancies for Quran and Islamic
studies for both online and on-site madrasah.
Please apply
by visiting the website.
BeFit exercise sessions for sisters takes place every
Thursday,
from 10 AM to 11 AM. Register via
the website, please.
Events next week,
our sisters weekly Ardu
Majlis classes are are,
available every Monday after the Uhura via door
e.
Sisters coffee morning runs every Wednesday from 10
AM to 12 PM
through door f.
We have stay and play facilities available on
that day as well.
Pop up cafe is open to both brothers
and sisters on Monday.