Ahsan Hanif – Principles for a Successful Ramadan
![Ahsan Hanif](https://artwork.muslimcentral.com/ahsan-hanif-150x150.jpg)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
And then from the delay to Ireland hemudu minister in order to still feel when are the real diamond jewelry unforeseen our mean CEO Dr. Marina Mija the local family Luna huami Yoda Lin Farah had era Why should we allow you know hola hola Sheree cara, washer to Anna Mohammed Abu or pseudo Salalah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa seldom at the Sleeman kathira Yeah, you live in Morocco, la haka, Ducati, while otter mutanda illa. One Two Muslim on yohannes topo Rebecca mala de Hala Takumi nuptse wahida mahalo terminhandel jaha. Westerman. humare Jalan caffee wrong manisa dokkan la la de Luna behavoir ham in Allah Karna ra Kumara FIBA you're living in a taco la colo
Conan said EDA was left la cama Amal Kumar filicudi novacom are mejor de la hora sola Hakata fosun Halima Umberto for Ignace Takahashi tabula rasa Pharaoh Mohammed in Salalah. Who are they he will sell them. Michele Omar to Hakuna Matata timbira. Colaba, Tamara, Morocco, Nevada Latin for now.
It is from the attributes of the believer that they look forward to and they anticipate the seasons of worship is a sign of a man that you look forward to that you hope for the mercy and the grace of Allah subhanho wa Taala that is available in the times and seasons of worship, the month of Ramadan, the first 10 days of the hedger the last third of every single night in which Allah subhanaw taala descends to the lowest heaven in a manner which reflects his majesty just love your Allah. That is from the signs of the believer, because it is not from the science of the believer that those times and those seasons of worship come upon us and we treat them like every other time of the year.
Unfortunately, it is too often the case from too many of our brothers and sisters, that they treat Ramadan as the tree every other month of the year, that they behave inside of the month of Ramadan in the same way that they would behave outside of the month of Ramadan. You don't see any extra effort for worship, you don't see any extra time that is dedicated towards achieving or attaining good deeds, not because they don't have the time because they everyone has time but they can spare, especially in the month of Ramadan. It's because they don't understand the importance and the virtues and the rewards that Allah azza wa jal has placed on offer during that month. And perhaps,
and Allah knows best as a counteraction or a counter reaction to that we have another trend. And that is a trend in which we are all pressurized to do a lot in the month of Ramadan. It is a pressure that we are bombarded with especially in the time that we live in through our phones and through Facebook and social media and through what we hear from other people. And so there's always a kind of Ramadan, any a timetable for Ramadan, and every single Masjid and Institute and charity is pumping out so much material that we feel a pressure that we need to up our game. And so that's two trends that we have to deal with. And so in this short space of time that I have before me today I
want to speak about three principles that we have in our religion that when inshallah Tyler help you to number one, manage your month of Ramadan and number two inshallah, to have a successful month of Ramadan. Because both of those, in my humble view are problematic. Those people who don't use the month of Ramadan, they let it go by the first 20 days the last two nights doesn't make a difference to them. Maybe perhaps on the other occasion. For some of them. The 27th mayor of Ramadan may just motivate them to do something extra. But Ramadan for them isn't really a big deal. They don't really understand the big deal behind the month of Ramadan. And then we have other people who feel a great
deal of pressure for themselves for their families, for their children, that they need to go not only an extra mile, but many extra miles that they need to be well ahead of the crowd that if someone is reading wonders the day I need to be reading to or if I did one juice a day last year, then I should be doing more. And those two I think both of them put insufficient or they are incorrect ways of dealing with the month of Ramadan. The first principle that I want to bring to your attention is the principle that you find a number of a hadith in the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the way that he would manage his own self sallallahu alayhi wasallam
because we're not speaking now about the veggie bat the veggie button on the month of Ramadan comes you must fast there's no difference in terms of this opinion. Other opinion the five Salah is every day the worship Salah has a fragile, lower astral as a Muslim and Russia something you have to do every day. The pressure that's put on us is the extra that we should be doing. And there is no doubt that there is a place in our religion for having that ambition for having that sense of competitiveness with the believers into
terms of wanting to attain good, but at the same time, that shouldn't lead to shame upon being able to come to us from a different angle. Whereas if you miss one day of Ramadan, maybe perhaps you cannot come for taraweeh for a valid reason or not a valid reason, maybe one day you Let's read on the UN planning to do that you had laid out in your planner for the month of Ramadan, shaitaan now makes us feel that we lost the whole month, the whole month was a waste, we didn't achieve anything, I made an intention to come to throw away every single night in the month of Ramadan. But I missed one night. And then I missed the second night. And actually sounds like well, no different, no
different last year in the year before. And so that is also an unfair pressure that we place upon ourselves. So the first of those principles that I want to bring to your attention is what the Prophet told us and Allah when it was sent him in a number of ahaadeeth that is reported from him in a number of contexts that he said to a number of companions with different words, but they all essentially boil down to the same principle. And that is our Lee Kuan Bhima to the own take on what you can manage. That is a principle in our Sharia. Every person should aspire to God. But it doesn't mean that each and every single one of us has to be a clone carbon copy of the person next to us.
Every one of us is different in terms of our responsibilities in terms of the chores and the jobs and the duties that we have to discharge inside the month of Ramadan. Every person is different. And so your path to doing good and what it is the inshallah tada you're able to achieve in a good way may be different from the person sitting to your left and your right may be different from the very people living in your house, under your roof from your family, or they can be mad to the on the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said this trap dilemma I'm not even an answer the Allahu anhu man Sahil Bihari when he wanted to fast everyday because he could do so physically, and he wanted to
pray every night because he could do so physically. But the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam knew that it's not something which is sustainable and manageable, and Abdullah Ahmed himself would later regret not taking the advice of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam the prophets Allah once entered upon his wife, Aisha rhodiola one and there was a woman whether he was telling her about how much Salah she offered, so the prophets have seldom heard from her and share the story of this woman and the woman sitting there. But the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam wasn't as impressed as perhaps you would think. He said to her ma RT can be matched with your own, don't do so. Do what you
can manage. And that is part of our religion. To take on what you can manage is something which you should do you know your situation best. Yes, do more than you will do outside of Ramadan. Tony, Ramadan come and pass you by and you haven't done extra Salah or extra Conan or give an extra sadaqa we'll try to do as many good deeds as you can. But also at the same time, don't put on that pressure upon yourself where you think that you need to finish the Quran five times if it's not something which is manageable for you. And so when you look at the stories of the self Allahu Rahmatullah, whereas man robiola, one finishing the Quran once a day, imams Shafi Rahim Allah they said on some
occasions twice a day, he would finish the Quran, but that's them and their manageable situation, they know what they can do. That's not the man Shafi telling people to do that that's between him and Allah subhana wa tada that others have related to us from his ways. And there was a difference between what the Prophet Solomon structures oma to do as a principal, and what you can do over and above that, because your situation is different from the person next to you. But if it's not, it's not something manageable. If you think that it's going to put a pressure upon you, if you think it's a path for shavon to come on you in this normal bond in a different way, then make that issue
manageable for yourself. The second principle which is an extension and an explanation of the first is also what the prophet SAW Allah while he was still him, is being described as the companions and the tiberian, especially the scholars of the tabula and would often come to Asia, or the Allah one our mother, and they would often seek from her to an explanation of how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would worship at home, they want to know how much Salah did he offer, what did he do? Give us the details of his personal worship at home, when the people that would normally be with him in the masjid or outside wouldn't be able to see him. And there is a consistency in her faith.
Her understanding her knowledge in the way that she explains the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is worship because she will tell them, but then she would say well kinda I'm Allahu Bhima is now his worship, whatever it may be in whichever capacity was always consistent. And that is Principle number two, consistency, because it is better for a person to be consistent each and every single day. Even if the amount is small, and little, then for a person to be overly energetic in the beginning of Ramadan. And by day four 510 15 they don't have that energy left anymore. And each and every single one of us see this in the month of Ramadan, you come to the first night of the masjid
for taraweeh and Ramadan, the masjid full, no space but by night seven 810 1520
There's loads of space in the mystery in every monster, because people don't have a sense of consistency. And that is an important principle in our religion. So when I saw the Allahu Allah is actually once those people from the tab you're going to understand the principle of worship from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And that is that he was consistent. So they say that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, if you wanted to see him praying at the beginning of the night, you would find times when he was doing so. And if you wanted to find him praying in the middle of the night, you would find him doing so. But that he was praying throughout the night know that one night
he will choose the beginning. And one night or some nights he will choose the middle of the night, and some nights you choose the end of the night. But he would be consistent because he's praying every single night. And that is what you have to attain in terms of your worship. So if you did the Quran once last year, you finished at once last year, to do the same again this year is consistency, that is consistent, nothing to feel down about nothing to feel bad about nothing to feel that. And in fact, consistency even means that you have the ability to go better in the quality of the worship rather than the quantity, as was the position of a number of the companions and the self, that they
would prefer that you read the Quran, maybe once but with understanding or with some level of understanding, then you finish it three, four or five times but you didn't really understand anything that you read. Consistency is about doing something regularly, but consistency is also in terms of the quality of the worship that you have in front of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam can remember Amadou deema his actions were consistent in his charity, in his Salah, in his recitation of the Quran, in everything that he did sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and that consistency is what you take outside of Ramadan. That consistency is when you
manage your situation to such an extent that you're better outside of Ramadan than you are during Ramadan, or at least you're the same as you are in Ramadan, because you have consistency. But when you put yourself under so much expectation, the first thing that happens as soon as he comes, is that we all fall off every single one of us, none of us are like that outside of the month of Ramadan, because we didn't have the principle of consistency. So yes, do more in the month of Ramadan. But what should underlie that, what should be the foundation is a level of consistency. So if you're praying every single night, during the month of Ramadan, after the month of Ramadan, you
should be playing to some extent, even for every day, but some days of the week, there should be a level of consistency, then inshallah you take outside of the month of Ramadan. The third and final principle that I want to mention to you is the principle of prioritization to prioritize what is wajib over what is recommended, what is an obligation over what is a recommendation, and from what Allah zildjian has recommended or obligated upon each and every single one of us is fasting, but fasting in a certain way. If a person is fasting, but at the same time, they're still lying, is still cheating. They're still backbiting they're still buying and selling Haram, there's an issue
with the way that we prioritize our worship, even if that person is doing extra no Avenue, if a person is standing the night to pray, while they're offering some of them in prayer. But then they go to sleep and they call wake up for Salah confession. That's a problem in terms of prioritization for the person who's finishing the Quran 234 times in the month of Ramadan, but they haven't given a car for who knows how long for how many years that have passed. That's an issue of prioritization. And so we should understand that and part of that also, is to understand the from the prioritization of those things, which aren't strictly worship, as a father, as a mother, as a husband, or wife or
son or daughter, an employee, whatever your position is, there are obligations that allies placed upon you, that aren't necessarily acts of worship, but they can be on they're part of your religion. And so to fulfill those acts, there are no obligation also take priority. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us this. And he told us all of these principles so that you have a way of managing the situation in the month of Ramadan. We don't come from a tradition of people who are who go into a monastic state. In the month of Ramadan, we don't become monks. We don't shut off the rest of life because we go into just worship and nothing else. Learning how to manage your
situation, being consistent. And knowing the importance of prioritization mail, large social grants, or success, somehow not because I'm on your cell phone, or ceramill I'm listening when hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen
smilo from the villa salatu salam ala rasulillah bada he was talking to us Marina my back
from the greatest of acts of worship that you can do in the month of Ramadan, as we said, is to look at your wedgie bath that which allows those villas obligated upon you. And it is an amazing opportunity to work upon those things that you have to do each and every single day that perhaps you struggle with throughout the year. Your Salah for example, your soccer for
Example. Those are things that you should look at all of us should look and seriously in the month of Ramadan, and each and every single one of us has a way in which we can improve those YG bat because once you have fulfilled what Allah azza wa jal has obligated upon you. It is an easy and short path to being able to do the extra, as the Prophet told us and Allah when it was seldom that a large soldier said in the Hadith, Al Pudsey, that Allah subhanaw taala didn't obligate upon us anything that is more beloved to him than that which he has made public obligatory upon us subhanho wa Taala this month of Ramadan is the month of opportunity and its reward and virtues are many and
great and all of us are familiar with them. But your approach this month in sha Allah to Allah with the right mindset with the right plan with inshallah tada enable us to take from it. Many of those benefits and those virtues Western large social base most beautiful name will have jackboots to burn to success in the month of Ramadan, and the larger mixes from amongst those who multiply and our good deeds, who have their sins forgiven, and will grant or gougane emancipation from the fire of harvest. galarza during the month of Ramadan, a month of blessing and mercy upon us and our families, our communities and our oma Subhan Allah because Allah is at your mercy phone was stolen
when Adam was sinning