Shaban – Gearing up for Ramadan

Want to stop futile? When I owe the biller he mean surely unforeseen our say to Marlena Mejia healer who Philomel Delilah. Wilma yodeling further her the Ella wash Hello hola ilaha illallah Hua hula Cherie Keller one no Mohammed and Abdullah who are pseudo Salalah sallallahu alayhi wa early he was so happy he was

a MOBA due for in Hyrule Hadith Nikita will la heeta. Allah will say Iran had he had you Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam or shahrul OMO Remo, the third to her. Were kulambu the 13th be the Arhuaco la vida attend Allah Allah, Allah Allah Allah to infinity,

a MOBA ad

in the month of Shaban, you start getting a whiff of the sweet aroma of Ramadan.

You start getting

memories,

but also anticipation

of the beauty of Ramadan.

The beauty of its fasting

the beauty of its Koran, the beauty of its TM, the beauty of its dua the beauty of its gatherings the blessings of Allah azza wa jal in it in Shaban Allah introduces us in his infinite wisdom, to the month of Ramadan.

And the month of Shaban acts as this introduction, this test

this sign

that if you want to be

ready for Ramadan,

take advantage of your shebang.

Many of us

have not been close to the Quran since last Ramadan.

Many of us perhaps have not fasted since last Ramadan.

Do and vicar was not paramount in our lives. Definitely not daily, since last Ramadan. And then if you were to ask us on the first day of Ramadan to completely change course and now fast and read the Quran and make dua and do this and do that, we'll find it challenging to say the least.

And so Allah azza wa jal wants us

to take advantage best and most advantage of Ramadan by changing course, and adopting better habits before Ramadan starts.

And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa early he was salam would actually, physically and physically, do more in the month of Shaban, and he is our mod on an example under his Salatu was Salam

to tell you that Shaban

is the time when you gear up for what is going to come later.

So if you want to exercise your map before you exercise, otherwise, you may damage your own body and not perform well.

Before an event you train or prepare for that event to be at optimal performance, if that event is important to you. And if Ramadan is the most important month of the year, and in it, it houses the best night of the year. And the best gift that Allah could give you which is that your sins can all be forgiven. If it is that important. You cannot simply get ready for Ramadan a day before

or on the first day.

Sort Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would frequently fast most of Shaban and they would ask him Allah He is Salatu was Salam. That is your fasting most of shebang

more than any other month Why is your why are you doing this era sunnah Allah He holla Valley Kusha Hiranya fu Anhu nurse.

What were shahada on to refer or V Hilah amalco. Hippo a new profanity. Werner saw him new cited two reasons. He says this is a month that people overlook

and this is a month where deeds are lifted up and taken to Allah azza wa jal. So I love that when my deeds are up, to being taken to him Subhan Allah to Allah that that would happen while I am fasting. So two things he had mentioned about through Shaban The first is that it's overlooked and we can say that it's even overlooked till today because when Ramadan approaches are on board, people are thinking about Ramadan itself. Now what comes before it, they're thinking about the physical aspects of Ramadan and how they can meet their physical needs.

but not the spiritual needs.

So Siobhan is still overlooked. So he said under his Salatu was Salam, I don't want to overlook it. So I'm fasting it.

And also

that, to follow up, the actions are being taken to Allah azza wa jal, and this is the annual raising and review of our deeds.

So you can think about it as the closing of the year.

Just like a merchant, closes his accounts at the end of the year, and then then he takes stocks and the praises, the losses and the gains.

What he has done right and what he has done wrong so that he could learn from it knows if he's in debt, or he had made a profit, otherwise the business does not thrive or succeed. If you don't do this if you don't examine what you have done in the past here, and there is no better business than our own lives because everything else will go away but your own life is the thing that you will carry with you to Allah azza wa jal so are we in the habit like just like a merchant does of appraising our life to say, what is it that I've gained and what is it that I've lost in the last year? Because this is going to be done to you? When the these deeds are being taken to Allah azza wa

jal because think about the last year

from Shaban to shall burn or from Ramadan to Ramadan, what was it like? Was it a good year or not? And I'm not talking here about the dunya.

Talking about here about what pleases Allah azza wa jal what is it that you've done that you can say Alhamdulillah for this?

This will stay with me when I meet Allah azza wa jal, I've done this much of Quran and DUA and vicar and Salah and what is it that you will say I want to run away from

I've missed my salah I in Gulden in indulged in the Haram. I stayed away from Allah, and I immersed myself in what Allah hates. If that is the past year, then a person really needs to

learn from it so it does not repeat. And if your year was a year that is pleasing to Allah azza wa jal then praise Him for it because it would not have happened without him. subhanho wa taala. So as your deeds are being taken up, you need also to think about the past year, and how the next year is going to be different. And the beauty of all of this is that you begin the next year with Ramadan

with the best launch into the year where Allah azza wa jal brings you the closest that you can to him. So that you can ask and you can repent and you can rid yourself of sin and contamination worldly contamination and see here I will be born in Yuya Allah accept me and take me and save me for the rest of the year.

So Shaban is this introduction to Ramadan, and Ramadan cannot really be impactful unless we begin with Shaban. So you ask yourself

how you want your next year to be and you begin that with Ramadan? What do you want Allah to give you in it and save you from and you begin that in Ramadan, just like a shrewd good business person plans for the next year, you should be more meticulous and more eager in planning for your own life than a person who loves money.

And so Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would fast

and that trains you for Ramadan

does not only train you physically,

because if you're not used to fasting, we're gonna spend the first week or two of Ramadan just adjusting to it physically.

But if you fast beforehand, you will arrive in Ramadan and you physically ready

that physical pain are not going to impede you.

But it also does something else which is that it's beyond the physical training. It's the spiritual training that is important.

Because when you find yourself in Ramadan and the first and second day, distant from Allah azza wa jal, it's hard to bring your soul back and discipline it to sit and read the Quran. And not only sit and read, but actually be happy with what you're reading thinking about it, because the soul had been rebellious and the soul had been distant. So as we need to train the body more importantly, we need to train the soul so that

It is what humble it has who shoot.

It has Taqwa. It has love for Allah. It has fear of Allah subhanho wa Taala and this takes time. So in Shaban as well, you're training your soul.

So everything that you want to do over and Ramadan, plan for it and introduce it in Sherborn. So fasting is one and you can fast most of Sherborne if you're physically able, if you're now you could fast few days here and there, but introduce yourself to fasting and to the rhythm of the fast and to eating less in the month of Ramadan in the month of Shaban so that you would be better off in Ramadan, but also introduce yourself to the Quran.

So they It is said that they used to call the month of Shaban shahada aura, the month of the people of the Quran, that when it starts, they will dedicate their time to the Quran more so than before. And so now you have to plan when month of Shaban starts and I want to be excellent at reading of the Quran and Ramadan, read as much as they can. But also as I'm reading feel close to Allah azza wa jal because what I'm reading is meaningful to me. Start reading the Quran in the month of Shaban and plan it, meaning after fajr or after Assad or before I shower after Aisha pick the time when you're alert, pick the time when you are ready, receptive and say 20 minutes a day from the beginning of

Shabbat and 30 minutes a day from the beginning of Shaban, this will be for the Quran.

And you will see the fruits of all of this when Ramadan starts. If we are disciplined, and if we ask Allah for support, you will see the effect of all of this our closer you will be to Allah azza wa jal BY HIS WILL How closer you will be because you strived before Ramadan. So we say the Quran every single day, even if you do five minutes, but a continuous persistent tenacious five minutes, no matter what happens. I'll read the Quran every day and plan also with the Quran and you could join them together in one activity or spread them throughout the day. But you also portion a time for two and a time for thicker.

And a time five minutes where you will say I will sit and I'll ask Allah azza wa jal.

You could plan certain diets from the Sunnah and have them ready, written down so that you could read and ask Allah azza wa jal or you could be spontaneous and ask Allah for the good of this life and the next. Just get yourself ready to be close to Allah and keep asking him for yourself, for your children, for your spouse, for your parents, for your family, for the Ummah, for the community, for anybody that you know, ask, and as you ask, Allah will open more and more doors for you to ask. And you will find that fulfillment of being near Allah Zota knowing that he had heard you, and he's fulfilling your requests, so the Quran and also DUA and also the Dhikr of Allah azza wa jal plan for

it. If you're a person who is used to it, you could do it throughout the day and hamdulillah but if not, and you forget, then a time when you sit down and you will see La Ilaha illa Allah 100 times la isla Subhan Allah 100 times Subhan Allah who will be handy 100 times salah upon the Prophet Alayhi Salatu was Salam 10 times 50 times 100 times, but get yourself and your body and your soul ready for the care of Allah azza wa jal so that when the month of Ramadan begins, you'll already be in Allah azza wa jal to rise into levels of a Buddha and levels of Hashem. Because fasting, and staying away from food is designed for something greater than the simple of abstaining of food. It's designed to

free your body of the dunya so that be close to him. subhanho wa Taala so this is what you want. And you want Allah azza wa jal to guide your heart towards Taqwa.

You want Allah azza wa jal to bring you closer to the hereafter so that you think about it more than the dunya and you would sacrifice for it more than the dunya and that cannot happen if we live a loving man months of the year, for the sake of the dunya and one month only, partially for the sake of Allah azza wa jal, the equation and the percentage has to shift and it cannot shift until we truly venture into the month of Ramadan, beyond the food that we eat and beyond how many visits we have and beyond the presence that we give and receive. These things could be beautiful and permissible. But that is

is not the essence and the most important thing in Ramadan. It is where your heart is at and how close you are to Allah azza wa jal. So train your heart for Taqwa train your heart for loving Allah and fearing him and staying away from the Haram and that is a form of Ibadah that a lot of us are not aware of. You think about a bad thing in terms of I do this and this and that not in terms of I do not. But in fact staying away from the Haram is a great form of a bird the water clean Muhammad

Ali, he Allah Salatu was Salam. He says, and leave away sin and avoid them, you will be the best of the worshipers of Allah Azza origin

so looking at the Haram and listening to the Haram and being around the Haram, people who are eating it and drinking it and talking about it, being around those who upset Allah zoldan And yet you say, Well, I'm not engaging No, by the simple fact of you being present in that area. You're a partner in that act. You have to distance yourself from it. And distance your eyes from seeing what upsets Allah as if you are fasting, and that is the beauty of fasting in Shaban because you get what you get the consciousness, the awareness that Allah is here, and that while I am fasting, I cannot say these things. I cannot look at these things. I cannot speak like that. I can't behave like this. And

Allah azza wa jal sets you on a course on a better course. And if Allah azza wa jal allows us and we are fortunate enough to have the month of Shaban as it should be and then the month of Ramadan, as it should be better than even the previous Ramadan, then there are greater chances be the law has held that the gains that we have in them will continue to live beyond those two months. May Allah azza wa jal allow us to be of the fortunate and the accepted in the month of Shaban and the fortunate and the accepted in the month of Ramadan, a holo COLA that was the hula Lea welcome festival.

hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen Hamdan cathedra until even mulgara can fee you also li wa salam, O Allah Rasool E. Muhammad

Ali, he was so happy he was sending them and my bad

are the virtues of the month of Shaban as well as the night of the middle of Shaban.

Where he said Ali is Salatu was Salam, Natalia Allahu ala Jamia, he helped me he liked that and this woman shall burn for your funeral the Jamia hulky in the name of Shrek in Omaha when he says Allah looks at all of his creation on the night of the middle of Shaban and he forgives them all except one who has shirk and one who has hatred and enmity in their heart against their brother.

So that is a night also

to wait for and a night to get ready for an a night that tells you that Shaban is a pivotal time in the year getting you ready again for Ramadan. So here on that night, Allah Zota will look at you and look at me.

And Allah will say he's forgiven, but for the other he's not and the thing that stops that forgiveness are two things, how you are with Allah azza wa jal and how you are with his creation. So if your relationship with Allah has shirked that blocks forgiveness,

if you call on other than Allah azza wa jal

then that is schicke.

If you put on strings, or crystals, and you think that they will protect you from envy from harm, and that is *can, Allah azza wa jal, if you believe in bad omens,

that is *can Allah azza wa jal, when you cleanse your heart of schicke, that is really a heart that is only attached to Allah, and only hopes from him and only fears him nothing in the dunya matters, except what ALLAH destines even he said, Alayhi Salatu was Salam. And this is a Hadith that should strengthen to hate in your heart. He says that even if all humanity gathers to benefit you with something, they will not be able to do that unless Allah has written that for you. And even if all of them all people gathered to harm you, they will not be able to do so unless it was for something that Allah had written against you. So no one has power. La hawla wala Quwata no one has

power, except Allah azza wa jal. So your relationship with Allah matters and when

You clean it and Allah azza wa jal will forgive you. But you also have to take care of your relationship with people. And for that, you have to clean your heart no Shahina in it no hatred, no ill will you don't wish anybody harm.

Innocent person you don't wish them harm just simply because of jealousy just spiritually because of an argument that you had with them because they took something from you forgive, to be forgiven, reconcile, to be forgiven. Ask Allah azza wa jal if you say that is beyond my heart at this moment, I cannot forgive them I cannot reconcile with them they will listen that ask Allah azza wa jal for that ask Him to reconcile your heart and theirs to cleanse your heart and cleanse their heart. And Allah has Zota can do so. But at least make the effort and make that DUA and reach out. And Allah azza wa jal loves for His servants to love each other. So don't make

a past argument. A stupid mistake. A stupid PL feeling, prevent you from prevent you from

receiving the Mercy of Allah azza wa jal

and the last thing Salah that I want to mention is also getting ready for sadaqa

by doing it from UN in the month of Shaban for it to be excellent, and the month of Ramadan, the prophets Allah Allah wa salam was very generous in the month of Ramadan. But that generosity needs to start also in Shaban as well. And you all know very well

the disaster that had stricken our brothers and our sisters,

that that earthquake that devastated the lives of so many. And this is not behind us. The suffering continues, the need grows, and we need to continue to support

and two things Insha Allah we need to learn from this among many.

But to emphasize two things for today. One is that when you see that devastation, you should also remember the devastation of the Day of Judgment

in his hotel at Assa T. Che on Avi

that the earthquake on the Day of Judgment is something that is tremendous. And Allah azza wa jal he says in the Quran, he says when you will see it, that the Halacha lamudi Out in the Water the aku that he Hamlin habla Ouattara NASA Sakara Well, malham be sukar Allah kina of Allah he should eat. Allah says that every nursing mother will forget about her child.

Can you imagine the magnitude of fear and devastation at that time, every nursing mother will forget about her child, every pregnant woman will deliver her child and you will see people as if they are drunk, but they are not drunk. what has happening is that the punishment of Allah is Severe. So when you see this, you remember the day of judgment. And also you remember that in a blink of an eye in a second, all that we have in the dunya could evaporate, right?

Or our loved ones could be gone. What stays with you Subhanallah if someone is trapped under the debris, what stays with you?

Allah azza wa jal and that name of Allah and the Quran that you've memorized, no money will help there's no food nothing around, except Allah azza wa jal and that is when you're in a tight spot like that. You discover what is important, and your money is not an your title is not an your mansion is not an your car is not all that could go away. But would you emerge from it you say Alhamdulillah and you remember that it is the power of Allah azza wa jal that kept you alive and saved you. So remember that and remember also

sadaqa sadaqa if you want Allah azza wa jal to save you from hardship in the dunya and hardship in the earthhero sadaqa. If you want Allah azza wa jal to come to your aid when you call on Him, when you say I'm making dua, and I'm not hearing anything back, my problem is not being solved is it ask yourself, have you given sadaqa to help others have you've done something to help others? So if you have a problem sadaqa and when you see them in suffering like that, remember that this money belongs ultimately to Allah azza wa jal so give what you can and don't forget about them. And let the month of Shaban be a beginning bead Nila as it doesn't matter and the beauty, the beauty of Islam, the

beauty of the Quran the beauty of the Sunnah is that it does not matter what you've done in your past. It does not matter how much you've lost. It does not matter how ugly it may have been. What matters is that every single day and every Ramadan and every Shaban is

is an opportunity to be a new person. Forget about the whispers of the shaytaan and the constraints of the past you could be a much better person if you ask Allah and then decide for it. So we ask Allah Allah Allah mean or hamara Herminia Allah allow us to take full advantage of the month of Shabana Ramadan, Allah was horrible and I mean too fast in the month of Shaban and make that easy for us. Allow us to noble Allah mean to resume reading of the Quran and make us of those of who are people of the Quran in the month of Shabbat and Ramadan. Allah was horrible Allah need to call on you often in the month of Shabbat in the month of Ramadan and accept our dua era. Al Al Amin was

horrible al Amin to make us of those who remember you often in Shaban and in the month of Ramadan and make us move him that Gideon Allah cathedra with that Quran was curable Allah need to make us of the people of South Africa and make us of those who rushed to help and aid their brothers and sisters who are suffering was horrible Allah mean to ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters who have suffered in the last earthquake. Yeah, Allah accept the dead among the martyrs Dr. hamre Amin ya allah relieve the suffering of those who are suffering your raw relieve the suffering of those who were orphaned and widowed. Yeah Allah but Allah mean grant and mercy from you and Rama

from Euro Bella al Amin Yalla. But let me ask you that you transform us from the inside on the outside, fill our hearts with Eman fill our hearts with Dukkha fill our heart with love for your love and the love of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and love and the love of what you love and make us hate what you hate your hamara hai mean?

Grant us the Athenian herbal Allah mean grant us comfort implement Nina Yara Bill Alameen I Allah if we are going through any hardship we ask You that You aid us and relieve us of all hardship you are hamara Hamid you Allah pay off our debts heal our sick you Allah guide us after we have been misguided and open our hearts to rip Islam and repentance Allah Medina for dunya Hassan Ophelia Farah de hacer una Joaquina either Banagher Aloha my yarmulke Libyan hello with a Bitcoin lubaina Allah de la Miyamoto refer Ubisoft lubaina Allah Isaac Aloma in Isla de credico Shoukry cohosting Ebert attic Allahu Minister Luca Jen Neto, Makarova ileum encoding or I'm an older becoming a nerdy

Robert E Lee. I'm in covenant with him in Haiti masala Abdullah Mohammed Ali his Salatu was Salam when Oh, the becoming Cherie Mr. Ira that I mean, who Abdullah Muhammad Allah Alayhi Salatu was Salam ala Hama and Nana so local higher Akula Hua Ji la Hua Ji Lahoma I live in I mean, who am I alumna alum, we're not Oh, the becoming a Sheree Cooley he ideally he was a GED man eliminate I mean, who am alumna alum? Yeah. Hey, yo, yo, yo. mobila hermetic and Estelle Heath Asli Atlanta shenana kula Walla Tokina Ilan fusina tophatter. I welcome