Heart And Soul Of Fasting
Date:
Channel: Bilal Philips
File Size: 22.41MB
Episode Notes
Jumu’ah Khutbah @ Masjid Bin Zaid (FANAR)
2017-05-27
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AI Generated Summary ©
The importance of fasting and staying in a constant state until the end of the day is emphasized. This is necessary for achieving the soul ofinos and the third level of Islam, which is to achieve the heart and be conscious of the law. Visiting fasting is linked to personal health and growth, and is used to avoid harmful behavior and distractions. The importance of reading the Koran and avoiding distractions is emphasized, along with the success of online education and registered students from various countries.AI Generated Transcript ©
nl hamdulillah
now I do understand when to stop
when I always will be let him in surely I'm fusina woman say t I'm Melina
Mejia philomel de la
Lin fala. Howdy Ella.
Ella and my mom waka hula Shadi kala, or shadow Anna Mohammedan. Abdul who was Zulu.
Indeed, All praise is due to a law and as such, we should praise Him, seek His help and seek forgiveness from
and seek refuge in Allah from the evil which is within ourselves.
Evil which results from our deeds. For whomsoever a law has guided, none can misguide. And whomsoever a law has allowed to go astray, none can guide
and I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship, but Allah.
And I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was the last messenger of Allah.
And now it's the Hadith eatable law. The most truthful form of speech is the book of Allah.
Well, Hydra Howdy, howdy Mohammed in Salalah alayhi wa sallam and the best source of guidance was that guidance brought by Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in his
shadow Morimoto data
and the worst of all affairs in this world are
the innovations in religion
for in Nakula desert in VEDA
because every innovation in religion is a cursed innovation.
Well, Kula Masha desert in bedava Kula Devon Delilah and all cursed innovation is a source of misguidance bucola de la Latin for now.
And all misguidance leads ultimately to the hellfire.
Today,
we have passed the middle point of Ramadan
and we're heading into the last half of Ramadan, we've entered the last half of Ramadan
ahead of us, the last 10 days
which prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave special importance to
but before entering those days,
as we shift into the second half the last half Ramadan
it is worth reflecting on where we are
relative to Ramadan. Where are we?
Are we
on track?
are we off track?
Are we fasting Ramadan? As the Prophet sallallahu wasallam fasted
or are we doing something else,
which we have customarily called fasting in our various communities, countries, etc.
Because fasting,
live like everything has an inner and an outer aspect to it.
There is the external aspect,
which we could call the body of the vast
as we have an external body,
the physical we
and an internal aspect
which we could call the soul of the fast
as we have a soul
distinct from the body
law has combined both of them.
That physical body
in what it does,
feeds
improves.
Correct the soul or it corrupts it. It can go in either direction.
But it is not
our essence,
the rail we
is the soul, our souls. When Allah created Adam,
he created all of the souls that would ever inhabit this earth.
And he made them all bear witness.
ls LS to be Rob become Why not? You're alone.
And all our souls bore witness by Elijah Hytner.
We all said yes, we bear witness to it.
That is the essence of faith, which Allah has put in each and every heart
imprinted on each and every soul.
That is the most important aspect.
However,
we do have to take care of the body.
So, a law has prescribed for us actions that our body should follow in order to protect that soul.
Similarly, Ramadan has the outer aspect of the physical
where we don't
eat or drink, or have sexual relations after
the dawn begins
until the setting of the sun
that is the physical,
we avoid food, drink,
sexual relations, and things that lead to it until the setting of the sun.
However,
the inner aspect of the fast
the purpose for which a law has prescribed that
can only be achieved.
If we are conscious of what
the soul of the fast is.
If we're not conscious, we're not aware.
We're only thinking that fasting is not eating and drinking.
In the daylight hours, eating and drinking before anything and drinking after
then we will not attain or achieve the soul, the essence the heart of fasting.
We will have fulfilled the legal requirement shediac according to the Shetty, we fasted
that legal requirement is fulfilled, you will not be required to make this fast over again. But
if we do not grasp the essence of the fast,
this is all of Ramadan, then we do not earn for ourselves any reward. All we have done is removed the obligation of fasting from ourselves. That's all.
It's important.
But it's not the goal.
We will not have earned any reward. So fasting will not have been of any real benefit. And that is why every year that we come back to fast
we are in the same position we were the year before or maybe worse.
We all hear how fasting is supposed to change us. It's a life changing.
experience and everything. But practically speaking, we don't feel any different.
The new Ramadan comes and the same position we were in the year before, where same place
possibly worse.
There's no progression.
And you know, in psychology
they describe people who do the same things
expecting different results
as being mentally ill.
This is obsessive behavior, you're banging your head against the wall.
The wall is not gonna break
your hurt heads gonna hurt you every time you do it, but you still keep doing it anyway.
So we come back, Ramadan, after Ramadan, after Ramadan.
We leave Ramadan unchanged, and we just come back and do the same thing the next year.
This is not what the laws are what Allah prescribed.
He prescribed
an act
which would
correct whatever is wrong within ourselves
and change the way that we
change our character.
change our interactions with other human beings change our relationship with a law. Most of all,
that's what a law prescribes.
But that's not what we are attending.
So we do need to stop for a moment brothers standing there at the door leaving the door open to let hot air in on everybody inside please close that door.
Same thing on the right side please close that door. Close the door please. If you can't fit in go there are many places outside available.
Close the door.
We need to go back
to look at what the essence of Ramadan is supposed to be.
And it is not something which is philosophical difference difficult to understand. Only people of higher learning and knowledge can grasp know
Islam is for everybody.
A law provided this way of life for everyone. So he made it very clear in the Quran.
In his final revelation to humankind, he made it very clear crystal clear what is the soul of Ramadan? What is Ramadan all about?
So, we would not have any confusion in our minds regarding he said
yeah, you are Latina, amanu quotevalet Kumasi amo kamakoti bilen, Edina Minn. publikum la la quinta de boo, oh, you believe fasting was prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you.
In order that you would develop
a consciousness, a higher consciousness of Allah.
Fasting was prescribed for all of the prophets of Allah and their followers.
What the law said here
for all those who came before you,
it was also prescribed.
And even till today in the corrupt scriptures, in the hands of Christians and Jews, we do see clear statements that Jesus Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights
eating nothing and drinking
Still remains and then the other religions in Hinduism, Buddhism all the others,
which are corruptions, from the original message which Allah sent to those people in those places. They all have fasting, prescribed.
This is the goal. This is the goal, it is to raise our consciousness of a law.
It is to achieve the third level of Islam.
We know the first level of Islam are the five pillars,
the five pillars of Islam,
declaration of faith, praying five times a day, giving Zakah fasting in the month of Ramadan and Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
And we know above that is the six pillars of
the six pillars of faith.
The understanding that we should have as we do those five minutes
and above that
is the level referred to as, as an
axon meaning
the highest levels of goodness in the sight of Allah.
And the prophet SAW Salaam explained, its working saying it is to worship a law as if you see him.
And
just below that,
if you can't achieve that, then you worship Him, knowing that he sees you.
The goal of every believer
where we seek
in everything that we do, we will achieve
the heart, the goal, the soul of everything.
Where we are not conscious of it, then we are left with the body.
So Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam, in order to
bring this concept home to us. He said in a hadith narrated by Abu huraira
lets us see our moment and actually what should be forgot.
Fasting is not merely from
eating and drinking.
That's a part of it.
In MSC amo, Mina love we were rough.
Indeed,
fasting is from evil speech alone.
And the thoughts that come before it.
And its effects
were rough,
corrupt acts
in all of their various forms.
This is the essence of
this has to do with our character. How do you judge a person's character by what he says and what he does?
by what he says? Or what she says and what she does.
That's your means of judging a person you say this is a good character, this person has good manners
or bad based on what they say and what they do.
So the Prophet sallallahu wasallam stress that the fast
is over and above
giving up food and drink. It is giving up saying bad things,
saying things which are bleep displeasing to Allah
and doing bad acts
in all of their various forms.
And how do we do that?
We have to be conscious
Have a law
we have to be conscious of a law. So the prophet SAW Selim said
for inside Baca hidden if anyone curses you while you're fasting, somebody says something hurtful to you,
oh giant, it all becomes ignorant with you wants to get into a big argument and this type of thing.
football in me saw a moon, say to that person, Fantastic.
Fantastic.
Remembering the goal of the fast, we don't sink to that person's level, and join them in whatever they're saying whatever they're doing, we just respond saying, I'm fasting, excuse me.
I don't want to get into an argument. I am fasting, I want to preserve my fast
I want to get from my fast what Allah has prescribed for me. So I will not indulge in argumentation with you.
So when we look
then at the past, practically speaking,
we have to look at it from this perspective.
Seeking the soul of Ramadan
leaving this month, knowing that we understood and applied what Ramadan was supposed to be.
And I asked him last month
to help each and every one of us
awaken
our hearts and our souls to this reality
and to turn this month into a proper month of fasting, of fasting according to the teachings of Islam.
A fasting according to the way of the Prophet of Islam
appunto kolyada was stopped through la li la policia in Muslim in Amman coleambally festival Pharaoh in who will afford Rahim I call on the law asking Him to forgive us all and on you all to turn to him and seek His forgiveness for only he can forgive our sins.
Alhamdulillah
wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah praises due to a law and Milan's Peace and blessings beyond the last messenger of Allah.
In practical terms,
to achieve the goal of fasting, we have to perform we have to do a complete fast.
When we listen to the various advices that the prophet SAW Selim gave us, words of advice that he gave us was regarding different aspects of the past. We can sum it up by saying that he instructed us to make a complete fast,
a fast of every aspect of ourselves.
A fast of the mouth, the tongue
what comes out of it
as we fast from what goes in it
a fast from the eyes
What we see
what goes into our brains.
So we don't
watch
things, read things, which are corrupt.
We deliberately avoid
looking at
reading, observing what is corrupt.
Now of course, some corruption may come our way
which
We didn't choose.
So at that point, we turn away. We look elsewhere, we avoided, we control our eyes because our eyes are feeding our souls.
And our ears.
From what we listened to, there is corruption. Things that we know are corrupt.
People keep asking,
is listening to music around?
That's the question that goes over and over and over. Everybody knows in their height.
That the music that we listen to today is harder.
It's about harassing.
It's calling to Haram. For sure it's hard on the people who do it are harami.
We can see them we know. So what do we expect from them? Good, healthy stuff, which is good for ourselves, of course.
So we are careful about what we listen to in this.
And what people say,
we know the problems and the issues of backbiting and gossip, and slander and all this kind of stuff. It comes out of people's mouths, and it goes into people's ears.
If there's not an ear there to hear it, then it's not going to travel, it will die with that person's body turns away whenever they starts to get into it, everybody turns away knows.
Then that person's not gonna have anybody to listen to, is gonna stop.
But we sit or is my good friend. I know what he's saying. I'm sitting inside myself, I was a bit loud with a bit loud.
But I'm still sitting there listening to it.
Because of our friendship,
you know, I don't want to hurt his feelings.
He wants to get something off his chest, but we know it's not good. We still sit there and listen anyway. So what are we doing?
We think because of our friendship, that you know, we will,
we will suffer.
We will handle this.
We don't believe in it. So it won't affect us. But no, it will affect us.
It will affect us.
If that friend of ours is always talking corruption, evil,
it will affect us. Maybe not at that moment will not hear one thing from him and go and do evil. But if whatever he's saying, or she's saying constantly to us, going into our brains settling in our subconscious, after time, when it builds up, we may find ourselves doing things we want to Why did I do that?
Where did that come from? That's not me. Well, it has become you from what you have been listening to.
So we have to be careful.
We are participating in gossip and slander, etc. When we sit and listen.
Of course, we're not carrying the sin, like the one who says it. But we carry something for listening to it. And it's damaging, it's harmful.
It destroys our soul. And that's why the Prophet sallallahu wasallam had said, Be careful of whom you take as your friends.
You will be raised with your friends on the Day of Judgment.
So if that person and what he is saying and what he's doing is not the kind of person that you would like to have next to you when we raise from the grave and stand before a law then don't take him or her as your friend in this life. Not to say you cannot communicate with them. You know, because how can you give them good advice if you don't have a relationship with them, but don't make them your best friends.
So you protect your ears.
You protect your hands
from what you give and from what you receive you fast.
Don't give anything that you should not be giving. Somebody is looking for a bribe.
They want
a job, they want to do something. And if you get that contract, it will be good for your company, they'll probably give you a raise and everything else. But he's saying, I need a little something.
I was in West Africa, I was there for four months. They call it breakfast money.
I need some breakfast.
This is haram in Islam.
So you don't give it even though you lose the contract.
Maybe somebody else in the office will take it and get the contract. And they'll move ahead in the job and you say, Look at yourself and say, Oh, I would have been that stuff. I missed that chance. You didn't? You didn't you miss the chance for corruption?
A chance which would not be blessed. Yes, externally, the person got the position, got the money seem to move ahead. But no, no, spiritually, he moved backwards. He fell down.
He didn't move ahead.
And the consequence of it may show up in other aspects of his life that you don't know about, you just see the external, you think I missed out? No, you didn't. If you did the right thing you didn't miss out.
Whenever we do the right thing, we succeed.
Similarly, our feet fast. And this month, it fast from taking us to places that we shouldn't go.
We know we shouldn't be going there. There are places of corruption. We have to get there with our feet.
We may get in a car and then we use our feet again, pressing the last lesson, the break, our feet are taking us there.
So our featured fast, it should be a complete fast, fast of every aspect of ourselves.
With that kind of fast, we can then achieve the real goals of the fast
for sure, if we pass through a whole month with that level of consciousness.
I'm sure you will all agree that this month of fasting will be different.
For sure.
It will be a fast as we have never fasted before.
And it is something that we all can do. It's not something that you know only those people of high spiritual character caliber can do.
Some people will tell you okay, if you want to reach that stage of the fast you have to make Vic roll law 100,000 times every morning.
No. Prophet Muhammad wa salam never told us that. If you want to remember Allah, Allah says was Kuru la grande kaviraj. remember Allah Allah.
But the prophet SAW Selim didn't specify 100,000 10,000.
People have thicker beads so big, they wrap them around themselves.
to count out 10,000 how many copies you have to put around yourself.
We're doing all kinds of things, thinking that this is what's going to get them to that stage.
Only the way of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam will take us there.
He was the guide.
He didn't do those things, know that those things are not of any value.
If they are good,
then he would have been the first to do it.
He would have been the first to do it, to show us the way.
So the fact that he didn't, is telling us that's not the way
we need to follow his way people say well, you know, because he was close to Allah.
He was a prophet of Allah.
So he didn't need to do the things that we need to do.
We have to do more. You know, when people said that in his time, what he said that same line of argument
where people are
Come to his wives, and ask them, How did the professor solemn?
How did he
pray How? And they told him, told these people, they said,
That's
normal.
Because he's special because he's close to a law, law chosen, etc, we need to do more. So one said, I'm going to fast every day.
Another one said, I'm not going to get married to women, period. Women, we know, corruption.
There are other one said, I'm going to pray all night.
When the prophet SAW Selim came, and
people informed him about these people, he called all the people together and he said, Listen,
I'm the best among you.
And I fast and I break my fast. I don't fast every day.
I marry, I get married, I got married, I have children.
And I pray at night, and I sleep at night.
And whoever desires a way other than my way, is not a true follower of mine
from undurraga and suniti, fillet samini.
That's what he said.
So that line of argument is a false line of argument.
It's false. It takes us away from the way of Rasulullah sallallahu wasallam.
So
we need to focus on the way of Rasulullah sallallahu wasallam. throughout the remainder of this month. We know that one of his ways
notable ways in this month was that he used to
read the whole Quran
that was revealed to him.
It was not the whole crime fact he had to
in the first year of Ramadan,
it became far too hard to notice in the last year of his life.
Each year he would revise whatever had been revealed to him during that year with Angel Gabriel Angel gibreel that's what he did.
And Allah did make special mention about this month and the Koran in when he said Shama Ramadan, Allah The Zilla fee for an kodaline as well bye obey your natural Buddha.
The month of Ramadan, and he named this month
when he mentioned the month of the year being 12, and four of them are holy, he only mentioned one by name
ramadan
ramadan, I lead the on Zilla field Quran, the month in which the Quran was revealed
guidance for people
and clarity
which provides that guidance.
So Allah made special mention of the revelation of Quran in Ramadan. So there is that connection there from Revelation is connection there from the practice of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. So
we should give time to the reading of the Quran in this month. It's encouraged, strongly encouraged. But we have to remember that the goal of the reading of the Koran is what
is the same goal of the fasting if
that's what the goal is
not to be able to say at the end of Ramadan. I read a whole Koran
two times. Another one says I did four times martial law.
What the goal is, is to have read the Koran reflected upon it and try to act on what we have learned from our readings because that's what the Sahaba said we used to learn the Quran to live in mustard said we used to learn the problem.
10 verses at the dive.
And we would not progress to a further 10 until we understood what were in those 10. We understood it, and we try to apply it.
We were learning the knowledge and its implementation at the same time,
words
and faith all together.
And the law in order to stress this to the oma until the last day said, alpha to the barudan for and will they not reflect on the meanings of the Quran?
allow for Lubin alpha, or are their hearts locked up?
So if we're reading,
just sitting in the masjid, we're reading,
you know,
not reflecting, just reading like parents.
What has happened to us? If that has become the norm, we just read.
We're able to recite the words
but we don't know what it is saying.
Then what somebody says but you know, the results are more solemn said that whoever recites a single letter of the Quran gets 10 Hashanah.
That's what I'm going for. I want these 10 has an ad so I'm reciting it.
Yes, well, Sula, la sala Sallam said that,
but to whom did he say it?
Did he say it to Persians?
If you opions
Pakistanis,
Indonesians who didn't know Arabic?
Is that when he was talking to?
Or was he talking to Arabs,
his followers who are Arabs to carry that message till the last day that we were speaking to.
And those words were encouragement to read more and more of the Quran. So that one would understand more, it will touch our hearts, it will change our minds, it would redirect us.
So my advice in this regard
it is better for you.
If all you
have the whole Quran for this whole month of Ramadan was Jews ama, the last 30th part of the quad
which is the place from which most people read their Koran
during prayers, this is what they have memorized from the last portion
and read those chapters with translation read the Arabic and then read the translation. So we get to understand what is this surah about what is a lot talking about here? What What do these things mean? You know, okay, will not be able to necessarily know word for word and they do have word for word.
translations now of the Quran, where they'll have what each word means. If you want to read it from that perspective, that's also helps in getting you closer to understanding what the law says. But at least if you just read the mini read the verse in English or read the word short in English, you know, after reading it in Arabic, you read it in Arabic, then you read it in English, then
you start to understand what Ally's saying. And reflecting on what are the meanings in these chapters, then then the reading of the Quran has value has real value to us better. We have done that. Then to read the whole Quran, like a parrot, not understanding a word. What should we have read, becoming like that example which Allah gave in the Koran concerning the Jews who had the book
of Revelation, but they lost track of what was being said in it and they didn't follow it. He described them as him our own milou as far as donkeys carrying books on their backs.
That's what we have become. The Koran has become like a book on the back of a donkey
may have lost one to Allah,
correct our state in this month
and bring us out of this ignorance and misguidance back to the Serato monster team, the straight path, the path of guidance, and the path of clarity
and to help us to practice the religion in all aspects of our lives. I ask Allah to Allah to forgive our previous sins, our errors,
and that of our families, and those who are close to us, I ask Allah to put those who die from among us in Paradise, make their graves gardens from Paradise and their end paradise and ask the last one to Allah to give us the reality of following the way of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. About whom he said to all of us in the Lahore melodica who is aluna Allen nubby Yeah, he will Edina amanu sallu alayhi wa sallam Otis Lima, ask Allah to help us to follow that way, the prophetic way, the way to paradise and make our last breath in this world be none other than La Ilaha Illa.
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