Ramadan Is Not Only About Dos and Donts

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim in Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah brothers and sisters and friends as salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa better cattle.

Brothers and sisters and friends is the month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. It's a blessed month is a month of the quarter and it's a month of guidance. It's a month of mercy. It's the month of supplication.

Now, I don't want this month to be a month of just do's and don'ts. Don't get me wrong.

obeying Allah

is extremely important. obeying Allah brings us closeness to His mercy and His love.

We must

obey Allah we must follow the do's and don'ts but don't make it only a Ramadan of do's and don'ts. That's my point.

And the way to articulate this is in a linguistic way.

Allah says instead of Bukhara

Yeah, you helina Ave quotevalet como Seon can akuti Bella Dinamo, publikum Lola takuan all you had believed, fasting has been prescribed for you like it was prescribed for those before you in order for you to attain taqwa, mindfulness of Allah, God consciousness.

Brothers and sisters, Allah doesn't say in the Quran.

It is a forward to fast it is an obligation to fast we know it is an obligation. We know the language implies is an obligation. But you missing the point. Allah doesn't use language in that way. He doesn't say you must first full stop, turn the page out of his majesty and glory. He could have said this, he could have said fast, full stop.

But look at the language he uses to penetrate your soul. Allah subhana wa tada starts by saying yeah, you hell let me know. All you who have believed us, me, you allies saying

we are people of America, people of trust people that we have a relationship with Allah, which is the rearrangement of carbon which does matter. But Allah has elevated this matter, this flesh to a person that has a status that Allah calls a person of belief,

a person of ananna a person of a trust between himself and the Lord of everything that exists. So before Allah is addressing you in terms of telling you want to do, Allah elevates you. He's saying Yeah, and you hit livina ermanno Oh, you who have believed. Then Allah continues quotevalet camassia fasting has been prescribed to you katiba in the Arabic language is in the passive form. It's making it sound easy. Allah is making Ramadan fasting sound easy cookie by has connotations of Yeah, go do it. It's in the passive form.

So Allah is showing his mercy here, doesn't want to overburden you doesn't want to harm you, what's good for you? And then Allah says, Can I kind of put you back in the dino publikum like it was prescribed for those before you, meaning other generations have done this. Other spiritual traditions. Other people have achieved good from this. So you're not alone. Don't worry. Imagine going into the gym for the first time and you see someone just like you really bench pressing 200 kilos. You're like, wow, he's got two legs and two arms. If he can do it, I can do and it motivates you. Ally's doing the same here he's motivating us. He's saying other traditions have done this and

it worked. Alone, what's easy for you What's good for you.

And then Allah ends, that Allah contacta cone in order for you to attain taqwa, God consciousness.

And the person who has taqwa has the love of Allah. The person has taqwa has his mercy. The person has taqwa has his paradise, eternal bliss and tranquility.

These verses are Ramadan, brothers and sisters are verses of love.

The Quran is one giant love letter between the lord of everything that exists and his believer because even when Allah mentions his punishment,

remember he hasn't hastened the punishment.

He mentions it as a warning for you to reflect upon because he wants you to come to paradise.

And that's why when he mentions suffering or tell Tony

meant in Hellfire, it's to remind you to be back on track. And that's why ruin love or ruin lovers are those who remind the people that they love the person that they love, that if you deviate from the path of mercy and love, you could end up in a dangerous place. So come back. So the whole of the Quran is like one merciful, one love letter to us. And you see this resonating in these, this verse of the Quran. When Allah doesn't just say fast, full stop. He says, Oh, you have believed the elevate your status.

Fasting has been prescribed for you making it sound easy. It's in the passive form. It was prescribed before you.

You're not alone in this. It's worked. And look at the end goal in order to attain God consciousness, which facilitates His mercy and facilitates his love.

You can be loved by everyone, brothers and sisters. But if you're not loved by Allah, then what's the point? So let's focus on the motto Ramadan, to really engage with the acts of bad acts of worship. And I pray that I follow my own advice. And let's really reflect upon the Quran because it kind of addresses us elevates our status makes it sound easy and gives us an amazing and gold which essentially means paradise. Because Allah loves you. That's why he

couches the language in this way to penetrate your heart and soul.

So that's why I said don't let this Ramadan be just do's and don'ts. Make it also be something inner. And many of the pious predecessors always saw Ramadan in this way of being online, but also having their hearts connected to Allah, knowing that he loves them, and that we should love him.

And this is why final piece of advice when you're in frustration. Don't forget what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said

that this is when you're closest to your Lord, so supplicate to him. This month is also a month of supplication to speak to him in frustration.

Speak to Allah, talk to him. And I remember all those years ago, around 12 years ago before I was a Muslim, I was in East London in the big mosque. I used to pray before I became a Muslim. I remember my friend Dr. Amir, who runs a gym in Layton.

May Allah bless him, he told me when I was a non Muslim in college, Hackney Community College, when we're praying, and when we're in frustration we're closest to our Lord because of the symbol of the ego. We break our ego and humble ourselves. And he said supplicate to your Lord. I remember this and I supplicate to Allah and you know, I said to him,

if this is the truth Show me.

And just after a few months, I became a Muslim. So supplicate to your Lord Solomonic Rahmatullahi wa berikut