Ismail Kamdar – Ramadan & The Imperfect Worshipper

			In Alhamdulillah Namu, when a stock Pharaoh by no means over here, the worker Lolly, when all the
bIllahi min surely and fusina Woman Z, Dr. Marlena Mejia the healer, who for the mandala will make
you dinner for the mother.
		

			As we approach the middle of Ramadan,
		

			many of us may be struggling to meet our own expectations for this month.
		

			Now, many times we start Ramadan with very high goals, and very high expectations of ourselves. We
say things like, I'm going to recite the entire Quran five times, I'm going to create 100 Every
night, I'm going to give a lot of money in charity, I'm not going to commit a single sin for the
entire month
		

			and a week into Ramadan, we start to fail.
		

			We start to slip up, we start to make mistakes, we get tired, we fall into human error.
		

			And then we become frustrated with ourselves. And we start to think that maybe I'm not good enough.
Maybe I'm not worthy of Ramadan.
		

			Maybe I'm not a good Muslim.
		

			And I think the problem starts with our definition of what is a good Muslim?
		

			Because too often, we have unrealistic expectations of what Allah expects from us. Do we think that
Allah expects us to be perfect? We think the Allah expects us to be, you know, these perfectly pious
creatures that have no faults.
		

			And that's not the case. Because Allah subhanho wa taala, before creating the human being, had
already created a creation, that is perfect, and it's worship of Allah subhanho wa taala. And that
is the melodica the angels. The angels do not have free will. The angels do not experience
temptation. The angels do not have flaws. They do whatever Allah commanded him to do. They are
perfect in the worship of Allah.
		

			Allah subhanho wa Taala created the human beings to be different from the angels. And even in the
beginning, the angels cannot understand why Allah was creating something that was flawed. And so
when Allah subhanho wa Taala told the angels as narrated in Surah Baqarah, he told the angels that
he's going to create a successor on Earth, he's going to create the human race. The angels asked,
Why would you create something that could shed blood and cause chaos? Why would you create something
that has the potential for evil?
		

			Know that the angels exist? Why would Allah create humans?
		

			And Allah simply replied, I know that which you do not know.
		

			And from this reply of ALLAH SubhanA wa taala, we can understand that there is a hidden wisdom in
the creation of the human being, and that the flawed nature of the human being is intentional. Allah
created us to be creatures that have flaws that have mistakes, that have weaknesses, we were not
meant to be perfect. We were not meant to be flawless. Rather, it is our constant struggle against
our soul, that we find our connection with Allah subhanho, wa taala, and our reward. It's not in
attaining perfection, but in constantly struggling against our soul.
		

			Now, recently, there was a article about how AI is better at worship than human beings. Right? And
the experiment was done. And the results of the experiment was that artificial intelligence. And
robots are better at worship than humans. Because AI doesn't lose concentration. It doesn't get
distracted. It doesn't have faults.
		

			And the article said that are humans going to be replaced by AI in worship? And that got me
thinking? It made me realize that people don't understand what worship is. Because if you program a
robot to worship, and it's just doing what you are programmed to do, that's not real worship. That's
not what Allah is looking for.
		

			Allah has gifted us with free world. And then we choose to use that free world to worship him. Even
though our knifes wants to do the opposite, even though there is so much temptation to do the
opposite, even though we have full free will to do the opposite. But we still choose to worship him,
no matter how flawed that worship is. That is what he's beloved to Allah, that choice, that choice
to worship him even though we
		

			flaw in our data and in our worship. And I want us to understand that these human flaws of having
weaknesses having sins all of this
		

			it is intentional it is how Allah created us. This is mentioned clearly in the Quran, in the Hadith,
and we see it also in the lives of the sahaba. The Sahaba were the greatest generation of believers,
but they were not flawless. They also struggled with their desires. They also struggled with their
sins, they also struggled with their mistakes. And sometimes we don't realize this, because you
know, too often we discuss the stories in a way where they come across as flawless and perfect. And
in doing so we create unrealistic expectations of what we are supposed to be like.
		

			But Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us in the Quran, we're holy called in Salvador ephah.
		

			Humans were created weak,
		

			meaning this weakness in us is intentional.
		

			And if you think this verse is talking about physical weakness, or something else, no, we're just
talking about spiritual weakness. So Viana sorry, Rahim Allah, in his stuff. See of this verse. He
said, when Allah says that humans were created weak, he said, this means for example, he gave the
example that when a beautiful woman walks past, a man forgets to lower his case. He said, This is
what is meant by Allah has created humans weak.
		

			Mind you, he's talking about the the time of the Sahaba right, the first generation of Muslims, but
they also struggled with this. They also struggled with the lowering of the gaze.
		

			And he mentioned this by example, to show that the weakness meant in this verse, a spiritual
weakness that Allah intentionally created humans to have within them a spiritual weakness, that each
of us have our temptations, our flaws, our sins that we keep falling into. This is intentional.
Because if we don't sin, we don't make mistake far. If we don't make mistake, Father, Allah has
attributes of forgiveness and repent and accepting repentance cannot be manifest in our lives.
		

			So ALLAH SubhanA, Allah created us with weaknesses. He created us with faults, He created us to be
creatures who never attain perfection in this life. And that's fine. As long as we keep trying to
please Allah subhana wa Tada.
		

			And we see the same message conveyed in many of the Hadees the famous Hadith, where the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that every son of Adam makes mistakes, for the Best of those who
make mistakes, or those who are constantly repenting.
		

			Meaning the Children of Adam, we're not meant to be flawless and perfect creatures. We are meant to
have mistakes we are meant to have flaws. We are meant to have errors. But what separates the
righteous from from the from the central what's happening to people of Paradise and the people of
health is not the attainment of perfection. It is repentance. It is sincere repentance to Allah
subhanho wa Taala whenever we fall into sin.
		

			Going back to what you mentioned earlier, you know, that people wondered like why can we have
perfect worshippers of Allah flawless worshipers of Allah? Why can't we be that
		

			Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa salam stated in authentic hadith, that if you were to be the kind of
creation that does not sin, very interesting Hadith he says, If you had to not commit since Allah
would destroy you, Allah would remove you from the face of the earth and replace you with a creation
that sins and repent. Allah would replace you with a creation that sins and repentance.
		

			What is the meaning of this hadith?
		

			This hadith means that Allah created us to be creatures who repent for our sins.
		

			Now us unless we're not going to repent, we have nothing to repent for. And if we are sitting
listening, there is no way for us to see Allah's attributes of our food on
		

			the web, because we are never seeking forgiveness. So Allah would have replaced us with a creation
that does that. So Allah can be over food at the work towards those creations. So understand that
the sinful nature of human beings is part of our design and struggling against this nature is part
of being human and part of being Muslim, and everyone has their flaws. Some people struggle to lower
their gaze. Some people struggle with their tempers. Some people struggle with stinginess, some
struggle with racism, some struggle with bad language, some struggle with addictions, everyone
struggle is different. But we all have faults in us. We all have flaws in us. We all have parts of
		

			us that can be improved. And yes, we never become
		

			Perfect, but we can recognize our flaws and work towards improving them. And the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam stated that none of you will enter Paradise because of your deeds. You will only
enter Paradise because of the Mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala and the Sahaba asked even Euro Ya
Rasulullah he said even me
		

			when Rasulullah sallallahu sallam said that we will not intergender because of our deeds, there's
two angles to this right one angle is Janna is so perfect and amazing that none of us deserve it.
Right? What can any of us see we have done to be worthy of eternal pleasure.
		

			On the other angle, that we are so flawed, we are so sinful, that if we get into Jannah, if we get
into Jannah, it is the Mercy of Allah. It is really the Mercy of Allah for overlooking our faults or
overlooking our sins. Because we all know what we have done in our lives, that is displeasing to
Allah and for Allah to forgive us for that, that is truly His mercy.
		

			And we said that the first generation of Muslims, they taught us this they taught us that even if
someone is sinful, even if someone has the flaws, even if someone has the problems, they can still
be close to Allah subhanho wa taala, they can still get to gender. It's not about being flawless.
It's about sincerely trying your best. So from amongst the Sahaba, there was a man who was addicted
to alcohol. And you will often show up in public drunk, and you will often get punished for being
drunk in public. And it is a point where the Sahaba got so frustrated with him, that when they were
punishing him, they began to curse him and they began to use bad words against him. And Rasulullah
		

			sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he stopped him. He stopped him said Don't say things like that, because
he loves Allah and His messenger.
		

			So here we have a man, clearly with a fault clearly with a flow with an addiction problem. A man who
even in modern society, we may look down upon him, a man who is addicted to alcohol, your drysuit
allah sallallahu Sallam is pointing out that he has good in him as well. He loves Allah His
messenger.
		

			We have another story amongst the Sahaba that they were a famous as a hobby by the name of Hunza
Allah and Rasulullah sallallahu Lisa noticed the Huns Allah stopped coming for the Halacha t's not
coming for the lectures. So he's in Abu Bakr to find out why a worker goes to the home of Angela and
Angela says I'm a hypocrite. Worker asked him What do you mean you hypocrite? He says when we
sitting in the lectures of Rasulullah sallallahu sallam, my Eman is so high. And I feel so close to
Allah and I feel like I'm gonna be a perfect Muslim, do not go back home and get involved with my
family. And I forget about Allah. And I go to work and get involved in my business and I forget
		

			about it. And I'm not on the same level. When I'm at home or when I'm at work then when I'm in the
company of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Abu Bakr said, if that is hypocrisy, I'm in
the same state. Because this happens to me too, that when you are at home with your family, when you
are at work, you're not in the same state and level of iman as when you are in a Islamic circle.
Even more so when the Islamic circle is with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So they go to
Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and they asked him about this Italian resort and what what
happened. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi salam says that is normal. That is normal Rasulullah
		

			sallallahu Sallam told them had you remained in this state of Eman at all times, the angels would
come down to earth and shake your hands.
		

			Why? Because it's not possible. This is like an in human level of piety that you're expecting of
yourselves. Such an inhuman level of piety, that the angels will actually come down to earth and
shake your hands for it. But we don't know of the angels coming down to earth to shake people's
hands, because people do not reach that level.
		

			And so the Sahaba were comforted to know that it is human, to go to ups and downs in your fate. And
the Prophet sallallahu Lisa advised him on that occasion and said, there is a time for this. And
there is a time for that. Mean is a time to be with your family to time for having fun. There's a
time for relaxing, there's a time for Ibadat there's a time for work, and you need to give each of
them their rights. Allah does not expect perfection from us. So as we enter the second half of
Ramadan, some of us may be feeling deflated. We may have feel like we didn't do our best in the
first half. We fell into sin. We messed up. You know, we thought we're going to give up in addiction
		

			but we couldn't give it up. We thought we're going to pray tahajjud but we couldn't wake up on time.
We thought we recite the entire Quran but we couldn't. It's fine. You're trying your best. But now
as we entered in the last 10 Nights, starting in a few days time, let's try even harder. Let's push
ourselves even further. Because the race is not over. Remember getting to Jana.
		

			is not about being flawless. It's about sincerely trying your best. And Ramadan is the time where we
try our best and our best will not be perfect. We may not concentrate 100% In our salah. We may not
go through an entire month without a sin,
		

			but our best is still our best. And if it's sincerely for the sake of Allah, it is enough.
		

			And this is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Man Samarra Madonna Eman are what the
Saba woofie Radha who Mata cardamom in Zambia, whoever fast the month of Ramadan sincerely for the
sake of Allah, hoping for the ward, all of these sins will be forgiven. And he said from one Ramadan
to the next is a forgiveness for whatever happened in between. Notice he did not say that you
shouldn't be sitting this in Ramadan, or outside of Ramadan. He did not say if you do Ramadan
properly, you will be sinless for the rest of your life. He simply said you'll be forgiven for
whatever happened in between each Ramadan, meaning things will happen between the two Ramadan's that
		

			you will need Allah's forgiveness for.
		

			And so it's not that we are expected to be sinless, but that we expected to be constantly repenting
and constantly seeking Allah's forgiveness and constantly trying our best. And if we try our best
ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala will forgive the rest. We ask Allah to forgive our sins to keep us steadfast
on the straight path and to give us the correct understanding of Islam. Subhana robic Arabic is at
MIT full saline with hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen.
		

			hamdu Lillahi wa salatu wa salam O Allah Amandla Ana Ba ba ba to inner circle Hadith, tabula Wahid.
You heard you heard the Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was Sharon moody, more desire to have a
cooler more desert in Wakulla with a 10 dolla Dolla dolla 10 Feed now, as we enter the last portion
of Ramadan, we have just two weeks left of this beloved month, and the majority of those two weeks
will be the last few nights. So just a brief reminder that we are taught to seek out later to Qatar
in the last 10 nights of Ramadan. And it is from the wisdom of Allah subhanho wa Taala that he did
not tell us the exact night of the year to cuddle. because had he told us the exact night many of us
		

			would only worship Him on that night. But by keeping it ambiguous, we ended up exerting ourselves in
worship for the entire 10 nights. And this is from the wisdom of Allah subhanho wa taala. the
virtues of lyrical Godel are many. In the Quran. In surah avocado, Allah Subhana Allah tells us,
that little girl called the hieromonk official, that layer two corridor is better than 1000 months.
Meaning if you catch little cuddle with your worship, a good deed done on that night will be equal
to doing that good deed for over 1000 months. And the wisdom behind this is that we do not live that
long on earth. How do we earn the reward of living many lifetimes? How do we earn the reward of
		

			doing
		

			hundreds of years of good deeds by catching little garden every year. That's how we earn that
reward. So we push ourselves to do the most that we can do in these 10 nights. And there are many
things you can do in the last 10 nights of Ramadan to increase your Ibadat those who can should make
it tick off it tick off in the last night of Ramadan is from the highly recommended sinners and we
cannot make it tick off the other things we can do as well. Pray tahajjud right spend as much time
as you can into 100. recite Quran make dua make vicar spend time in contemplation. And this is an
act of worship that's often lost in our time. So just sit alone and think to sit and low alone and
		

			think about your sins. Think about your relationship with Allah subhana wa ala, think about how you
can be a better Muslim. We need to make time to think about our relationship with Allah subhana wa
Tada
		

			and Aisha radiAllahu anha. She asked the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, then if I had to catch
later, Oh God, what do I should I make? And he told her to make the DUA Allahumma Inaka foon to
Hebrew aku for a for Anna. Oh Allah, you are most forgiving. You love to forgive so Forgive us.
Forgive me. Right? This dua it is the sunnah to make this do on the avocado. It is what Rasulullah
sallallahu Sallam taught to the Sahaba and it is what we should be doing as well and it goes back to
our theme of today's football. We are not meant to be flawless. The fact that we should be spending
literal gardener asking Allah for forgiveness means the things that need to be forgiven.
		

			And so this dua is most sincere when you think about the things that you did wrong this year. Did
you sit and think that from last Ramadan till now did I mess up
		

			What did I do that I really need forgiven? What did I do that I want Allah to forgive me for? And
you think about these deeds and you see, Oh Allah, you are most forgiving, you love to forgive. So
forgive me and you sincerely sincerely repent for these mistakes that we have made throughout the
year.
		

			So that does not allow our flaws and our mistakes to prevent us from excelling in worship in the
last few nights of Ramadan. Let us spend the next two weeks increasing our Ibadat and if we slip up,
we will ask Allah for forgiveness and we will try again. And this is how we should live our entire
lives. At no point should we think no matter what we have slipped and fallen into that I am ruined
and there's no way back to Allah. There is always a way back to Allah no matter what sin you have
fallen into. There is always a way back to Allah, through repentance, through seeking forgiveness,
through turning your life around doing more good deeds, reconnecting Allah subhanaw taala. The road
		

			to forgiveness is always open as long as we are alive. So do not ever allow shaytan to distract you
with the thought that I am to sinful and I'm ruined and there's no way back to Allah there is always
a way back to Allah. As long as we continue to seek his forgiveness and to recognize that we are
flawed and we are sinful and we are in need of His mercy and we are in need of his forgiveness and
to worship him wholeheartedly. Because of this we ask Allah to forgive our sins we ask Allah to make
us steadfast We ask Allah to accept our Ibadat from him in this blessed month. Robina Artina dunya
Hasina fulfill accurate the husband are working Agha Banagher robbing a hub Lana mean as wodgina was
		

			already out in a Kurata unit. Tina in mama Subhana rahbek Robin is at Yama yesI foon was salam ala
Celine with hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen Aki, Minnesota