In this Jumah Lecture, Sh Ismail discusses the Maqaasid (Goals) of Ramadan and fasting.
Ismail Kamdar – The Purpose of Ramadan
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The speakers discuss the importance of fasting during the month ofFinancial and the third purpose of Islam, which is to separates the right from wrong. They stress the importance of reciting the holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy, and emphasize the importance of respecting the word of Allah and reciting it slowly. The upcoming fall season is also highlighted, with reciting the holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy.
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salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah. Begin by praising Lucha Hanna with Allah and asking Allah to send his peace and blessings upon the final prophet Mohammed bin Abdullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and all those who follow his way with righteousness until the last day.
My respected brothers and sisters hamdulillah we are just two and a half weeks away from the most important month of the year, the month of Ramadan. And so today I thought that it would be fitting that I share with you
some thoughts on how we can benefit from Ramadan
primarily to be able to focus on why Allah subhanaw taala has given us the month of Ramadan Why has he given us this concept of fasting? Why has he given us
29 days of the year in which it is obligatory upon us to fast out to look at the wise and we understand the why it would be easier for us inshallah, to focus on the house and I'm getting maximum benefit from it.
You see, the Sharia that Allah subhanaw taala has revealed to us is not just a release of random laws, it's not just a series of, of God that Allah chose out of reason. Allah subhanho wa Taala is Allah Hatim he's most wise. So there is wisdom in every law that he has made. Whatever he has made her wrong, there is a law for it. Whenever he has made logic, there is a reason for it. Right? There is reason and wisdom behind everything that he has done. And so we believe that the Sharia of Islam is a Sharia full of wisdom, that every law that Allah has revealed there is wisdom behind it. Sometimes we understand that wisdom, and sometimes we don't. So there may be some things that we
don't understand the wisdom behind. For example, why is solatube Maghreb three rockets instead of two rocket rocket, only Allah knows why. But we believe the easy wisdom but only Allah knows what. But the other things which Allah has told us exactly what the wisdom is. The other words, Allah has told us why he has given us those laws. And fasting is one of those things. Fasting is one of those things where Allah subhanho wa Taala has told us why we have to pass and what we should expect from fasting, I was we should expect from the month of Ramadan.
Now this study in Islamic law, it's called Mufasa, the Sharia, which means the goals of Islamic law, the way in which if you're studying to be an expert, in fact, you will study in detail all of the goals of Islamic law, every law, what is the goal of Allah? What is the goal of soccer, what is the goal of the prohibition of alcohol? What is the goal of the prohibition of interest, because each of these things have a good wisdom and purpose behind it. So we're looking at one of those things today, one that affects all of us directly. And that is, why, why do we pass? Allah subhanho wa Taala? He answers this question in two verses, which come after each other in the second pillar of
the Quran. In surah baqarah chapter number two, verse 183, and 185, Allah subhana wa tada speaks about Ramadan, and the reason why we passed. Now 183 most of us are familiar with 185 you might not be as familiar with it. So verse 183, and I'm sure you hear this verse every year just before Ramadan begins. I wash my hand over data. He tells us, yeah, levena amanu quotevalet camassia mocha mocha diva, Allah Allah.
Allah Allah.
Allah says, Oh, you who believe. So in this verse, Allah is talking to you me directly. He says, Oh you who believe fasting is compulsory for you. That was compulsory for those who came before you. Why?
Allah tells us why he says
that the Quran says you have Taqwa can increase. So immediately Allah gives us the law and it gives us the way. The law you have to pass. The why to increase your taqwa. And I'll get to it in a bit as to what and what is taqwa? And why do we need to increase it and how we increase it in Ramadan. The next verse by verse 184, I'm not going to discuss it goes into some of the features of Ramadan. We're not talking about the fixity, we're talking about the wisdom behind it was 185 continue to the wisdom. Allah Subhana Allah in verse 185, says, Shahada Ramadan Allah de la piel Quran. The month of Ramadan is when the Quran was first revealed. Right and there's two interpretations of this. The
first interpretation is a loss in the Quran to the angel jubran in the lowest heaven in Ramadan. The second interpretation is that
The first five verses, the first five verses of surah Allah that we revealed to Prophet Mohammed Salah leaves them in the cave, it was revealed in the month of Ramadan. And both of these are
acceptable is possible the Buddha everything happened in Ramadan. Right so it's not like these are contradictory explanations. So Allah says the month of Ramadan, when the Quran was revealed, again Allah goes into why hudl in us as guidance for humanity
was the anatomy without any proof of that guidance? Well for God and as a means to separate right from Allah. Allah is giving us three reasons why we have the Quran and why we have Ramadan. Number one, the Quran is meant to guide us. We are meant to study it, to understand it to live by it to be guided by it. Number two, it's meant it's meant to be the proof from Allah subhanho wa Taala. The Quran is meant to be proved that Islam is the truth in other religions are false. When you study the Quran, you become convinced that this is from Allah.
You I have a student of mine who he was a Christian. Then, after attending some of my classes, he converted to Islam. But she was missing all these minds when he left Islam and he went back and he started studying the Bible and the Quran by himself all over again. I met him after two years he was a Muslim again. And I asked him what brought you back to Islam? He told me the Quran. He said, I read the entire Bible, I read the entire Quran. The Quran was the only thing that made sense. The Quran was the only thing that showed him a understanding of God that makes sense. understanding of the purpose of life they make sense, was the only thing that felt like it's from God directly. And
they brought him back alive brought him back in slot. So the Quran is big enough. It is a proof. It is a evidence. There are millions of rivers around the world who would you ask him? Why did you become a Muslim they'll say because of the Quran. But many of us who are born into Islam, we don't realize how powerful the Quran is into convincing us and others that this is Allah's wisdom, and this is true the truth from Allah. The third purpose of the Quran mentioned in the verse of Ramadan is it is 4.4 Khan means the Quran separates the right from wrong. You see, human beings have a problem. Human beings have a problem that we don't, we are unable to agree upon what is right or
wrong. So for example, one human beings, there's nothing wrong with having a girlfriend. There's nothing wrong with fornicating. There's nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. Another human says all these things are wrong. How do we know what's right and wrong? We know because of what Allah says. Right? The only firm source of knowing right from wrong is what does Allah say about it? That ends all arguments for those who submit to Allah. So the disbelievers they are confused. They may tell you something is wrong in the 90s. And then 10 years later, this ad is right. Or they may say something is right in the 90s and 10 years later, they see it is wrong. And we've seen this over the
past 20 years. 20 years ago, the disbelievers said their homosexuality is bad now the seeds right 20 years ago, they were fine with parading women around just in the worst ways. Now they are saying it's bad. They are confused because they don't have a firm moral basis. So the morals change every 10 years, every generation, what the parents with the children consider immoral what the children do the parents go to the immoral, because they have no basis for the morality is all just based on people's ideas. right but we have a basis. Our basis is the Quran is the protocol. It separates right from law it shows you right from wrong. That's why we have the Quran you let go of your core
and you become confused. You let go of the Quran Isa following your own desires. You let go of the Quran your ideas of right and wrong change every few years. And you can't live like that. You need a form moral basis and that's what the Quran is for.
So the verse gives us already three purposes of Ramadan. Verse 183 showed us the purpose of fasting in Ramadan, which is to increase our taqwa was 185 students the purpose of reciting Quran Ramadan, the Quran can be a means of guidance for us. It can be a proof of Islam fasco greasing our Eman And it can be a means of showing us right from wrong. Our moral compass. The verse continued with a bit of a legend says in this verse, that Roman Scheider minko cheerfully assume whoever would this is the month of Ramadan must fast mankind Merida Allah suffering from either too many amico, if you are sick of fasting you can make it if you are sick or traveling you can make it up later. I just seen
the same verse. Allah tells us why again, again it brings up the why brings us why the elevator is wrong. Why did Allah say you have to pass but if you see what's happening, you can make it up later. Allah tells us why immediately. He says you read the lobby como nuestro voila, you read it because Allah wants things to be easy for you. He does not want things to be hard to be. This is Allah says in this verse in the verse about Ramadan
About fasting, Allah says he wants things to be easy for you. He does not want things to be difficult for you. And by doing this part of the verse is considered a general quality of the entire Sharia. The entire Sharia is about making life easy for us and keeping away difficulty from us. You may wonder why, or how, because on the on the on the outside the shehryar looks hard, right? We can't drink alcohol, we can't gamble. We can't take interest. You can't have girlfriends. We can't do this. We can't do that. It looks hard. We have to pray five times a day we have to pass it looks hard. But it makes life easy for us in two ways. Number one, it protects us from the harmful
elements of this world. It protects us from getting drunk. It protects us from losing our money to gambling. It protects us from losing our money to interest based loans. It protects us from all the heartbreak that comes with, you know what that does in our culture. It protects us from these evils by prohibiting it. And this is why this policy, everything that Allah has prohibited he has prohibited it because it is harmful to you. So by staying away from it, you're making life easier for yourself. Think about it, a practicing Muslim home. Children don't have to be scared of a junk father coming home one day, you don't have to be scared of a father coming home. Hi, you're on
drugs, you have to be scared of the mother abandoned them for her career, you know, because the parents choose Allah over the old desires.
This is how the Sharia makes life easy for us. The Sharia makes life easy for us also in that even though the Sharia has laws, the laws are relaxed when things get difficult. What does that mean? We're not allowed to eat pork? If you're dying in forks The only thing available you're allowed to eat it that's how easy Australia is you have to pass the Ramadan you see Don't worry make it up later. You have to stand up for a Salah you can't stand Don't worry certainly Salah. You see how the Sharia makes life easy for others no not saying you have to stand no matter how sick you are, no matter how old you are, no matter what's going on. You have to stand in pray. You have to fast even
if you don't know Allah didn't make it right that made our Sharia practical. Meet our Sharia easy. He means our Sharia such that they are laws to follow. But if those laws get too hard, is it easier to follow? And this is something that you won't find in any other religion. This is part of the beauty of Islamic law, that it is a law that changes based on person's circumstances. Right so someone who is traveling we can shorten this Allah How easy is Allah made it how hard it is to make time for salah and championing Allah has made it easier to shorten your Salah. Right somebody who is who is sick and what is going to harm them, they can make the move instead of making you do get the
ease of the Sharia. So Allah subhana wa Tada. In this verse, He reveals to us many of the reasons why we have Ramadan and the verse ends with the statement that Allah Quran said you can be grateful to Allah sugar.
So let's go back in these two verses Allah has mentioned
we can say six goals of Ramadan. And if we follow these if we fast properly, rephrase that I will properly recite Quran properly in Ramadan, we should accomplish 16 number one,
tacos our tacos should increase. Number two, without guidance, we should be guided towards Islam we should become more understanding of what Islam wants from us. Number three, be not. The proof of Islam should be clearer to us. Number four, for God, we should be able to differentiate truth from falsehood right from wrong we should not be confused by what the disbelievers See, we should know what Allah says is right or wrong is what's right and wrong. And what they say is right or wrong is based for their own desires. Number five reviews of the kuhmo use. Allah wants to make things easy for you and you should experience that easy Ramadan. Ramadan should make us realize how easy Allah
reached things for us. Think about it. Ramadan starts many of us wonder how am I going to pass my working but then Allah make it easy for you. Allah makes it easy for you experience that and number six, the final benefit of Ramadan law school so that you can become grateful for Allah you can make sure to Allah, how when we fast, don't we become more grateful for our food, don't become more grateful for being able to drink water in the daytime. And of course you will become more grateful for coffee breaks, because it's almost in Ramadan. For sugar, our sugar increases Ramadan. Now I want to speak as we come towards the end a bit more about the first part I left it for last because
this is the most important Allah mentioned the first because the most important and many people don't understand this part. A lot of stuff of the section of verses about Ramadan by saying the fasting is compulsory like a local doctor who fled your taco can increase
The question is what is the what? And why did why do we need to increase?
What is
the most common translation of taqwa that you will find in English books is fear of Allah.
But this is a incomplete translation.
Only about 80% of that was to do with fear.
decoy includes love of Allah decoy includes hoping Allah mercy decoy includes submission to Allah.
So in my view, a better translation for the word acquire is to be conscious of Allah to live a God conscious lifestyle. This is what the common meaning you get a Muslim who goes through his day he doesn't think about whether my money is halal or haram. Whether I'm praying five times a day with the way I'm just pleasing to Allah, he doesn't think about these cases. That's a lack of the court. Then you have someone else when he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he does is increase the soloqueue budget, then he does his business and you keep looking is this business deal holiday? Is it pleasing to Allah? Is the money I'm making from this holiday? Whatever you're doing, whether it's
business, whether it's family, whether it's going out, he keeps thinking to himself, is this permissible? Is this the right way to do it, and he lives his life accordingly. That is called Aqua.
Aqua is where you live your life conscious of Allah.
Why is this important?
Firstly, every single one of us has a different level of taqwa. Ramadan is a chance to take it to the next level. What do I mean by different levels of taqwa. For example, I don't think anybody here will ever eat pork. Right? out of that one. At the very minimum, we're not gonna eat pork. We don't want to worship an idol out of taqwa. The fact that you'll never worship idol in your life is a sign that you have Taqwa. Right, many of us who will never drink alcohol out of the four. But at the same time, some of us may not be our salon time. So that was deficient in that area. For some of us don't pay with our money. halala so taqwa is deficient in that area. So each of us have something we can
work on. Maybe we you know, we look at the opposite gender in a way we're not supposed to look at. We don't know our gaze. So taqwa is weak in that area. So what every Muslim needs to do, each of us need to introspect, we need to look and see which area of my life Am I not being conscious of.
which area of my life is my taqwa? A bit deficient? Maybe I'm not saying enough. Maybe I'm not giving enough charity. Maybe I'm looking over I'm not supposed to look at now. Maybe I'll find it how to recover. So to find that area where your taqwa is lacking and make it your goal in Ramadan to get better in that area. Meaning if you are not praying five times a day, use Ramadan as a chance to start praying five times a day. So if you were entering five times a day at the beginning of Ramadan, and by the end of Ramadan, praying five times a day is now a habit of yours, you have increased
right. So you have achieved the goal of Ramadan. before Ramadan, you did not care about whether your money is halal or haram whether your business is halal or haram. And by the end of Ramadan, you are clear and you are conscious and you are always worried that your income in Allah, you have increased.
before Ramadan, you are the type of person who always gossip and backbite and slandering people and after Ramadan you through Ramadan, you learn to control your tongue only speak what is beneficial you have increased in the form. So what does this mean? This means the goal of Ramadan is whatever we are able we are at the mercy exit Ramadan at a higher level. Whatever level our amount of taqwa is at when Ramadan ends you must be at the next level. And each of us know our own self. Each of us know the area where we are weak. Allah has made us human. He has made us sinners. He has various creatures who can never be perfect. But our goal in life is to try our best. Our goal in life is to
do the best we can to earn Allah's mercy and forgiveness. Yes, we believe Allah is a fool Rahim is most forgiving, Most Merciful, but to who? Who is
the one who does every sin under the book it says practices Allah Allah forgive me are the one who tries their best and feels bad when the computer says which of the two is more more worthy of Allah's mercy, forgiveness? Think about it. If you want Allah's mercy and forgiveness, you must work for it. How do we work through it? Keep trying to be a better Muslim. Every time we sell make this big part which a major sin make Toba? Try again, try to be better. You keep trying whatever level you pass away and Allah will forgive you Why? Because you tried your best of luck. That's what that's what matters that you tried your best for the sake of Allah. So my brothers as we come to the
end of this presentation,
remember that Ramadan is a chance for us to reconnect with Allah.
And we reconnect to Allah primarily to three things in Ramadan. The first is
fasting. We first the month of Ramadan as a means of increasing our taqwa. We wake up early. We eat our sugar then we pray so that Virginia brothers if you're waking up with food and you're not being struck with budget, that's a major problem. Because remember, Salah is the second pillar of Islam. The fasting is the fourth pillar of Islam. Why are we not treating our Salah as equal priority to fasting? Right? Wake up, eat your food, your care, prefer to
spend your day fasting fasting not only from food and drink, but fasting from
fasting from sin. Because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allah does not need you giving up your food and drink if you do not give up vulgar speech and evil actions. Meaning is normally word for fast if it's full of sin. If you are fasting a while fasting, you are backbiting and gossiping and swearing and hurting people's feelings and mistreating your employees and cheating in your business. There's no reward for that part. The whole purpose is to become a better Muslim. That's why we fast. So while fasting control your time, control your temper, that is part of the fasting. Right? The fasting is not just staying away from food and drink is learning to control
ourselves. It's all about self control. Then make time to recite Quran
Shakira Ramadan, lady, Philippine Quran, the month of Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed it is the month of the Quran. Allah mentioned this in verse 185. inshallah Baccarat This is the month of the Quran. Make time to recite Quran and don't recite it so quickly, that there's no reward for it.
recite it properly with the dream. recite it with contemplation reciting with understanding read the translation, listen to Tafseer attended of the lecture, increase your understanding of what an Ramadan
by the end of Ramadan, you should understand the message of Allah.
So if Ramadan started and you only knew the meaning of Surah Fatiha, and by the end of Ramadan, you understood the meaning of four or five other Surah Al Hamdulillah you have increased in your understanding of the Quran and those sutras can guide your life to take time in Ramadan. Before going further out. If you know today in Deuteronomy, for example, just say in the middle of Ramadan, you know that they interact with the moms going to recite Soraka need the translation of surah Kahf before going so you have some understanding what the mom is deciding if you know that the the Mom's going to recite Surah Baqarah read the translation of Surah Baqarah before when you come across
verses that you don't understand. Don't make up your own interpretation asked Allah to explain it to you and learn from them. Learn from the Tafseer of the scholars, so increase your understanding of the Quran in the month of Ramadan. The third aspect of Ramadan for increasing our taqwa is turabi. Dharavi, right Yama Li praying at night in the month of Ramadan. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in an authentic Hadees manslaughter Samarra Madonna Manawatu Saba Rama Takata Madame de Forman, camara Jana Amanda what is mo who fear Allah who Mata Cordova means zombie?
The prophet SAW Some say to ever faster month of Ramadan, out of Eman out of belief in Allah hoping for the word from Allah, Allah will forgive all these parcels. And then he continued he said whoever spends the nights of Ramadan installa out of Eman and hoping for reward from Allah, Allah will forgive his boxers
meaning the nights of Ramadan Yes, printer robbery is not widely it's not compulsory. But the reward of the tarawih is your sins are forgiven. Which of course doesn't mean that which of us doesn't need our sins to be forgiven. Which of us can see I'm so good. I don't have any sins to be forgiven. No human alive today can say that. So make time for the Dharavi. But do yourself a favor and go to a much greater RV with a dream with a greater RV property and slowly even better go to a must TV after or before that their RV they have an Imam explaining the meaning of the verses. There are many mosquitoes in South Africa.
So what happens now as you get more benefit out of the Toronto, because remember, if the man is playing too fast, and he's not playing with the dream, and you can't even understand what he's seeing, then many of the scholars see that Salah is not even valid. It's a mockery of the Quran. Think about that. We must respect the word of Allah. And we respect the word of Allah by reciting it slowly properly with that read, understanding it and living by it. So when you go for tarawih Be very careful to choose that Masjid where they are praying it properly and even ready to choose a Masjid where they prayed properly and before after they explain to you some of the person that what
it means you get even more benefit out of it.
So these are some of the lessons we can take from the month of Ramadan. Hope Allah
inspires all of us to act upon this and these this ramadan ramadan to remember a means of being ever closer to him and a means of making us from those who are rightly guided remember every single Ramadan is a chance to get closer to Allah and we don't know when our last Ramadan is going to be amber last Ramadan
my grandparents wanted me to spend eat with them and has been eat with my other grandparents because they have two sets of grandparents and I said if someone else can eat with them and they both passed away in the past few months
they're not going to reach next in our region next Ramadan
and both of them never thought that you know another person is only going to be called Buju they will be called the the Savior or you happen and a lot of other people a lot of people I know passed away before since last Ramadan a lot of people who sit next Ramadan or become better next Ramadan I'll I'll try harder next Oh my god. We don't know when we are going to go so Allah has given us another Ramadan starting in two and a half weeks in America so Richard you know anything can happen in two and a half weeks. And may Allah make this Ramadan the means of of Baraka pass a means of increasing the scope as a means of guidance for us a means of bringing us closer to him. Remember to
fast properly to recycle ram properly to pick the rally properly in order to get maximum benefit for Ramadan is our patron rock with a one and 100 it will be alameen salam aleikum wa rahmatullah