Mirza Yawar Baig – Spirit of Ramadan #05
AI: Summary ©
The history of Islam is discussed, including the importance of reading signs and fasting. The speaker emphasizes the power of Islam to express personal and professional presence and warn of consequences, as well as the importance of fasting and avoiding sinful behavior. Islam is not a monolith and everything is possible except for what is not possible, with the speaker also discussing the importance of staying away from negative emotions and making it successful.
AI: Summary ©
We are in the final,
week of Ramadan,
and I want to remind myself and you
about the divine origin of our religion.
1458
years ago, a window opened in the heavens,
and God spoke to man. Allah
sent his first
revelation to his beloved messenger,
Muhammad through his messenger, Jibril Alaihi Salam.
This was the spoken word.
Allah
spoke to
in a way that suits his majesty and
grace. And
spoke to
Muhammad
This was not the first time that this
had happened,
but it was to be the last.
That initiative of reestablishing
the direct connection
between the creator and his creatures,
Between God and humans. Between Allah
and you and I
is Islam.
Islam is for all human beings, irrespective
of ethnicity
and color and race or origin.
Those who accept
this connection and benefit from it are called
Muslim.
The first words
revealed were read in the name of your
Rab who created everything.
The word read has many meanings.
It means to read as in reading a
book.
It means to recite something which is written.
It also means to read the signs you
see around
you and understand what they mean.
Sometimes there are expressions on the face of
your beloved,
which tell you without a single word being
spoken what is happening in their heart
if you can read them.
And if you cannot read them, then you
pay the price.
Sometimes, gestures,
tone of voice, movements,
and demeanor
tell those who can read them far more
and far more truthfully,
the real story.
And that's why they say
the body does not lie.
The command reed was given to our beloved
prophet Muhammad.
This was to encourage him and all those
who were to hear that command from him
to read the signs of the creator in
his creation.
To read the signs of Allah
in the Kayranats.
And to marvel at his power, his mercy,
his wisdom,
and accept him as the only one worthy
of worship.
When we see the signs of Allah,
we love him and we obey him. Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, said about
that.
We will show them our signs in the
universe
and within themselves until it becomes clear to
them that this Quran is the truth.
Is it not enough
that your rub
is a witness
over all things?
Imagine, for example, let us see what are
the some of the signs
that we
see, but we don't read.
Imagine a blood didn't clot.
Hemophiliacs
don't need to imagine it. Imagine if our
hair
had nerves
and nerve endings.
You would need to go on to general
anesthesia
to get a haircut.
Likewise for nails.
Cut a nail a little more deeply, and
you will know what I mean.
Imagine veins without venous nonreturned
bulbs.
Your blood would puddle
in your ankles and your feet,
and your heart and brain would be starved
of oxygen.
Oxygenated
and unoxygenated
blood would mix.
Imagine if rain and snow
didn't descend in single drops and flakes,
but instead,
it all came down in one mass.
Hanley, for example,
this town has an area of
24.7
square miles, say 25 square miles.
That is 16,000 acres.
1 inch of rain per acre weighs a
113
tons.
In 2023,
Hadley received received 50 inches of rain and
snow precipitation
that weighed 90,000,000,400,000
tons.
This fell from an average height of 15,000
feet.
Imagine that this entire amount of precipitation,
90,400,000
tons,
fell in one mass.
That would be like a tidal wave
hitting you from
above,
15,000 feet above.
There would be a lake
of 25 square miles here
and no hardly.
But Allah
sends it down
drop by drop, flake by flake
as a sign of his mercy.
Imagine if you were given total control of
all bodily functions, meaning that they would function
on command only.
That means you could never sleep, or your
heart, your digestive system, your vascular system, your
brain function, and so on would stop would
shut down.
Imagine that Allah
gave you everything you asked for.
Now you may think that would be wonderful,
but from my vantage point of being perhaps
40 years ahead of most of you,
I can tell you that I distinctly remember
some things that I begged and pleaded with
Allah for.
But in his wisdom and in his mercy,
he did not give them to me.
Today, I thank him profusely for not granting
me
that Dua or those Dua's
while still rewarding me for making the Dua
because Dua is Ibadat, and it is rewarded.
And that is why Allah
reminded us to read the signs in creation.
In Surah Al Anbarah, Allah
Allah
said, indeed,
in the creation of the heavens and the
earth
and the alternation of the night and the
day of the night,
there are signs
for people of reason, people of wisdom, people
of understanding, people of intelligence.
Who are these people? Allah defined them. He
said they are those who remember Allah,
who recognize their creator, who know their creator,
who recognize him, and they remember Allah,
standing, sitting, and lying on their sides.
And they reflect on the creation of the
heavens and the earth.
And they make dua and they say, our
rabbi have not created all of this without
purpose.
This is not an accident. This is that
this didn't just happen like that without any
reason, without any intelligent
creator behind it. You
did not create
all of this without purpose.
Glory be to you.
Protect us from the punishment of the fire.
I'm a wildlife photographer, and I spend a
lot of time in the bush.
To read signs
is literally
a matter of life and death for me.
When I'm walking in the African field or
in the in the Indian forest,
And if I see lion or tiger tracks,
I can read them, and I can see
which direction
they're going
in, whether the pugmarks
are of a male or a female,
whether the animal is walking slowly or running,
also including whether it is hungry or not,
the the depth of the impression of the
footprint.
I can read all of
this, or I can tell myself that these
are not really
marks of lions or tigers,
and they don't indicate the presence of a
lion or a tiger down the road,
but these are accidental creations of a chance
wind.
However I choose to interpret the signs, it
won't change the fact that I'm about to
walk into a lion or a tiger.
What will change
is whether I'm prepared for that or not.
What will change is whether I will be
able to get a good photograph
or the dragon makes a kill.
The land
has dinner.
To read signs is important because a sign
is not merely about color or symbol or
shape.
A sign has meaning.
It points to a certain direction,
and it warns
us about consequences.
We read signs every day when we drive.
And if we fail to read the sign
or misread it,
there are consequences,
some very serious
that we will have to bear.
Why then don't we see this with respect
to our creator?
It is to awaken our connection with Allah
the glorious and magnificent,
our creator, protector,
sustainer, provider,
to whom we will all return
that Allah
sends
Ramadan. About this month of fasting, he said,
as it was prescribed for those before you
so that perhaps you may become mindful of
Allah
Taqwa
is
that blessed
state
where a person
is always conscious of his or her connection
with Allah,
and revels in that feeling
and ensures that they never do anything that
can dull the strength of that connection or
sever it.
Tava produces tranquility
and knowing
that the one in charge
is the one
who can do everything
and
who loves me.
You may have a situation in life where
there is somebody who loves you very much,
but they're helpless.
They can't do anything for you. On the
contrary, you might have somebody who's very powerful,
but who doesn't care a hoot about you.
But here is the situation with Allah
where he loves us
more than
our mothers could possibly love us.
And
he also has the power to do absolutely
anything
without any reservation,
without any borders, without any,
conditions.
How do you reciprocate this love? Through obedience.
Obedience is the way to express
and reciprocate
our love for Allah
and fasting
teaches us this lesson.
We obey because we know
he loves us and wants the best for
us. And he knows what that is far
better than we ever can.
So we do what he commands.
He do we do whatever he commands us
to do, and we stay away from whatever
he commands us to stay away from.
We know that he needs nothing, and nothing
can benefit or harm him. So when he
shows us a way of life, we are
honored to live it.
On the authority of the great companion of
Rasool Allah,
Abu Dharm Fari Radiallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
who quoted from his Rabb, Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
stray, stray except those whom I have guided,
so seek guidance from me, and I will
guide you. Oh, my slaves, all of you
are hungry except those whom I have fed,
So seek food from me, and I will
feed you.
For my slaves, all of you are naked,
except those who I have clothed. So seek
clothing from me, and I will clothe you.
Oh, my slaves, you commit sins
by day and by night, and I forgive
all sins, so seek forgiveness
from me, and I will forgive you. For
my slaves, you can either harm me nor
benefit me. For my slaves, if the first
of you and the last of you and
the humans of you and the jinn of
you were all as pious as the most
pious heart of any individual among you, then
this would not increase my kingdom by an
iota.
Oh, my slaves, if the first of you
and the last of you and the humans
of you and the jinn of you were
all as wicked as the most wicked heart
of any individual amongst you, then this will
not decrease my kingdom and iota.
Oh, my slaves, if the first of you
and the last of you, and the humans
of you and the jinns of you were
all to stand together in one place and
ask me
every single thing you can imagine, and I
were to give everyone whatever he requested
instantly in that moment,
then that would not decrease what I
possess, except what is decreased of the ocean
when a needle is dipped in it.
For my slaves, it is but your deeds
that I account for you and then recompense
you for.
So he who finds good, let him praise
Allah's and he who finds other than that,
let him blame no one but himself.
And this this is a Muslim. What I
have said to you in English is the
interpretation of that, and I have said,
I have added some
a little bit of explanation in the hadith.
So what I'm quoting is not the exact
word of the hadith. The exact word of
the Hadith is in Arabic.
This is Allah.
This is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Ramadan is the boot camp
to reboot our lives
and transform them and place them on the
highway to success.
In Ramadan, we stay away during the hours
of daylight
even from things that are normally permitted,
only to emphasize for ourselves the importance
of staying away from all that is prohibited
throughout our lives.
Ramadan shows us that we can do it
if we wish.
If we wish to please the one to
whom we owe everything
and who we hope to meet one day
in a state when he is pleased with
us.
And who is that?
He is the one who said about himself,
who introduced himself.
And he said,
Allahu Allah ilaha
illa
The meaning of what I decided in the
first
passage was from Surat Al Makkara,
the famous Ayah,
the greatest Ayah of the Quran, which is
called Ayat Al Kursi.
Allah,
there's no god worthy of worship except him.
The ever living,
all sustaining.
Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes him. To him
belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever
is in the earth.
Who could possibly intercede with him without his
permission?
He fully knows what is ahead of them
and what is behind them, but no one
can grasp any of his knowledge
except what he wills to reveal.
His seat
encompasses the heavens and the earth,
and the preservation of both
does not tie him.
For he is the most high, the great.
The second passage was Suraj al Hashem, the
last duet.
He is Allah.
There is no god worthy of worship except
him.
Noah of the seen and the unseen.
Noah of the perceivable and the unperceivable.
He is the most compassionate,
most merciful.
He is Allah.
There is no god except him. The king,
the most
holy, the all perfect,
the source of serenity,
the watcher
of all,
the almighty,
the supreme in might, the majestic.
Glorified is Allah
for above
far above all that they associate with him
in
And the last was,
which is considered considered to be 1 third
of the Quran.
When Allah said, say, oh, Muhammad
he is Allah,
1
and indivisible.
Allah,
the sustainer,
needed
by all, but he needs none of them.
He has never had offspring
nor was he born, and there is none
comparable
to him.
This is Allah
who we worship.
This is Allah
who we love above all else.