Mohammad Elshinawy – 10 Hadiths For The Mid-Ramadan Dip
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of staying at a steady state of remembering God and avoiding things that happen. They stress the importance of self compassion, intentionality, and constantly revisiting one's successes. The speakers also emphasize the importance of improving one's behavior and working towards their goals, including the need for consistency in their actions and intentions to achieve their potential.
AI: Summary ©
Brothers and sisters, it is very well observed
and very predictable
that there occurs a sort of dip
or low point or fatigue
in our devotion in this middle stretch of
Ramadan.
And so I wish to provide you with
in this khutbatana
hadith
of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam,
so that you will equipped by them be
able to easily
turn the table on this phenomenon.
The first of them is the hadith of
hamdala
He came to Abu Bakr as Siddiq
alarm that he was a hypocrite.
He said, To him, why do you say
that? He said, Because you know when the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
speaks to us, our faith peaks, our conviction
soar.
They're re revitalized.
But then you know, we go about our
lives and just it tapers off.
Abu Bakr as Siddiq said to him, I
I experienced the same thing. Maybe we're both
hypocrites then. So they both go to the
prophet alaihis salatu wassalam
and hamdala begins to explain to him. You
Rasulullah,
we're with you and you talk to us
about paradise and the hellfire.
It's as these 2 are right in front
of us. We see them. Lord locked in.
And then we go home, life. You deal
with family, you deal with your businesses, you
deal with your accounts, you deal
with your health. He says, We forget a
lot, meaning a lot of the effect of
what you said.
And so He sallallahu alaihi wasallam reassured him
that this is normal.
If you are able to stay perpetually
at this station of remembering God, the angels
would be shaking your hands and sitting with
you on your couches, on your cushions he
said.
Meaning you're doing angelic work. Angels don't need
to go about life. That is their life.
He said, But you know, there's a time
for this and there's a time for that.
And so this is my first hadith and
the first message. Relax.
Have some self compassion, so you don't throw
in the towel altogether.
And just be keen on what you can't
do, and not too heavy about what you
can't do. As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said, this is our second hadith
Be keen on what will benefit you,
and seek strength assistance from Allah,
and don't resign to powerlessness. Don't feel powerless.
Seek strength from Allah and focus on what's
productive.
You know Allah has already shown you that
you can do more than you think you
can do.
All year you wanna read Quran, I just
can't. All of a sudden Ramadan happens the
same 24 hours, no hours were added to
the day. Suddenly we're reading more Quran.
Suddenly we're being more char He shown you
that you can.
And therefore, he can also make you even
better than that. He can also make you
sustain that momentum
inshallah wu ta'ala. So don't spend your energy
blaming yourself so much
on spilt milk. There's no benefit in crying
over spilled milk. It already spilled.
Don't waste your present
being too fixated on the past. Make the
best out of the present.
And it's about improving brothers and sisters. It's
not about perfection. You know, we get really
frustrated we because why? You have this picture
perfect Ramadan in your head before Ramadan starts.
As one of the mashiikh said, Ramadan to
you was supposed to be an Instagram moment.
You guys know Instagram moment? People put in
all these hours to get the right picture
to post it, right? You think it's gonna
be like that. Cooking is only gonna take
this amount of time. I'm not going to
have to make an emergency run for some
ingredients. The kids are not going to like
get sick without notice and sort of throw
up on us, or like keep us from
the masjid.
You think you're going to have the half
hour before iftar every single day
at, you know, full energy making passionate, focused,
dua, and all of this. And none of
that happens. It was not meant to be
an Instagram moment.
There's no magical moment in the sense that
you expected,
and so you feel disenchanted.
No. Be enchanted by the fact that Allah
has chosen for you hiccups because after Ramadan,
there are hiccups. And this is about improving
in general for when we exit this blessed
month.
And he also told
us This is your 3rd hadith. Every action
is like this.
Every action has a high point, a point
of vibrancy and energy.
And every high point
tapers off, it sort of weakens. It's normal.
It's completely human.
And so whomever is fatra, whomever is low
point is within my sunnah, they will be
saved.
Meaning just make sure when you dip, you
don't dip too far. You're still within the
bounds of His guidance, and get up and
keep moving. Get up and start again. Get
up and try again. Even if you started
Ramadan a little bit late, even if you
stop doing things altogether, or you sort of
slowed down in the things you started doing.
Just keep moving inshallah to Allah.
The third thing I want to say is
the theme of quality over quantity.
Allah loves ihsan.
Allah loves excellence in all matters.
And so think about the quality of your
fast. The 4th hadith, they said to him
sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
Which of the fasting people is superior in
the eyes of Allah? He said,
The one that is most remembering of Allah.
That is why Jabir
the great companion said when you're fasting, make
sure your hearing is fasting with you and
so is your eyesight,
and your tongue as well from like lying
and offensive speech.
And make sure there is over you a
sense of sekinah and wakar, tranquility and reverence.
And make sure you're not mindlessly fasting. He
said, make sure the day you're fasting and
the day you're not are the same. Like
the only difference is you're not eating, but
it's all the same. No. The quality of
your fast, how mindful are you of Allah
in your fast, That will make a huge
difference.
Be intentional about your fasting. And also the
mundane. Be intentional about your work.
It turns it
into Be intentional when you're cooking.
I'm cooking so that I will get the
reward of 5 days today for all the
people I'm going to be feeding. Be intentional
about your sleep even. Allah will reward you
for it with an intention. Mu'adhib Nijaba radiAllahu
anhu used to say this,
I anticipate to be rewarded by Allah for
the time I spent sleeping,
the same way I anticipate to be rewarded
by Allah for my time awake.
Why? I'm intending by the sleep to energize,
strengthen myself for worship, then the sleep itself
is also an act of worship.
Because that's the next hadith now.
Our lord is a lord of intentions
that rewards you for locking in an intention.
Your simple your mundane, your day to day
operations
with intentions become a badad, become acts of
devotion.
And that is why Abdullah ibn Mubarak rahimahullah,
he used to say to the people,
perhaps a tiny deed
will become very great because of the intention
behind it. Meaning you'd be surprised
how many tiny deeds were turned great in
the sight of Allah, and in the scales
because of the solid intention behind it.
And how many great deeds
And how many great deeds like prayer, like
fasting
are made tiny because of the intention or
the lack of intention behind it.
You know like when when you donate, just
think of the streams. Intent as many as
you can.
It's not required
just for Allah generally like that is required.
But to think This will add to your
reward.
I'm sponsoring an iftar in the masjid. That
iftar is going to allow the converts, because
this masjid has like converted singles iftar, to
build relationships that will keep them Muslim for
a lifetime.
Or I'm making my fast now intentional. I'm
trying to perfect my fast as much as
I can because of the people around the
globe, the oppressed that can't break their fast
at the time of iftar, so that my
du'a for them is a little stronger. Right?
Make a powerful intention. It will add layers,
multi fold reward to your fasting because of
the quality behind it changing.
Number 4, the 4th theme is to constantly
recall for yourself
how great of a month this is.
The virtue of Ramadan at large. This is
like a market.
Ramadan is like a market that is erected,
shopping spree, great deals
everywhere.
You gotta sort of not fall asleep in
the middle of this of the shopping spree.
Every day, every moment of Ramadan is a
treasure.
It's not just the last 10. Right? It's
not just the first few nights. The Prophet
said,
And there are people that Allah frees from
the * fire. They're not going, period.
And this happens on every night in Ramadan.
The 11th night too, 15th night as well,
19th as well. Right? That middle stretch, there
are treasures here.
And even the simple dhikr that you make
with your tongue. As Zuhri Rahimahullah, the great
imam Zuhri used to say,
And you
making 1 tasbihah, saying
glorified out is Allah above any flaws, above
any imperfections,
during Ramadan
is superior to making 1,000
outside of this month.
And that is why Ibn al Jawzi rahimahullah
used to say,
Ramadan.
If it were said to the people in
the graveyard, those who did not reach this
Ramadan like we did,
make one wish. You have just one wish.
They'll probably say, We wish for just one
day of Ramadan. They know what one day,
any day. They didn't ask for any ill
qadr.
One day of Ramadan, we know what what
it what it can do.
And Allah azzawajal
says about the day of judgement,
On that day, every soul will realize what
it sent forth of good of goodness,
and what it left on the table. What
it left behind that it could have taken,
that it could have gotten.
Brothers and sisters, the final 4 hadith
are so that we may recall
not just that all of Ramadan
is this incredible treasure,
but what makes the mid Ramadan
period
where many of us have this lull, have
this low point, have this fatigue,
what makes it specifically extra special?
The first hadith, the prophet
said,
Our lord marvels.
He's amazed as he looks upon
a young man that does not stray.
Why a young man?
Because that is the time when you have
peak strength,
peak confidence,
but also peak recklessness. You think you could
take on the world, so you stray. You
gamble a lot in life.
And so when a young man in that
period when most people stray,
does not stray, he's extra special in the
sight of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
The next hadith, he says, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
And you committing yourself to ritual worship,
and devotion to Allah
during times
of turmoil and chaos, anarchy,
this is equivalent to the reward of migrating
to me, making hijrah to him
Why? Because in times of chaos, in times
of drama, and chaos, and anarchy,
people are busy with what? With talking. Did
you hear what happened? Did you hear what
happened? Did you hear what happened? And so
the one that does what will actually benefit
them and protect them, but most people won't,
commit themselves to worship in this time they
are extra special.
And the 3rd hadith, he said,
That the prayer of the
the is the one A class of people,
very special class of people. The one that
is constantly returning to Allah, consistently coming back
to his lord
He says the prayer of the and there's
something called the prayer.
This is the prayer at the time when
the baby camel runs for shade.
What's this referring to? When the day starts
getting hot, think of like 9, 10, 11
AM.
The ground is getting hot from the sun,
and so it runs for the shade because
it's a baby. It can't handle the heat
yet like the the adult camel. In other
words what? As the day is taking off,
you're in the thick of it now, right?
The errands and the notifications and the interruption.
The person that's able to consistently stop and
pray the early morning prayer, the dua prayer,
the shurrukh prayer, starts when the sun rises.
But some scholars say its peak time is
like at that moment in this in the
full
throttle momentum of your day, you step aside
to pray at least 2 or 4 rak'ahs
for Allah azza wa Jal. He said,
a web.
Nobody safeguards this prayer except in a web.
Someone consistent in their return to Allah.
Why? It's because at the time when most
people will not be able to pull it
off. Right?
And the 4th and final hadith, the most
familiar of them to you, he said,
The most beloved deeds to Allah are the
consistent even when they're few.
And so you take these 4, and the
common theme between these 4, and you look
at mid Ramadan and say, This is a
special time. This is a time when less
people
are doing what they intended on doing, so
I'm gonna be of the few. I'm gonna
be of the special.
This is going to be what separates me
from the pack. This is my moment to
shine when others aren't.
That's why Abdullah ibn Amr Bilas radiAllahu anhu,
he used to say
that, Worshipping
Allah
after the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam has
died, the good deeds we perform after his
death
are twice as dear to us, twice as
valuable to us, as our good deeds during
his life.
Because remember
when we're with you, you Rasulullah,
everything is crystal clear.
The motivations are unblemished.
But after his death, he's recognizing that it's
harder to do what we used to do.
Therefore Allah's gonna reward us more because the
challenge is more right now.
And so may Allah
enable us with these 10 ahadith
to find that consistency,
to shine
for the angels in the heavens that will
admire you. The same way we admire the
full moon that shines above us here down
on earth. May Allah
grant us acts of worship that deliver us
to His pleasure. May Allah accept from us
our supplications and appeals to him, and every
letter we recite from the Quran, and every
little bit we donate for his sake locally
and abroad. May Allah
reward us for everything we did and everything
we intended on doing and everything we wish
we can do and allow us by that
to come out of Ramadan
better than we went into it.