Morad Awad – Lecture 31032023
AI: Summary ©
The creation of Adam Alaihi wa diss hey is a sign of faith in achieving taqwa, which is a month of achieving it. The tactics used to lure Adam into chaos include limiting food and drink, not being hungry, not smoking, and not drinking. The importance of fasting and revision in actions and desire is emphasized, as it is necessary for achieving reward and success.
AI: Summary ©
We praise Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
And we send our peace and blessings to
our noble prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And I seek
refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
from the evil and the mischief of our
own souls and actions.
Brothers and sisters,
on this blessed day of Yomul Jumu'ah,
in this blessed month of Ramadan,
I remind myself and yourselves to fear Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us of
this in the Quran
when he says,
Muslimoon.
And even more so,
in this verse Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
oh you who believe fear Allah the way
he should be feared and do not die
except in the state of submission to him.
But not only that,
but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala designated
an entire
month so that we can establish
this quality of taqwa.
So that we can attain it
and make it parts of who we are.
For everyone who felt
shortcomings in the past year,
overburdened by the sin
of shaitan, the mess of shaitan,
the surrounding
environment
that's making us
farther and farther away from Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala created this month
and made it a month of attaining taqwa.
We ask Allah
to grant us taqwa.
Brothers and sisters,
when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created
Adam alaihis salaam,
And the only thing existing was his shell.
As the soul was not yet blown into
Adam alaihi salaam,
and he was not yet
a human being.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
created him
and the angels would see him.
And they were wondering what this odd creation
is.
Something that was created
from the most lowly of things, from the
lowest heaven, the lowest world in all of
the 7 heavens, the thing that the other
beasts, the other creations of Allah,
they step they step on, they trample on
something that's stagnant,
that doesn't move, that has
no interesting nature to it.
Dirt.
Dirt, what we walk on
on the day to day basis. What this
building is established on? Dirt.
Allah created Adam alaihi salam from that.
And then
when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala informed the angels
that this
creation will be
the khalifa
in this world.
The one who is
given the responsibility
of establishing this earth with justice
and being the successor
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's sharia and rule
in this world is given the responsibility
from amongst all of the creations
to maintain this world, it is this creation.
Without a doubt, it was very odd. But
Iblis,
at that moment went into
every single vein, every single artery, every single
inlet and outlet
in this body.
And when he came out, he came out
with one conclusion.
When he saw that this body is capable
of jealousy,
envy,
wreaking chaos and havoc,
spreading bloodshed
for the most
for the most trivial of reasons.
He saw that this
body
is not worthy to carry
this trust or this covenant from Allah.
He informed the angels.
And the angels responded then,
are you going to allow
for
a creation that spreads corruption
and bloodshed in this world to be the
successor.
Allah said,
And fast forward
to the perhaps
years, ages, we don't know how long Adam
alaihis salam after his the soul was blown
into him, how long he was in Jannah
for. But Iblis
was there after being exiled from Jannah.
But Iblis was there to whisper
and he was allowed to for a wisdom
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted to establish
in his creation.
He whispered to Adam
about a tree
that he can eat from.
That will give him a promise of eternity
in Jannah. And he believed, and he forgot
the covenant, and he ate from it. And
then, the rest of the story we know.
And the tactics of Iblis
did not change.
As Adam alaihis salam sinned and he ate.
And then when he ate, the auraat, the
privates of himself and of
his spouse were exposed.
And when they were exposed,
they experienced
a desire, a lust full desire that they
never experienced before
after being forgetful.
So all these things combined
were the tactics that
shaitan or Iblis
used to lure Adam.
And then when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
sent
Adam down to this world
And he told him to follow the guidance.
And Allah
informed him,
The ones who fear Allah, who have
and rectify their affairs,
there's no fear upon them and they will
never be sad.
There's no fear
upon them
And they will never be sad.
But those who have,
taqwa only.
Allah divine
wisdom
and his mercy for the ummah of Muhammad
salallahu alaihi wa salam
uniquely
designated an entire month
only for
the attaining of this
this quality that's going to
enter us into
The quality that's going to protect us from
the plots of shaitan.
The quality that's going to defend us from
all his evil plots.
Hence why in this month, Allah
made it a month where we limit the
food and drink
because that was one of the plots that
he used
against us
to eat from the tree.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
let us abstain
from our
marital relationships
so that
we don't experience what our father Adam experienced
when he saw the aura of Hawa. When
Hawa saw the aura of Adam.
Because these are the these are the tools
of Iblis.
Allah limited them in this month.
And not only that,
when the food and the drink
are low,
the blood
doesn't run through the body
as much. The veins, they shrink
as opposed to when we eat and drink
a lot.
So shaitan's access
to the body, the way he access the
body of our father Adam alaihis salam
is limited.
And on top of all of that,
for an entire month, Allah
chained up Iblis
and prevented him from doing his normal tasks
of what of luring
This is the month where every believer gets
a breather.
And every believer
has a chance
to attain this quality and this characteristic of
taqwa.
Brothers and sisters,
it's been more than a week
since Ramadan began.
And every single one of us right now
should be thinking of where they are going
and how fast they are attaining taqwa.
Fasting brothers and sisters is not merely leaving
food and drink.
There there are 3 different levels of fasting
and all three levels should be experienced in
this blessed month of Ramadan.
The first level perhaps in the beginning of
Ramadan,
our main struggle is to leave food and
drink, not be hungry. Kinda learn what to
eat for,
what to have for iftar, what to avoid,
what made me thirsty, what made me dizzy,
what gave me fatigue, so on so forth.
Then we get that down packed.
Got it unlocked.
We know. We're used to it. Our bodies
are used to fasting now. The second level
of fasting is what we should all be
working on right now.
The
second level of fasting.
And the second level of fasting is the
fasting of the limbs.
The sight, the hearing, the tongue, the body
from all of the sins,
the actions that disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We should start abstaining from the normal sinful
actions that we do on the day to
day basis. What we look at
that displeases Allah.
What we hear
that displeases Allah.
What we speak about that displeases Allah,
that should be fasted upon. Usually, you would
indulge in something. You would talk about something.
You stop.
Usually,
you would tolerate listening to other people backbiting,
slandering,
gossiping or so what. But no,
the fast of that should begin.
Usually, I would watch a movie, open Netflix,
oh, flip the TV,
scroll down, scroll down my social media, and
I would watch certain things. No. The fast
of the eyesight should begin as well.
The fast should go up to the 2nd
level by now. If it isn't, then it's
a problem. If we're still struggling
with the mere fast of food, drink, and
marital relationship
relations, then it's a problem.
By now, we should go to that next
level.
The third
level of fasting
is the fasting of the heart
from anything other than Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
From the thoughts,
the evil thoughts that cross us.
From indulging
with our minds
in things that we know are distracting us
from Allah.
Anything that can be replaced
by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the heart,
we should fast
from it,
Get away from it. Abstain from it. It's
the heart and the heart is the
most difficult fast there is.
The heart is the most difficult fast there
is because only when the heart is pure,
does it fast from anything but Allah.
These are the levels of fasting brothers and
sisters.
These levels of fasting are no joke.
There's something that should be on our minds
on a day to day basis.
Brothers and sisters, if we by now in
Ramadan,
We're abstaining from the But we don't feel
the sweetness of Ibadah.
If our salah has no taste,
we
do but it's merely utterance on the tongue.
We try to indulge in good, you know,
in good behavior, and character, and whatnot. Speak
about good things,
but it's not affecting us. We're not connecting.
Then there's something wrong.
There's something wrong in the heart.
There's a disease in the heart if the
salah
is not connecting us to Allah.
There's a disease in the heart if we
are is not
taking us to Allah
and changing our mindset.
We don't get in the zone
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when we're doing
zikr.
If we're fasting, we're hungry and thirsty all
day. We come to break fast.
The prophet shalallahu
alaihi wa sallam said Right? That the person
who fasts has 2 days of happiness
when they break their fast that day and
when they meet their Lord with that day
of fasting.
If we don't feel the happiness
of attaining the reward of fasting the whole
day when we break the fast, we say,
Alhamdulillah.
One more day
is on my record on the day of
judgement.
One more day is finished.
This one day, no mistake. Allah wrote for
me despite all of the creation that are
not fasting, that have are totally oblivious
to this month and the barakah of this
month.
Subhan Allah. If we're not sensing this, then
there's an issue.
We need to introspect.
We need to dig deep deep in our
hearts, and find out before this month
goes away completely,
and we still have the same diseased hearts
that we came into the month with.
Slingshot
slingshot back to what we were doing before.
So the time of introspection the time of
moving to the next levels of fasting The
time of
that
this heart has in front of Allah.
What it is that we
give
preference to over Allah.
What it is that is more important to
us than attaining taqwa of Allah.
What is it?
It might take hours of thinking,
hours of reflection.
But if
it's for the sake of attaining taqwa, then
it's all worth it. We work hours for
20, 30, 40, 50, a $100.
Right? And then we spend the $100 on
a meal. You know, something that has a
hype. You know, a certain steak or
a rib or what not.
And then, but that's I you blow that
whole hour of another, but a whole hour
trying
to discover the sickness of the heart and
what is deterring it from knowing Allah,
it's not worth it. That's so hard of
an hour. No.
It shouldn't be hard.
If there's a time where we could muster
up the energy to do it, it's in
the month of Ramadan.
So let us lift our sleeves up.
Let us
introspect and reflect on our actions, on our
hearts. Let us find the disease
and perform the surgery now, so that when
Ramadan is out and the barakah of Ramadan
is done, and Iblis is no longer chained
up,
He doesn't see the same plagued heart that
he saw before Ramadan, but he sees a
heart that's rectified
with taqwa,
and a heart that he has no access
to. We ask Allah to bless our hearts
with iman and with taqwa. We ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us and have
mercy on us.
Brothers and sisters,
one thing
that
is often associated,
falsely associated with fasting,
is laziness and lethargy.
Not
or to
hear
others saying, you know, I'm fasting, man. Just
let me I can't do it. You know,
today I'm fasting. I can't finish this task.
I can't do this. I can't do that.
You know, I'm fasting. I'm tired. I'm weak.
You know, I'm I'm scattered. I'm not with
it. You know, after Ramadan, let's leave it
to later.
I don't have the energy to these statements
are false. Why?
Because
food
and drink
are only there to give us the energy
to do more.
And we
should be discovering in the month of Ramadan
that a much of the food and drink
that we have is just
excess. It's not
essential for us to
function and operate.
As a matter of fact, brothers and sisters,
the ummah of Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam
from day 1
had the most energy in the month of
Ramadan.
And they would actually wait until Ramadan,
historically,
to perform the most strenuous actions.
If there was a masjid that had to
be built,
if there was a battle that had to
be fought, if there was a task that
had to be performed,
then they would wait until Ramadan to do
it.
It wasn't until
the times of laxity,
the times of distraction,
the times of today where people associate fasting
with laziness and lethargy.
Hence,
why the first battle of Islam
and the most pivotal battle of Islam,
the battle of Badr,
was fought in the month of Ramadan.
And it was a a sweeping victory by
the believers.
313
believers that
Allah chose to fight that pivotal battle in
Islamic history,
they were all fasting.
And they weren't even fasting the way we
fast today.
They were actually fasting
a fast that was abrogated later on and
changed
because the fast that we fast today is
easier than the fast that they fasted at
the time of badr.
At that time,
they only were permitted to eat time.
So it wasn't permissible. So when the sun
sets, they would eat
and they would drink.
And then
they would have to before magrib time, you
know, because it's a small window. Before that,
they would have to pray magrib, and then
that's it. They're done.
They can't eat and drink until the next
day
And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed,
and
Allah made it easy for us. Because the
the the Sahab were having a hard time.
But during this fast, was when the pivotal
battle of Badr happened.
And subhanAllah.
Not only that,
when looking at the history of Islam, a
lot of the things, a lot of the,
not only the battles, many of the battles,
of course. The battle of and
and all of these battles were in the
month of Ramadan. But
the reason is
that they associated
it
with motivation.
They associated it with empowerment.
They associated it with a time where, okay.
Shaitan is tied up. Our is only getting
what it needs, nothing more.
And
we have more control over ourselves. Hence, we
are stronger. Brothers and sisters, realistically
speaking,
Brothers and sisters, realistically speaking,
when we're very strong, but Chetan has some
control over us,
We won't be able to perform as much
as we can
when we're
just a little bit weaker,
but shaitan doesn't have any control over us.
We can do so much more in that
state.
And this is the state that we're in
in the month of Ramadan.
Brothers and sisters,
is something very
Aziz.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,
Fear Allah,
have in Allah,
So that you may succeed.
If we wanna succeed in anything,
then we need to care about
more than our goal. If we
wanna succeed in anything,
then we need to care about attaining this
quality
more than any goal that we have in
life.
And there's no better time to do it
than now.
So let us
ask Allah
to purify our hearts in this blessed day
of Yomul Jum'ah, in this blessed month of
Ramadan. So perhaps Allah can answer us in
a hour where he answers dua
make sure you fill the the main hall
inside inshallah ta'ala. So
is going to be in 5 minutes. So
we're going to pray Jummah right now, and
then we're going to make adhan, and then
and pray
after that.
Can you? Oh, okay.
InshaAllah, we're going to pray asr now.