Morad Awad – Time to Prepare
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AI: Transcript ©
We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We send our peace and blessings to Muhammad
our
dear and beloved prophet.
And I remind myself and yourselves on this
blessed day of yomuljumuatifirullah.
To fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and to surrender to him, and to submit
to him,
and to prepare
for the seasons of worship
that he bestowed upon us.
So that He can forgive us and have
mercy on us. Brothers
and sisters in Islam,
if the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam
stood in front of you
and told you
there's something
that people are often negligent about.
There's a particular thing
that people
commonly forget.
I think every single one of us
would make an effort.
And perhaps an exaggerated
effort
to remember that thing.
So that we are not from amongst the
forgetful.
What I'm saying is, that Rasulullah
told you, you know, there's this thing, a
lot of people forget it. There's a lot
of but a lot of people forget it.
You would make
an extra effort to remember that particular thing.
So I'm about to mention a hadith.
Something that the Rasool Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
told us people are often negligent about, and
I want you to imagine him telling it
to you.
He said the month
of Shaaban
is a month
that many people
are negligent of.
Lot of people forget about it. People are
sleeping on it. They have no idea
what's going on in this time,
but it's going on for sure.
It is between Rajab and Ramadan.
Last week it was Rajab.
This week
it's Shaaban.
But the reason the prophet shalaihi wa sallam
said
it's because of the Allah. What he said
in the hadith, he said
That the actions are raised
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at the end
of the year in the month of Sha'ban.
This is where
everyone
who performed any deed,
once it is completely sealed
for the whole year as one unit, it
is lifted to Allah
and presented to Allah
in this month that we're in.
And that is why the prophet said,
people neglect it
Because if we really understood
how much this month was important to us,
to our
to our scripture.
Imagine brothers and sisters, you know we look
at lists of things.
All day, sometimes in our job we look
at pricings, we look at names, we look
at figures, and statistics, and data, and whatnot.
Imagine we look at
our sahaif on the day of judgment.
Our scrolls.
And we lived for 80 years, 90 years,
a 100 years.
90
years, a 100 years.
And every year
has a stamp next to it. Every year
is clear
in your scroll and you can see it.
They're not too many years.
But this past year,
there's still a chance
to
seek Allah forgiveness
and repent to him,
and to go back to him
in this month. So so that perhaps
when this when
these scrolls,
when these
these actions are lifted to him
They are lifted when we are in the
state of repentance, and we are in the
state of worship.
Hence,
why the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam,
he fasted most of this month.
It was narrated
that the prophet
was not seen fasting
more in a month aside from Ramadan than
the month of Sha'ba.
And when they asked him,
he said, Why are you fasting You Rasoolah?
He said, I like my deeds to be
lifted
when I am in the state of fasting.
And this is also why the Prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam would fast on Mondays Thursdays
because the weekly actions would be lifted to
Allah on those days, and he would like
his actions to be lifted while he's fasting.
So he fasted on Mondays Thursdays.
Brothers and sisters,
this month of Shaaban
is
a month
of preparation
for Ramadan.
The month of Shaaban,
although we're
several weeks away from Ramadan,
but
it is the time now
that we start to reflect
on our past,
on what we did
in the last year, on what calamities
befell us, what trials
we went through, what hardships
we experienced?
So that we can reflect on it and
see how it impacted us,
affected us. Did it get us closer to
Allah?
Or did it take us away from Allah?
Did these we see what's happening with the
umma.
We see the calamities that are befalling our
brothers and sisters all over the world.
And Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala would never do anything
to let
our iman
disappear.
As in this particular month,
and in these weeks,
many years ago,
about
1442 years ago, the same time,
around Rajab and Shaaban,
something very pivotal in the history of Islam
happened.
And that is the change of the qiblah
from to to
The Kaaba.
And when this pivotal moment happened,
Allah
he revealed the series of ayaat in the
beginning
of the second juzal of the Quran in
Surat Al Baqarah.
Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,
That
the ignorant,
the sufa of people
would say
about the believers, why are they now praying
to a different direction than they prayed before?
And we should tell them
Allah
to Allah's every direction.
But this is a test
for those people
who look at the believers
and cannot wait
to take something
Take something so that they can use it
to their advantage, to instill
doubt
in the hearts
of the believers.
In Mecca,
there were believers but there were strong believers.
They were being persecuted. There were strong believers.
But this happened in Madinah, not in Makkah.
This happened in Madinah.
And as we know in Madinah there were
hypocrites. And Allah would send these tests to
the hypocrites.
So when the qiblah
changed
so when the qiblah changed,
it was a big test for the ones
who had sickness in their heart.
Why you were praying this direction
and now you're praying that direction?
Is your God confused?
Is your Lord confused? Is Muhammad speaking from
his whims and desires?
Is he just shifting and turning around? Is
he yearning? Is he missing his city so
much that he's praying towards it now? They
use it to instill
doubt into the believers.
But we know
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not
do anything
except
to increase our iman
and to purify
those
who
have sickness in their hearts from those who
do not. And that's why the verse after
it, Allah
said,
And we made you
a moderate nation so that you can be
a witness upon the people, and the rasul
can be a witness upon you.
And the only reason we change the qiblah.
The only reason we change the qiblah
is to know who truly follows the messenger.
From the one
who turns
back
on
his
heels.
And then Allah continues on to say,
But Allah were was not going to lose
your
Don't worry all believers.
Allah did not intend for these
tests
to shake you,
but to shake those who are not worthy
of iman. Those
who have sickness in their heart need something
to expose the colors.
And it is these tests
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala presents us with
that do so.
In the past
year,
we've been seeing so many calamities before the
ummah. And just a couple of weeks ago,
what happened to our brothers and sisters in
Turkey and Syria?
And you see those
who
are tested
by this saying, why is this happening to
the believers?
Why is this happening to Muslim lands?
Where's the God of the Muslims?
Why is why is their God not helping
them?
But Allah will not lose your faith.
These are tests.
These are tests
to shake the believer,
and to differentiate and distinguish between those who
are truly
connected to Allah,
and understand
the wisdoms of Allah, and understand
how the victory of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
comes
after trials and tribulations.
Brothers and sisters,
Allah does not want us to lose our
iman.
Allah
wants us
to preserve it.
So many of us
are going through all types of hardships.
So many of us, every single one of
us went through
all sorts of tests in the past year.
But know
that for the true believer,
all these tests
were for one reason and one reason only.
It is to bring you back to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It is to show you the right path.
This month of
is a month of recollection.
We look back,
and we should think of all those tests,
all those hardships.
We had so many sins that we
were addicted to.
We used to do day night.
Nobody knows.
Some of them only Allah knows, and that's
all that matters to us. But
now is the time
to clean that page,
and to repent to Allah
before the actions are lifted in this month
to Allah so that they can be sealed,
not to see be seen by you until
the day you're resurrected and presented in front
of Allah.
So let those actions
before it's too late,
let those bad deeds be erased
with a true sincere tawba,
with true sincere for seeking true sincere forgiveness
from Allah.
And we want to use this day of
Yomul Jum'ah in this blessed hour of salatul
Jum'ah to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
forgiveness and to accept our tawba.
Brothers and sisters,
we don't want to be
from those who
do not spend
their Ramadan
wisely,
or they allow
another
month of mercy
to come
without using it
to the highest
advantage.
But brothers and sisters,
there is
a clear distinction between those
who benefit the most from Ramadan
and those who benefit the least.
And the distinction between the two is that
those who benefit the most are the ones
who prepare for it before it.
They don't wait until Ramadan
to prepare for it,
but they use
this month, the month of
to prepare for it and to go through
everything they need to go through. So that
when Ramadan comes,
they're they're ready.
They're ready to grind.
They're ready to worship.
They're ready to devote.
Some people
wait until
Ramadan
to think of how their body
is going to react to the fast.
They wait until Ramadan
to fast for the first time
in the whole year.
They wait until Ramadan
to pick up the for the first time.
They wait until Ramadan to see
how caffeine,
how lack of caffeine impacts them. How they
how long they can work without a cup
of coffee or tea, or without a red
bull or whatnot.
They wait until Ramadan
to adjust their schedules so that they could
make taraweeh salah or fajr salah
in jama'ah.
These aren't the people that truly
take advantage of Ramadan,
but the ones who truly
take advantage of it are those who prepare
for all of this from right now.
From right now, they adjust their workload.
They finished what they need they finish what
they need to finish, and they plan for
it.
So that Ramadan is clear.
They start adjusting their schedules.
People have certain
habits,
whether it be eating or addictions
to things, and they wait until Ramadan to
say, You Rabbi, you know, this is the
month
I just wanna change. No.
Don't waste Ramadan
struggling
and fighting with those things.
Let the plan start right now brothers and
sisters.
If we want If we have a goal
in this Ramadan,
then right now is when we think about
it.
If we never
we wanna read the Quran
or read it a certain number of times,
then from right now, we need to start
reading.
Not from the 1st day.
If we want to fast
without
feeling light headed,
without feeling weak,
without feeling like we lost energy, then right
now we need to start fasting.
If we fast this month of Shaban, imagine.
Our deeds will be sealed and sent to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
while we are fasting.
And if we repent to Allah while we
are fasting, then it is more likely to
be accepted because fasting is one of the
greatest
deeds that a person can perform.
And not only that,
but we start with Ramadan,
a new year of actions,
with duas for the next year,
with preparation
for the Ramadan so that we can be
changed people,
completely changed.
This is what we need to strive for
brothers and sisters. We don't need to
you know, sometimes we look
at our,
you know,
we get into this this routine.
Right? Ramadan comes in, Ramadan comes out. Yeah.
We know the Ramadan routine.
But that's when it starts to stagnate, and
that's where iman starts to regress. But no,
iman
needs tajdeed.
It needs renewal.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us that
indeed, iman
it fades away in the hearts, the way
your garments fade away from being it being
used
so many times.
Wallahi
In the in the time that we live
in,
and in the place that we live in,
our garments
are like
the garments of of a of a mechanic.
No offense to any mechanics here.
But
you know, some people
they can wear garments and they work in
an office, and their their shirt, their pants
could last,
you know, 20 years,
30 years.
The pants are good quality,
last for a long time. But in the
iman that we have here,
the iman that we have here
is exposed to so much
heat.
The same iman,
the the same recharge,
the boost that would last us
so many years in a different country,
a different place, or back in a day
in a different time. Right now, wouldn't last
us 5, 6, 7 months before we need
to renew. Like what's going on with me?
Why did I resort back to this? Why
am I not the same person again?
It's because of all the fitan that we're
exposed to left and right.
So we need a strong recharge in this
Ramadan.
And And this Ramadan has to be different
and it all starts from right now. We
ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us
from those who prepare for Ramadan
wisely and properly. We ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and yubalikhanurramadan
to allow us from those who get to
Ramadan so that we can fast it. We
ask
Allah
to make us from those who take advantage
of this month with fasting, and with praying,
and with making sincere dua and tawbah to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive
us for all of the sins that we
accumulated over this past year. We ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala to keep our hearts firm
and steadfast
in the face of all these trials and
tribulations that we are going through and the
ummah is going through. We ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to alleviate
all of the hardships that the ummah of
Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam is going through
From east to west, we ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to forgive us and to have
mercy on us, and our spouses, and on
our kids, our parents, and to unite us
all.
In We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
forgive us. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to forgive us. We ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala to forgive us.
Make sure you fill the rows inside the
in the back.
If there are any,
empty spots against the wall,
please fill them.