Mufti Menk – Ramadan 2013 – Forgive and Cleanse the Heart – Jumuah 2

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah.
		

			smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam
		

			ala nabina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa jabeen, a woman who have a son named Elijah Medina.
		

			We always praise Allah subhanho wa Taala. We asked him to accept the words of praise and at the same
time we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the best of
creation who was sent in order to remove us from the darkness to show us the straight path we ask
Allah subhanho wa Taala to make us from amongst those who are able to take this path, and we asked
him to send blessings and salutations to the household of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as
well as all his companions and May Allah bless every single one of us and our offspring.
		

			Brothers and sisters in Islam, beautiful joumana in this beautiful month of Ramadan with beautiful
weather out there in the city of Cape Town, we've just heard some beautiful recitation of the
glorious book that Allah subhanho wa Taala has sent us and we are sitting in such a beautiful Masjid
z natural Islam meaning the beauty of Islam. Allah subhanho wa Taala beautify our hearts and souls
and may make us from those really, who can change their lives during this month.
		

			Today, I'd like to concentrate on one aspect of Ramadan.
		

			And this aspect of Ramadan is connected to forgiveness, we all hear that it is the month of
forgiveness, don't we? If I were to ask you, this is the month of forgiveness. So what do you
understand from it? Do you know most of us will say we need to achieve the forgiveness of Allah
subhanho wa Taala Am I right? Yes, we would. So if I were to say this is the month of forgiveness,
most of us would say it means we need to achieve the forgiveness of Allah subhanho wa Taala. But my
brothers and sisters, there is another aspect to it, it is a month where you need to search in your
heart and forgive others as well. This is something we really do not consider in this beautiful
		

			month of Ramadan, or sometimes we find it hard. We have gorgeous in our hearts that have really
added to the clutter that is unnecessary in the system of ours. And it has added the rust on to the
beautiful heart that we have. And this is why when we engage in Likud, when we engage in the
recitation of the Quran, when we fast when we engage in taraweeh. Sometimes the benefit of it is not
as much as it should be, because our hearts are stained with a lot of rust and we have so much which
is clouding accounting, the heart that really the benefit that we are supposed to be achieving from
this month is not as it should be.
		

			This is why this is the month of your heart my brothers and sisters. This is the month where you are
supposed to be looking at your heart and asking yourself how can I purify this heart? Allah says
Lala Taku we've heard that a lot of times you know the entire verse. Let's read a beautiful verse.
Yeah.
		

			Oh you who believe? Oh you who claim to follow Allah and His salatu salam O you who are followers of
the Quran, oh, you who believe in the life after death. We have prescribed upon you fasting just
like we prescribed upon those before you some type of fasting. You know the Jews have a different
type of fasting. The Christians have a different type of fasting, but they all have fasting and we
have fasting from dawn to dusk in a specific way. And Allah says the reason why we gave you that as
a gift is in order that you may achieve the consciousness of Allah, the piety that you can develop
yourself, you can cleanse your heart. All this is part of the term piety and taqwa a person whose
		

			heart is dirty has no taqwa, believe me, is one of the ways of developing dunkwa is to clean your
heart, my brothers and sisters, if my heart is dirty, can I say I'm a machete? No, I cannot say
that. So once we say we want to achieve the forgiveness of Allah brothers and sisters, find it in
your heart and in your system to forgive others. May Allah subhanho wa Taala make this a month of
reconciliation even within family members. We have too many grudges that are holding us down and
life is too short. Believe me. When we go down into the grave. Do you know that we will be in
desperate need of the mercy of Allah what is going to light up our graves? It's the new of Eman. So
		

			Pamela May Allah granted to us what is going to make our graves a garden from from the gardens of
Paradise. It is the man in the qualities we have and the obedience of Allah subhanho wa Taala that
we have and this is why do you know that when you forgive others, Allah Subhana Allah
		

			Allah loves it so much that he looks at your quality. And he says that this quality is a quality of
mine. It's a quality of Allah subhanho wa Taala. If my worshiper can show that he has the quality of
forgiveness, I have the quality of ultimate forgiveness that nobody can compare with. I forgive him
completely let him go to Paradise.
		

			This is why one of the Sahaba of the Allahu, when Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam instructed the others
or told them that you see that man, he is from Paradise. They were surprised they said, This man
here doesn't seem like he does a lot of these. Imagine if we were to point May Allah grant us all
paradise. But if one of us was pointed out, and we were told that you know what this particular
person is from Paradise, and you look at him, and he does seems like a mediocre Muslim, so pan
Allah, Allah and His goodness, you would wonder what is it that makes this man a heavenly person?
That is how the Sahaba de la man who wandered and they wanted to know why because they wanted
		

			paradise as well. If one man is a person who is going to have paradise, and we know about it, we
would all want to have the same Imagine if there is a businessman who's earned so much in such a
short time. And he tells you it was so easy, you'd want to know, how did you do it? And he says, I
opened the soap factory. I think the whole of Cape Town would have soap factories, Mashallah. Why
because we know it was easy to make the money and this was the way he did it. So let's do the same.
So the Sahaba love the love and one of them actually pretended like he wanted to, you know, spend
the night and so on with this man. And one narration says he did so quietly. He just watched the man
		

			and this man went home after Salah Tunisia, he went off to bed and got a forfeiture and he was back.
So extra acts of worship. The answer is no. No extra deeds he did his foreign he did what he had to
he perhaps engaged in a little bit this and that, but without anyone noticing no one noticed there
was nothing majorly different. And what happened is, the following day he was asked a question, you
know, Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam said that you are a person who is deserving of Paradise you are
going to be in Paradise, Allahu Akbar. So we want to know from you what are the deeds you've done.
		

			And after some time, he says that you know, there is one thing that is for certain, every night
before I recline, or as I am reclining into my bed before I sleep, I look into my heart and I remove
from it, the ill feeling the hatred, the jealousy or any negative feeling towards my brothers and
sisters towards fellow believers removed then I sleep with a clean heart.
		

			Imagine with a clean heart, brothers and sisters do you want paradise in a quick way? Allahu Akbar,
learn to just take things out. I know that some people might be sitting and saying but they will
push me too long. This person has wronged me for too many years. This person has done this and that
my brothers and sisters, this is a month of Ramadan show that you are above that particular quality
show that you are a person who's a true believer. You want the mercy of Allah so show mercy to
others. This is why the Hadith says larrea Allahu malayer hominess. Allah does not show mercy upon
he who does not show mercy on people. And this is why Allah says in Nima here Mattoon, Allah Allah O
		

			v Berryhill raha man, when Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam cried at the death of his son, and he was
asked about those tears, he said, this is mercy that Allah has placed in his in the hearts of those
worshipers who are merciful as well. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us that quality of mercy.
		

			So, in another narration Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam says beautifully, eloquently, malaria, hum, la
Johan, whoever is not going to show mercy shall not be shown mercy. Amazing. Look at the power of
the word Mullah your ham, law, your ham, whoever is not going to show mercy shall not be shown
mercy. Amazing May Allah subhanho wa Taala make us from those who show mercy and who are shown
mercy. So in this world, we will have a few misunderstandings. We might have people who oppress
people who do this and that to seek justice is one thing for sure. Yes, you are allowed to seek
justice. You don't let people trample all over you and you serve your rights and then say Didn't you
		

			hear the talk on Friday? Just forgive me lavaca there are people who might do that. They'll come to
and say brother You heard the talk I owe you 2 million. You know what, just forgive me.
		

			You owe it to me we may take you to court for that may Allah protect us may not make us from people
who owe others money and who do not want to pay yet we have mokulua de Lune. A person who has the
money and doesn't pay back is really an oppressive person. And at the same time, if a person who is
wealthy and for that reason we're just not giving them back their money because we think they don't
need it. That is also oppression. Amazing words of Mohammed salatu salam so we need to strike the
balance. Whilst we are taught to forgive people. We should not
		

			We do not need to hold an excess grudge in our hearts against the person who perhaps has wronged us
within a specific category of an issue. For example, let's say someone owes us money. So we, we
should be following that up, they owe it to us if for example, we find it in our hearts to give them
more time, or we find it in our hearts, maybe if it's an amount that might be negligible, we might
want to forgive them. But that should not make us develop a hatred for that individual understand
what I'm saying. So someone has wronged you in one way, it does not mean you need to develop 20
other dirty categories of bad habits in order to combat this particular thing that they have wronged
		

			you will Allah protect us that is unfair, that is injustice. So if you have been wronged in one way,
hold it at that, yes, you may follow them up on that particular item but don't let it do to your
heart Don't let it miss your heart. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us cleanliness you know when
we say a shuttle a man, cleanliness is half of faith it is it does not include just washing yourself
up and coming to the masjid Mashallah nice and neat. Like chef Mirage is all the time Mashallah we
don't need to be there is just one part of it Mashallah, there is a reason why I say that,
Mashallah.
		

			So, it's just one part of it. But do you know the bigger part of it is to cleanse your heart to
cleanse your demons to cleanse your system to cleanse the way you look at people? You know, people
say this man has a dirty mind. So clean that that is part of cleanliness, may Allah protect us, we
need to understand the holistic meaning of the term cleanliness with us we just say cleanliness
means we use your soul make you do make sure you have a whistle and come to the mercy of nice and
clean and neat and perhaps put a bit of a bit of perfume Mashallah, that is just a small percentage
or a small portion of the meaning of the term cleanliness but when we are clean and upright, people
		

			will be happy to talk to us, our words are clean, our dealings are clean, our social behavior is
clean, everything is beautiful, Mashallah people love us. Why? Because we are people really who have
polished the inside more than the outside. Allahu Akbar. You know, in Zimbabwe, they discovered
diamonds A few years ago, sorry to bring it up again.
		

			And what happened is, people did not know that the stones they are carrying in the hands are
actually diamonds. So internally, they were so valuable, but from the outside, all they needed was a
little bit of polishing. Now with us if that was the case, we're lucky we would be greater winners
than people who come from outside they look like a diamond but inside it's actually glass.
		

			Imagine you go to someone and you say I found this diamond, they look at it. They say this is a
fake, but it looks like a diamond No. And then you take a stone and you say I found a stone and they
look at it and they say this is a diamond, which is better luck, but I would prefer to be one who
really is looked at perhaps maybe as a little stone but from inside, it's a diamond May Allah
subhanho wa Taala purify us. So as we go back to the theme of today's talk, forgiveness, my brothers
and sisters, you want to achieve the forgiveness of Allah subhanho wa Taala a quick way of earning
the mercy of Allah is to learn to forgive others don't hold grudges. Allah will forgive you when he
		

			sees that you have a quality of forgiveness in your heart. Like I say, if someone has wronged you to
seek justice is something totally different from holding a grudge and from developing hatred and
from having ill feeling and so on. Sometimes you might want to stay away from a person because the
way they deal may not be that clean. You don't have to sway them backbite about them. You don't have
to engage in you know, some bad behavior just because they might be people who do not engage in
clean dealings. But what is of utmost importance is you learn a lesson you may stay far away. This
is why Allah subhanho wa Taala says in the Quran beautifully, either for tahu, Mangia halona todos
		

			Allah the true believers are those whom when the ignorant those with bad qualities and habits greet
them, they just say salam Salam means peace. So this from this we learn that we just say a salaam
aleikum, WA Alaykum wa sallam and that's where our relationship stops. But beyond that, I don't have
a hatred and so on. One of the reasons now let's get to a reason that affects our physical health.
When we hold a grudge, it's a burden. It's like holding a guest canister on your back, believe me,
every time you see them every time you hear their name. It's such a grudge. You know, it's such a
feeling sorry, it's such a feeling that it breaks our back. We don't want anyone to talk about them.
		

			We don't want anyone to say their names. We don't want any sort of indication that this person
		

			exists. So if your son comes in and says the name of one of your enemies, you say, Don't ever say
that name again. Did you hear what I said? But the son was innocent. It's us holding this grudge
explained to him to say you know what, Mashallah Baraka Allah, may Allah purify, purify us and so
on. But Allah grant us goodness it brings us to another point. And that is make do and for those
who've wronged you, amazing ask Allah to soften their hearts. This is the month of acceptance of Do
we know that when I have an issue I would get up early morning. I'm up very early in the morning and
we are making to Allah Allah we have this issue Allah or we have the examination or we have this
		

			court case or we have SARS on our back whatever it is, Allah protect us people are making up one law
he your relation with a fellow believer is more important than those two as you are making regarding
your examinations and your SARS and everything else. What law your relation with the fellow
believers determines the power of the oma.
		

			Today the oma is weeping. We've been talking about it for so many days in the evening. Today, the
oma is weeping because small little items are cracking relations between Blood Brothers and sisters,
blood brothers and sisters. And what is it just because he married a woman whom we didn't agree
with? So it's not your wife? It's his. He's the one who has to basically sleep with him, Allah
protect us. May Allah grant us goodness, it's a fact why are you so worried? Yes, you may want to
distance yourself slightly if, for example, you have a valid and legitimate reason but no hatred, no
grudge. You know, people don't even greet Allah says when the ignorant is trying to talk to you at
		

			least say salam, this is your brother. He's not just an ignorant person. This is your sister in law.
This is your brother in law. This is who it is May Allah subhanho wa Taala open our doors. Well,
it's about time we cleansed our hearts as an oma because that is when we will realize the value of
one another with our differences with our differences today, for example, you might be sitting on a
table it happens in some homes where the mother comes literally like a cook. And she says right son,
what do you want to eat? He says I want pizza. So she writes it down. What do you want to eat? I
made some moves as my son who says must be chicken. Okay, what about you? I want when someone says
		

			beef once you know, okay, what do you want to eat? And each child is having something different.
Wow, how spoiled there are some people who are in La Palma Rasulullah sallallahu sallam. You know
what the Hadith says? They were three months in a row they only had water and takes what seven days.
Now if we are so spoiled, we have differences regarding food in the wealthy homes, the parents or
the cook is employed in order to cook whatever the child wants all the different children and every
single inhabitant of that home whatever they want there to cook we have differences regarding what
we eat. Must that make us hate one another? Hey, why did you order samosas? You know, when we went
		

			to the restaurant, why did you order fish? You should have ordered what I ordered. What's this? It's
a big deal. So Allah we are creating a big deal out of nothing. May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless
us. This is exactly what we are doing. When it comes to the affairs of the Ummah we have a small
difference. For example, someone raises his hand someone does not raise his hands. Someone says amin
aloud someone says it's soft. someone reads with a two and when someone reads with a three, someone
does this, someone does that, believe me understand that you are never ever going to bring people
onto one line all these lines are acceptable they have a hadith to prove them they have for example,
		

			sometimes verses of the Quran to prove them and so on. It is not possible for us to streamline every
single person in every single thing they are going to do just like in your own home you will never
streamline even your own wife to think exactly like you and to operate in exactly the same manner as
you yet you tell him my darling I love you Love.
		

			I hope you're telling the truth.
		

			May Allah grant us goodness really.
		

			But we have differences in the home we're ready to say my darling when we really there are big
differences major. Some people they have such big differences that in their heart they think hey,
you know what, I could have done better than this. But they're still saying my Dalai Lama.
		

			In this oma of Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, we have much more in common my brothers and sisters so
much more. The problem is the heart the condition of the heart. Shaytan comes in, overtake he comes
in, you know makes us oblivious of the instruction of Allah subhanho wa Taala upon us to love one
another. Allah says Allah Dinah's
		

			very powerful verses. Do not dispute with one another. Why you shall become unsuccessful and you
will lose all your mind as an oma.
		

			May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless us, May He grant us ease and goodness and May we open our doors
		

			So, we need to bear in mind that in this month of forgiveness, yes, we want to earn the forgiveness
of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Let us all ask Allah to forgive our sins. Sometimes when our own sins
are bogging us down, we don't want to forgive others. Because in our hearts, we have a lot that we
have never sought forgiveness from. Never. Some people are hooked on to bad habits, they have a bad
mouth. Some people swear every day. And they've never thought of the fact that we actually have a
habit of swearing, they haven't thought about it, they haven't considered it. This is why we as
Muslims are taught to meditate over our own condition. Think about your own condition, sit and
		

			ponder, what is my condition today? What do I do? What am I bad habits be happy when people
highlight to you brother Don't sway. The other day, there were two people driving, and one happened
to cut the other one, and I happen to witness them stop at the traffic light. You know, cut them up,
meaning come in front of them. And the one was looking like a decent person, he must have been in a
rush. And that's why he cut up the other one. And this other brother happened to sway him like we've
never heard swear words before. Not even in the movies. May Allah protect us. Bad so bad. And this
brother just looked at him and said, Brother, I'm so sorry. But don't swear me.
		

			Imagine so beautifully put, but I'm so sorry. But don't swear me. Something struck and he said I'm
so sorry. Forgive me, I shouldn't. So why can we not be from amongst those whom when we've done
something wrong? Someone reminds us and we remember immediately some of us that we would say you
deserve it. And I'm going to show you even more and take out a dictionary of swear words and recite
all the words Yes, that's the attitude we have even in the month of Ramadan. This is the type of
attitude my brothers and sisters that we've developed. And this is why we are not move moving
forward as an online fact. If you look very carefully, we're actually going backwards. May Allah
		

			safe goddess, Allah subhanho wa Taala safeguard us, brothers and sisters. If you do not feel the
love for one another, as a Muslim in your heart with your differences, there is something wrong with
your Eman. There is something wrong with your heart. Because remember, if you do not feel the the
bond of the Shahada between yourselves or your will amongst ourselves, then there is something wrong
with us. Definitely. Allah is telling us this bond you have you are going to enter Paradise through
the intercession of Mohammed Salah Salah, and you think No, you know what, he doesn't deserve it
only I deserve it. That one doesn't deserve it only I deserve it. So May Allah Subhana Allah, Allah
		

			forgive us. And may He opened our doors, one of the iterations Rasulullah Salallahu Salam makes it
very clear when he says
		

			as he was ascending the PowerPoint or the min button, and he said I mean, and then he said, I mean,
and then he says, I mean, price. And what happened? So how about the Allahu Massimo messenger salatu
salam We heard you saying, I mean, surely there must have been a reason. And he says gibreel alleys,
Alameda.
		

			And they were three segments to that too. And I said, I mean to all of them. One of them is
		

			what a great loss. That's just waiting. It's simply why alone. Why alone is actually destruction.
You know, a cry.
		

			What's the loss? What did he great for he who has witnessed the month of Ramadan and has not
achieved forgiveness? Imagine we are in the month of Ramadan. Right now we are sitting in such a
blessing place. such a blessing moment. Like we've said in the past, it is a blessing moment in a
blessing moment in a blessing season. And that's given by Allah subhanho wa Taala. We have Ramadan,
we have a Friday. On top of that we have this particular time of the day. On top of that the house
of Allah we are all sitting in JAMA. Allah forgive our sins, soften our hearts. Let us love one
another. My brothers and sisters like I say, If Allah subhanahu wa taala sees a quality in us that
		

			we have you remember his quality is higher than us. He will definitely grant us even better. May
Allah subhanho wa Taala open our doors. So here we are beautiful month of Ramadan. I hope we are
ready not only to earn the forgiveness of Allah to ponder over our bad habits to quit even the sins
that we are engaging in private. Some people, brilliant people, but they have a weakness what's the
weakness? They cannot quit adultery. Well, this is the month of Ramadan if you quit something for
the sake of Allah, Allah subhanho wa Taala will keep away Hellfire when it was meant to be burning
such a person. May Allah keep it away from us. You stay away for the sake of Allah. Allah says we
		

			keep something else away from you which is harmful. Some people brilliant people, but they cannot
quit the bottle. We're not talking of kochia we're talking of something else. Well, law protect us.
Some people cannot quit that bottle. My brother We love you, but we don't
		

			Love that habit of yours, we dislike it and it's between you and Allah. Yes, but we as an oma, we
need you. So come on board that habit and you will find the power that you have the spirituality
that you have the oma will benefit from it. What is bogging you down? Is this one bad habit.
		

			Amazing. Sometimes people are brilliant, they need their Salah, but they hooked on to *
lavaca May Allah protect us cut the habit, and one of the ways of cutting that habit because it is
becoming something that is so accessible to the youngsters and to the masses. One of the ways that
that Allah has taught us is increase your good deeds so automatically your bad deeds decrease.
Amazing. I've got so much time in the day, people are saying I've got a habit I'm hooked on to
*, what should I do? The answer is increase your good deeds so you don't have the time to
go into those bad things. And when you increase your good deeds, your Eman is strengthened you will
		

			feel guilty and if you fall in it immediately repent to Allah and promised him again that you are
not going to go back and increase your good deeds once more Subhana Allah increase your social
activity with those people who are good and pure, and you will find that it will rectify your habit.
Then when you ask Allah for forgiveness, and Allah knows that you are trying your best, believe me
that forgiveness comes immediately. One is a person who is asking Allah forgiveness and he's not
bothered to look at his bad ways or to quit. He's playing a fool with Allah subhanho wa Taala
because Allah tells us one of the conditions of Toba and repentance is to quit your habit. Imagine a
		

			person is stealing from you every single day. And one day they are caught and they come and say I'm
very sorry, same evening, they're stealing again. Law, Allah protect us they need to have felt that
remorse they need to have felt that they are doing something wrong. And they need to tell you I'll
never do it again.
		

			May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless. So when we search our systems for the bad habits that we have,
and each one of us has, perhaps different bad habits, different there is none from amongst us. Who
is perfect. Not one. Nobody can say I'm perfect, perfect Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we
have that example and we follow and Mashallah yes, we do have people who might get close to
perfection, but never ever would we have someone who would be able to say from amongst us that I am
perfect I've never seen I've never done anything wrong. No. Sometimes even the sincerity in Salah is
not there. You know why sincerity and Salah is not there. One of the reasons is, we have not asked
		

			our last forgiveness, we have not lived our bad ways. So when we say Allahu Akbar, we busy thinking
about the wrong things. weird ideas come in our minds Why? Because we are entertaining them perhaps
we are engaged to a certain degree in some of those items. So they come to bog us down and this is
why we become distant from Allah because we are fulfilling Salah but we are not benefiting from it
because really the condition of our heart is not good enough. May Allah accept us remember when you
engage in Salah there are two things a lot of people don't speak about this. One is to fulfill your
form that may be done. But two is the spiritual benefit you are meant to be achieving from Salah It
		

			is something totally different. The two are absolutely different. People go for Hajj, the photo is
done but the Hajj the spirituality meant to be achieved from it is really not there. The man came
back and he's a bigger cook stove.
		

			So the fara is one thing that we are all fulfilling Mashallah but ask yourself am I achieving the
deepest spirituality and the benefit physical as well as spiritual that I am supposed to from my
Juma from my Salah from my zaca from my heart from all my good deeds? If I am then inshallah I'm
heading in the right direction and if I'm not, then May Allah subhanho wa Taala cleanse my heart and
make me from amongst those really who can become conscious of the bad habits that bog me down that
hold me down to the ground and do not allow me to go up and to develop as a Muslim. May Allah
subhanho wa Taala grant us forgiveness. So as I end for this afternoon's talk, I wish to repeat what
		

			I'm saying brothers and sisters today. Let's not delay today.
		

			Let us learn to forgive forgive those who have wronged us. Yes, it might be difficult for some, it
might take a little bit of a while for others but begin to release from your heart. You will feel
such a good person your health will improve your depression will go You will not rely on tablets
anymore. So many things because you are a happy person you look at others some you stay away from
them but there is no hatred and others you love them because really they are good people but there
is no third category May Allah subhanho wa Taala make us from those who love one another may make us
from those who can release who can search right down no matter what they've done. Believe me there
		

			is room in your heart to say yeah Allah I don't hold it against them. Yeah ALLAH forgive them and
forgive me to May Allah's mercy be showered upon us in this beautiful month of karma.
		

			On
		

			robotica Allen Amina Mohammed