Ramadan 2023 – Reviving the Spirit #09

Leila

Fisher

Assalamu alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. My brothers and sisters,

as the evening enters every night from Amman. It brings with it a unique type of Mercy of Allah and a special blessing that descends, we ask Allah to allow us to taste it. What is this blessing? Well, let me take you further. Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim. Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah, who Allah Allah, he was RPh mine. One of the pillars of Islam is the five daily prayers, we have two of them that are fulfilled during the daylight hours, and three that are fulfilled, while it is still dark, fragile, Maghrib and Isha that are fulfilled while it is still dark, or fulfilled in an audible fashion, especially when reading in a congregation. The other two are

silent. And during daylight hours, all the prayers that are offered are silent, besides those that are offered in massive congregation, such as Salah to lead, or the prayer of Jumuah, and so on. Now, it's amazing how in the month of Ramadan, as much as we have given so much of importance to the abstaining from food and drink, and so on, we have not given as much importance to the other pillars of Islam. And as we enter the evening, Allah makes it recommended to involve in much more of that pillar of Islam, the prayer. So, if you were to notice, when a person is close to sunset, close to the mother in prayer, which is immediately after the sunset, he or she will have some foodstuffs

ready, it is very rewarding to prepare something that you could actually eat,

and to have it ready for the right time. Because to open your fast exactly when Allah tells you is something recommended and rewarding. If you were to unnecessarily delay it, without giving it importance, your fast may be reduced in reward because you didn't open it at the right time. If there was a reason, it's a different issue. My brothers and sisters, as we have this food played in front of us or something, a date or to some water, we raise our hands and what do we do we start calling out to Allah for our needs, every one of us throughout the globe has needs some of a magnitude far higher or greater than others. But everyone calls out to Allah Allah has created means

such that there is no body who does not call out to Allah from among the believers.

And we would actually raise our hands and say, Allah, we have fasted for you, we stayed away from food and drink for you. We stayed away from whatever you told us to stay away from through the day, we want you to help us and we want you to grant us and we want you to bless us and we want you to grant our children and we want you to forgive us. And we want you to have mercy on us and our loved ones who have passed on and so on. And so, and the list is endless. Subhanallah What are you about to do? You're about to eat when Allah told you to eat. And immediately after that, you will get up for prayer, the evening prayer, and you start off with a pillar of Islam. What is it? Salah, a

prayer. You start off with that pillar, you offer the compulsory, obligatory three units of Salah to Mercury, the mercury prayer, and then you sit again and you're calling out to Allah again, you raise your hands again, you say, Oh Allah, except what I just did in terms of acts of worship, what did you do? I tell you what you did, you stayed away from things that are otherwise permissible. I mean, what you started eating and drinking, is something halal, it's permissible, it was always halal. But when Allah told you not to eat halal through the day, in Ramadan, you didn't, it should make it much easier for you to appreciate the halal when Allah says, Now you may eat it. And it should make it

even more easier for you to abstain from something haram that you're not supposed to be doing. Anyway. This is where the discipline comes in. This is why we say fasting brings about discipline the month of discipline from Allah. Because if I could stay away from something permissible

water and drink and so on food, that's okay. I surely can stay away from that which is prohibited for the pleasure of Allah subhanho wa Taala thereafter, we

start eating a little bit more perhaps after maghrib and we begin to get ready for the night prayer starting with Isha Alicia is the late night prayer, the the fifth of the five prayers of the day. And after that Allah tells us, I want you to spend the night in some acts of worship, what is it, I want you to pray, I want you to fulfill acts of worship, you can increase the remembrance of Allah, the recitation of the Quran perhaps, and so many other things. And I want you to time it in specific ways. So, after Isha, you will fulfill something known as tarawih tarawih comes from the term Raha which means comfort and ease. It should be something beautiful, easy, it should bring about comfort,

relaxation, that is Raha tarawih is primarily, relaxation, relaxation of what the mind the soul, the heart, connecting with Allah and then joining the act of worship. This is why we say, when it comes to terror, we

don't rush and make haste because it defeats the whole purpose of tarawih. When we were young, we used to make haste, we did not know any better. Now that we know, I must tell you, my brothers and sisters, what is of greatest relevance regarding the tarawih is how it is fulfilled. So it needs to be fulfilled in a way that brings about this beautiful comfort. Not that it's a race and you're rushing and you're running and you battling and you're fighting. This is what happens in some mustards as well. And young people who have just memorized the Quran, they think it's a marathon. No, this is a massive act of worship, one of the biggest acts of worship in Ramadan is taraweeh.

And if you're not going to fulfill it correctly, even though it may not be compulsory, technically, but you would not be able to achieve the essence of it, unless you did it properly. So Subhan Allah, Allah wants you to engage in this beautiful extra acts of worship. And then Allah wants you to reclaim, perhaps, you know, after a few units, you can relax and then read a few more units. That's the original way of doing things. And if you want to fulfill all of it together, that's fine as well. Then you call out to Allah again, for your needs, you repeat the same needs again, no problem. Allah wants you to continue. And throughout the night, you may want to recline for a while it's not

wrong to go and sleep, you may go to sleep, go to bed. Just remember to take the name of Allah as you recline, and take the name of Allah as you get up and you convert that sleep into an act of beautiful worship, you get a reward for it. So the night worship is very virtuous. Allah wants you to fulfill it. The hadith says whoever stands with the Imam, and fulfills whatever the Imam is going to fulfill, and then leaves has a reward for having stood in worship entire night. The other narration says whoever stands in night prayer in the month of Ramadan, hoping for a reward from Allah. And with full conviction, Allah forgives all their previous sense. That's the importance of

Tarawa. Beyond Tarawa, you may want to fulfill something else which is also voluntary, but it has humongous reward, and it has a blessing that is unmatched. That is tahajjud tahajjud, also known as pm will lay in some type pm will lay it means to stand at night. So some of the scholars have said look, it includes all of the standing during the night, and some of them take it to dude. I'd like to differentiate to say the piano ladies all of it, one is taraweeh and the other is to have good, but all of that is known as pm or you're standing at night for the sake of Allah so we'll take it in, in the meaning of it and that's what you get. But nonetheless, that dude is just when the last

third of the night commences and you start your prayer. This is the time when we're all getting up for Suho you know the pre Dawn meal. This is the time when we're getting up for it. My brothers and sisters it's important for us really to

Vive, the spirit of 200. Try it out even if it's two units, it's already in twos 2468 You may read, but it's good to start somewhere we are awake anyway, you need to just wash up because you're going to have to do Fudger. Anyway. So make your wudu and fulfill two units and call out to Allah, raise your hands. It's the best time of the Hajj. And Allah Almighty wants you to call out to him and say, Oh Allah, I'm calling out to you. I have my needs. Here they are. I want you to forgive me. Have mercy on me Have mercy on my loved ones and so on. My brothers and sisters, your life will change in Ramadan. The reason I want to speak about it and have spoken about it is because we're awake. We're

awake at that time for food. What about the nourishment of the soul, and the spirituality, the relationship with Allah, here is the most powerful prayer. After the FARA is known as the halogen here it is, Allah has given you an opportunity, it's still not too late. Let's fulfill at least two units every night, in the month of Ramadan of 200. And let's see how Allah will bless you to fulfill it even outside of Ramadan. And when Allah has accepted you to fulfill such a blessing prayer such as that of the halogen, you should know that he has really, really blessed you mashallah, in an amazing way. Walla he it's something that I don't know how to describe you have to feel it. You have

to get that feel yourself and you will know its value. May Allah grant us the strength to fulfill night worship. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala help us

to gain the reward and beyond. May He give us paradise. May He forgive us the Sama man and grant us Jana. I mean, Akula Kohli had I was salam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh Laila to call the Hawaii

fish