Sadullah Khan – Jumuah 17 Ramadaan 1442 30 April 2021
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In the name of Allah, most gracious, most
merciful.
All praise is due to our creator, our
cherisher,
our nourisher and our sustainer.
We bear witness, there's none worthy of worship
but Allah.
We bear witness, we believe in all the
prophets who came in the great line of
Divine.
And we bear witness that prophet Muhammad ibn
Abdullah
Rasulullah salallahu alayhi
wasabi wasallam.
He's the final of all the emissaries
Islamic universal greeting of peace
on this auspicious hour of Jum'ah.
Today is 17th Ramadan
and we are blessed because we are in
Masjidul
al Furqan, in this most beautiful city of
Cape Town.
We are in Masjid al Furqan on the
day which Allah refers to as Yawmul Furqan.
And we are in the month in which
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed.
So we are on the day which Allah
refers to as Yawmul Furqan, in Majdul Furqan,
in the month in which Allah revealed the
firkhan, which is the Quran. Indeed, may Allah
bless us and accept all our deeds for
this month
and beyond. Yomul Furqan occurred in the month
of Ramadan,
1400
and 41 years ago.
A unique
and a distinguishing day in the history of
Islam.
As I mentioned, a day mentioned by name
in the Quran. Yomul Furqani, Yomul Takhal Jam'an.
Allah mentions it in Sur Anfar. The day
of criterion,
A day on which the 2 armies met.
And on that day, the 2 armies that
met,
there was an epic battle.
The monumental battle of Badr.
It was the first major battle in the
history of Islam
and a turning point
in the history of the Ummah.
A day on which the truth was victorious
and falsehood
defeated
and the banner of Islam was raised in
victory.
May Allah
bless the martyrs of Badr with the highest
abode in Jannah.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant forgiveness
and mercy
to all those
who have lived
and died in his cause.
Today, however,
I want to pay attention
to one of the major avenues
that could lead us
to the objective of fasting.
The avenue
is tazkiyah
and the objective is taqwa.
The avenue, tazkiyah
And the objective is taqwa.
And I begin by referring to a supplication,
maiybun Nabi Ibrahim
the patriarch, the forefather of Rasulullah
and of many prophets, peace be upon all
of them. Ibrahim
made a du'a.
He made a du'a while he was in
Makkah.
And he asked Allah, oh Allah send them
from this my family. Send from the people
in Makkah which was his wife and his
son was there. From their progeny,
someone will come. And he said,
Allah
sent, commissioned someone
and that Beata of the Rasul
began in Makkah.
Rasulam
minhum, truly Muhammad
was of the progeny of Ishmael
who is the son of
So that may narrate to them the signs
of Allah in the heavens and the earth.
And also the signs of Allah by revelation.
And you may tease them the walk which
is also revealed first in Makkah
to the prophet Muhammad
All of this,
we'll use a key him so that he
may purify them.
Among the primary request of the Ibrahim in
this dua documented in Surah Al Baqarah
was an appeal for someone who will come
to facilitate
the purification
and the development,
the moral and spiritual development of the people
of Makkah and beyond.
To make tazkiyah of people.
And linguistically,
the root word for tazkiyah from the word
zakayyah
implies both cleansing,
purification,
as well as development and upliftment.
So tazkiyah in the Arabic language means the
purification,
the growth
and the development
and implies in the Quran
context to bring the self to the heights
of excellence.
And the highest level of that excellence
is to reach nobility.
And the estimation of Allah,
nobility
is The highest degree of that nobility
is to have in the estimation of Allah.
And
is the objective
of our fast in this month.
Yeah. You and Ladin.
Allah has prescribed fasting for you, and the
verse goes on.
In order that you may attain
unto piety and to righteousness
and to Allah consciousness.
We note
that Tasqiyah and Taqwa
are interconnected.
For example, Allah
Don't ascribe purity to yourself.
Only Allah knows those who are pious.
Don't ascribe purity to yourself.
The relationship between tazkiyah
and Taqwa in this verse of Surah Al
Najm.
But also remember that taqwa does not only
relate to the good you do,
but also to the wrongs that you avoid.
It's not only what you need to do
but also what you need to avoid.
And
many people we know who pray, who fast,
but at the same time they insult people,
they denigrate people, they humiliate people, they oppress
people, they backbite people,
they do wrong to people but they are
fasting.
And such fast
Any person who engages in this kind of
backbiting, fitna mangalin, causing problems, causing troubles.
Allah sees no reason why the person is
not eating and drinking.
Allah sees no reason. You may as well
eat and drink.
So many people pray and they fast,
but they still insult and denigrate the oppressed.
That is not piety. You can't say, But
you
can be aiming for
if you're a walim and of, you know,
a person who does all of these, a
hasid and so on and so forth.
There's a famous dua of
the Rasulullah in which he prayed,
Prophet
say, Allah
grant my soul its capacity for righteousness.
Grant my soul
links in the du'a, takwa and tazkiya. Allahummaati
nafsi
takwaha
wazikiha
khair.
And is
combined. O Allah grant my soul its capacity
for piety and purify myself.
You are the best of those who purify,
and you are the guardian, and you are
its master.
Du'a documented in the sahiyah of Imam Muslim.
So Tasqiyah is integral to the pursuit of
Taqwa.
Almost as the gateway the avenue towards Taqwa
is Taqwa. You cannot be fasting and praying
and making 20 rakats or 8 rakats or
whatever we do. And you expect, you know,
that I'm on the path. I'm fasting and
so on and so forth. I'm giving some
charity and that's it. There must be a
purification,
a cleansing, and a moral and spiritual
development
simultaneously
with that.
So tazkiyah is integral to the pursuit of
Taqwa.
And ultimate success for any individual
comes from the purification of the self as
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the holy
Quran.
Indeed,
most successful are those who purify themselves.
As a matter of fact,
after the longest series of oaths in the
Quran, you know in Surah Rashem, Allah takes,
you know, normally all duhaa
by the morning light and the night and
the night you need still, then Allah says,
That's the Quranic style. That Allah swears an
old by something and then He brings to
your attention. Oh, what?
At the morning light. Well, Lady Idha Sajjaba
at the night when he's still.
We will we will we will not leave
you on your own, You Rasool Allah. We
will not forsake you, You Rasool. So very
often in the Quran,
All this is to draw our attention to
what?
It swears 11 oaths. In other words, Allah
says, by the brightness of the sun
and the subsequent moonlight that follows, and by
the daylight which makes everything conspicuous,
and by the night when it obscures certain
things, and by the celestial spheres that has
that Allah has established, and by the earth
that He has spread wide,
And by the human self and Him who
has granted it balance.
Having granted it the innate capacity to distinguish
wrong from right.
Then Allah says after saying all of that
note,
successful indeed is the one who purifies the
self.
And
debase is the one who allows the self
to become corrupted.
So
or the cleansing
of the self
is essential, absolutely essential
feature in human development.
And
focuses on the purification of the self, the
inner self from all the negative and evil
tendencies
that may arise.
Purification from weakness
in human inclinations.
Purification
from those negative aspects
which could appeal to our desires and lead
to impropriety. May Allah protect us. All of
that.
And we should realize
that being spiritually sound
necessitate certain things.
See very often with the idea, I do
so, I've been to Hajj 5 times. I
make fajrul jamaah, I wear my robe, I
do these things, I wear like this and
that, I do this stuff.
I must be good, I must be right.
Allah must be pleased with me.
We should realize that being spiritually sound
necessitates
being morally good.
And goodness
emanates from quite a few things.
Good intention. When you speak to people, besides
the salah you make a good intention, and
the fasting, and so on. When you speak
to people, what is your intention? When you
say something, good or bad, positive or negative,
what is your intention?
Consideration.
Something which is very lacking in our community.
That's why we can make each other so
easily. Someone says something you're difficult with, maybe
take out some kitaab and call a person
good consideration.
What was the person trying to say? I
have to ask my Muslim brother. If he's
wrong I'll guide him. Or maybe I don't
understand him.
You know, the statement Allah knows best.
A very close companion of Rasul. He's considered
a part of the family of Rasulullah.
So one day somebody came to him asking,
k for
How are you this morning,
He said,
how they go through it. It cannot be.
So they said,
He's his very close friend, what he may
have meant.
So he said, Yes. He said,
I hate
I love fitna. How can you love fitna?
A Muslim. You're a Sahabi. He said, no.
Allah says, surely
your wealth and your children are fitna. I
love my
children.
But you say why
would you do that?
Yeah. You're living in
the
salah.
Before
you pray. Why? He said, now usali. You
see, usali means to make salah, but also
to read salawat and the rasul is also
salah.
Story to it. Even when I told it
to you now, I'm sure you thought, no.
No. It can't be Kafi. There might be
something. That's
is though you hear something shocking, you assume,
wait a minute, there might be something good
to it. Is there a good positive explanation
for that? We don't have that in our
community.
And even in our religious circles in particular.
That's why it's so easy for people who
are most learned to call each other kafir
on flimsy matters. And it's really upsetting
because it's causing a destruction in the trust
of leadership by the youth.
So, you need positive
consideration.
Good consideration, good intention, but also good character.
How you deal with people? And it must
be manifested in Amaluzawl Ya'ad, in righteous deeds.
A person who is spiritually developed
is expected to harbor good intentions. If you
are spiritually developed or spiritually developing, harbor good
intentions. Begin with it.
Begin with it. Some people say only
5 khatms, and then on the fastest 6th
day of Shawwal, please do.
Arabic in English, on Hududu, whatever language you
want. Please do that.
Whatever you do, and then I may tell
you, please do that. But that's not the
only thing that goes with it. You have
a mood. You're on a spiritual journey. You
can't fill the gas in the car and
say, well I'm ready to go. Check the
tires. If you going overseas check if you
got a passport. If you're travelling interstate you
need a vaccination. I'm just saying.
You're not ready. You have taken one part
and made it very ready.
So be very
cautious and conscious about that. A person who's
spiritually developed is expected to harbor good intentions,
a clean heart, a positive attitude, and an
endearing personality,
while always displaying
exemplary behavior.
All of these are characteristics
of perhaps the ideal social being.
We are in this special month of Ramadan.
This month of high intensity
moral development, the month of tazkiyah training
for
us,
for
the
enhancement
training for us, for the enhancement of our
soul and of our very being.
Let us make a commitment
to purify our hearts. Begin with that.
Let us make a commitment to purify our
hearts,
to cleanse our mind and our soul,
to secure of all base thoughts
and destructive emotions,
of destructive beliefs,
destructive habits.
This is not possible
unless we guard ourselves,
The faculties of our tongue,
of our stomach, of our hands, of our
ears, of our eyes, our hands, our feet,
and of our mind of all sins, both
outward
and inward. As Imam Ghazali said, there are
different levels of fasting. There are those who
just abstain from
eating
food and drink,
so
they're
fasting.
Some ul Umun.
Then some ul hussus, there are those who
first. But not only that, they abstain from
not only doing eating halal anything haram or
not eating and drinking. They abstain from bad
actions and bad behavior.
That's second level. Soma hussus.
Then Soma hussus and hussus, the extra special
fast, the fasting of the of the rasus
even the thought of evil doesn't cross their
minds. The tazkiyah has developed to an extent
that even the thought, I may say, should
I lie? No, I shouldn't lie. I'm fasting.
Should I be angry?
No, I I'm fasting.
That's
when you're at the level where the thought
of hatred, the thought of lying doesn't even
cross your mind. Imam Ghazali said,
usus. So,
we're entering the period
in which we search for.
Search for Laylul Qadr in the odd nights
of the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Please
I want to urge you. I know traditionally
we come on the 27th night, mashallah, no
problem, do come.
But 27th night is not necessarily that Lil
Qadr is no evidence that Lil Qadr is
on the 27th night only. I know normally
we make khatim this year, making khatim on
the 29th.
29th night, insha'Allah. But I mean
21, from Monday onwards, they'll call
it. Search for it. The Prophet didn't say
it's in one of the night. He said,
Search for it.
The harruh.
He didn't say well you find it on
the 23rd, 25th. In Egypt for example, they
generally have it on the 23rd or 25th.
In Cairo you go to the Masjid Hussain
or Al Azad. The bigger night you see
the crowds are on the 23rd and 25th,
not on the 27th. For example,
So search for it, are we searching for
it or just coming to mosque on the
27th night or making a wick at home,
whatever we do. It's not that. Search for
it. That's part of tazkir.
The search for it is a request in
Rasulullah.
In these last 10 days of Ramadan, last
few days of Ramadan, let us remember.
Muhammad ibn Humble. Rasulullah said, there has come
to you the blessed month of Ramadan
in which Allah has made fasting obligatory upon
you. It contains 1 night in that month,
greater than a 1000 other months.
1 night greater than 8 years of your
life.
Whosoever denies himself the benefit of that night,
indeed denies himself or herself a tremendous amount
of goodness.
So let us let ourselves
of all diseases
of the heart and of the mind,
and of emotions such as pride, and jealousy,
and malice, ill feeding, backbiting, lying,
anger,
self righteousness,
dishonesty, pretension, vanity,
showing off, selfishness,
vainglory,
obsessive love of the world, manipulation of power,
oppression of people, abuse of wealth.
Get rid of all of that. Then you're
in the path of tazkir.
Come in Musali walay salaatilatilatilatilatilatilatilatilatilatilatilatilatilatawatnasa.
Oh, come and saw him. Held the home
in Siyaam.
How many people are there who pray all
the time and they achieve nothing by the
prayer except tiredness and exhaustion. And how many
are there who fast and they achieve absolutely
nothing by the fast, except hunger and thirst.
May Allah save us from that.
By pursuing spiritual development,
we will be performing the greatest service service
to our self and through that insha Allah
the Prophet Azgia to others as well. We'll
become a positive force and could better contribute
to the advancement of a better world.
The challenge before us
is to develop our souls
along with our body and along with our
mind.
If we accept this challenge
and sincerely pursue the realization
of that challenge, we could, through Tuskiya,
pursue
pathways
to taqwa,
and perchance,
attain spiritual fulfillment
in the context of the modern world we
live in. So we too can be of
those who fulfill. Successful
are those who
Oh, Allah, grant our soul the capacity for
righteousness.
And purify. Let us purify ourselves.
Oh, Allah. You are the best to aid
us in purifying ourselves.