Sadullah Khan – Jumuah 6 Ramadaan 1443 8 April 2022
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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 throughout history
and we bear witness that prophet Muhammad ibn
Abdullah
Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam
is the final of all the emissaries of
Allah.
Respirited elders, huffal,
a ima,
educators,
learners, parents,
elders, brothers and sisters,
respected youth,
I greet you with the Islamic universal greeting
of peace.
May the peace, the mercy, and the blessings
of Allah
be upon each and every one
in this auspicious hour of Jum'ah,
in this holy month of Ramadan.
Here we are on the 1st Friday
of the month of Ramadan,
the month of Qiyam,
the month of Quran,
the month of Siam.
The month of fasting
is indeed
an exercise
in pursuit of divine blessings.
It's an aim at attaining divine forgiveness.
It's an attempt at manifesting
the best of ethical values
and inculcating
higher moral principles.
A month of high intensity
spiritual
enhancement
and of a concerted
effort
for character development,
a month in pursuance
of Taqwa,
that true criterion of human excellence,
that standard
of greatness
in the estimation and in the evaluation
of Allah.
The most honorable among human beings
in the evaluation,
estimation of Allah are those
with the most and the highest degree
of taqwa.
And the pursuit of taqwa,
that standard of
moral excellence,
the pursuit of taqwa
is exactly the primary objective
of our fasting in the month of Ramadan.
Allah says,
O you who proclaim faith, o you who
believe,
fasting has been prescribed for you as it
was prescribed
to those before you in order that you
may attain taqwa, that you may attain Allah
consciousness, that you may attain righteousness.
Fasting is an obligated prescription
and it has been enjoined throughout history by
prophets, by all prophets.
In every age,
by every prophet
that has come and all of them came
to reform and to improve human patterns of
behavior.
The fast of Ramadan
is one of the greatest means of inculcating
self discipline.
We have seen societies
that are forcefully disciplined
by authoritarian
rule
positively or negatively but they are disciplined. Do
that, you cannot do that but that is
by means of an authoritarian rule.
This fasting
is not like that.
The one by authoritarian
rule is a discipline imposed by a political
authority,
but in the case
of the fasting person,
this is of the greatest of all disciplines
in which we imposed on ourselves
by observing the obligations
of fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Said,
whosoever
wishes
to have a positive impact on the world,
Let that person begin with disciplining,
educating,
guiding,
morally improving the self
rather
than attempting to discipline the world.
Ramadan is institution
by means of which
each fasting person
practically
improves the world
and you do it individually by yourself
through refining yourself.
If the whole world doesn't change,
at least I should be a better person
at least.
The Quran
was revealed in this month
and was revealed as a reminder
and Allah says,
The Quran was revealed
in this month.
It was revealed on the night of power.
The Quran was revealed in this month
and as a result,
Muslim pay
extraordinary
attention
to the Quran in Ramadan.
In fact we perform extended prayer,
nightly prayer for the increased remembrance of Allah
who revealed the Qur'an
And as we know that salah which we
perform it is also dhikr. In the salah
we did the Quran which is also
We've revealed the which is the Quran and
decree
we perform the salah for the remembrance of
Allah.
So we
engage in a continuous form of conscious
contemplation
and reflection
and gratitude
and remembrance of the Almighty.
So it provides this
that you do at night,
combines the 2 key elements of Ramadan,
engaging in worship of Allah, the reveal of
the Quran and we engage the word of
Allah himself the Quran.
And during the day we abstain
from some of the basic fundamental
necessities of life, food and drink.
Thereby we get hunger and thirst somewhat. But
in the
a spiritual awareness
that helps us transcend
the needs of the body
and the wants of the flesh.
Mastering our appetites
rather than becoming enslaved
to
our greed, need,
and to our appetites.
Emptying the stomach
but filling the soul.
Helping us to remember the fact that our
bodies are temporary
but our souls
are beyond worldly.
By adopting
a little
voluntary
inconvenience of fasting,
We allow ourselves to feel a tiny bit
of the hunger that so many in the
world are enduring on a daily basis.
We fast till Iftar
for so many in the world, Iftar
really comes. And if it does come, it
does not come everyday and that is true
for almost half the world.
This awareness
evokes and generates within us a sense of
civic responsibility
and therefore it engenders
a greater sense, an increased sense of generosity.
We try to spend Ramadan in doing all
the good we can,
finding ways of doing the best deeds,
and trying to be the best that we
can be.
The prophet
Abdullah ibn Umar
narrates,
Which people are most loved to Allah?
And which deeds are most loved to Allah?
And for those of us who are fasting
it's and being generous and contributing to the
welfare of others, this should evoke our conscience.
Rasool said,
the best of people are those who are
best to humanity.
And
Rasulullah said, the most loved person to Allah
is the one most beneficial to others and
the best of these are those that gladden
the heart of others, Remove the hunger of
the hungry, to lighten the sorrow of those
who are sad, to remove the hurt of
those who may have been wronged or injured,
And to relieve those who may be burdened
by debts.
You see this is living.
That your life is not only about what
you do for yourself, but how through yourself
you become an agent of Allah's goodness. Remember
the hadith
where the Rasul ins it was inspired to
say, Allah will ask on the day of
qiyamah, I was hungry and you didn't feed
me. We say, Allah, how can we feed
you? You are self sufficient. And Allah will
respond, don't you know so and so was
hungry, so and so was in need. Had
you helped him, you would have found me
with him.
So Allah being self sufficient, but we mustn't
be dead
to the world. We would be awakened to
the realities around us. Our fasting can't only
make us aware of our
personal, physical, and spiritual responsibilities
without being cognizant of our social and civic
responsibilities.
Imam al Shafi'i put it very beautifully said,
He says the best of people among people
are those who are generous,
who prevent people from having to beg to
meet their needs.
And then he says there are so many
people who may have died, who may have
moved on, but they live on because of
the honorability
and the generosity,
and so many people are walking around
useless to anybody as if they are dead.
There are those
who are dead, who have passed on, but
their generosity and goodness continues to help. And
there are those who are alive,
whose presence does not make a difference to
those in need.
We have been blessed to witness another month
of Ramadan,
a month of seeking forgiveness,
of focusing on the pursuance of taqwa, a
month of increased generosity,
of controlling our negative urges and our negative
emotions
and of heightening our capacity to improve ourselves.
And all of these pursuits I've mentioned are
captured in the verse of the old Quran.
Allah says
in Surah
Al Imran, and strive with one another to
attain
to the forgiveness of your sustainer, to your
provider,
and to a paradise
which is as vast as the heavens and
the earth, which has been prepared for those
who aspire towards taqwa.
Those doers of good
Those doers of good who spend charitably
in times of plenty and in times of
difficulty.
Those who control the emotions,
those who pardon and forgive their fellow human
beings,
surely Allah loves such doers
of good. May Allah make us to be
among them.
Now if the fasting person
as the Quran
indicates,
one of the descriptions of
the people who are fasting one of the
names and titles
those who are on a spiritual journey, and
a journey implies you leave a place for
another place. You must be moving to make
a journey.
If the fasting person is on a spiritual
journey,
then why is it that so many of
us remain the same in spite of going
through Ramadan after Ramadan.
While we know that the one who has
truly benefited from fasting is the one who
actually comes out of Ramadan better than he
went into Ramadan.
Do not let our fast
and our prayer of Ramadan be a mere
ritual,
hallowed in performance,
devoid of blessing
as the Rasul warned
as documented by in the sunnah
of.
Perchance the fasting perchance
the fasting person attains nothing by their fast
except hunger and perchance the one who stands
in prayer at night may achieve nothing by
it except tiredness.
May Allah protect us from such fasting and
such prayer.
Do we not realize that Ramadan is a
training ground
for the conscientization
of a human being?
And for those of us who think we
are conscious more specifically for us, It is
a spiritual academy. Ramadan is a spiritual academy
for human self development,
self regulation
and self improvement.
Otherwise,
it's not only
the abstention
of food and drink, there are other elements
of ethical and moral
implications
that are required of us to be implemented.
Whoever doesn't give up false statements, talking false
things, or telling lies,
evil deeds, speaking bad words, saying negative things.
Allah sees no need why that person is
not eating and drinking. He may as well
eat and drink.
Allah sees no need why a person who
continues telling lies, continue making fitna or so
and so forth or saying bad words. Allah
sees no reason why did he stop eating.
Why? Why did he stop eating?
It's not to say that you can eat.
It's to make you conscious that I should
not my fasting becomes almost null and void
if I do this.
So Ramadan is an opportunity for growth,
a prospect for moral progress
and for spiritual advancement.
It's an ideal period for personal
transformation.
We need to journey
morally and spiritually,
individually and socially.
We need to
improve theoretically and practically.
Not focusing so much
as some of us do on the amount
of prayer
but rather on the quantity and the quality
rather than the quality rather than the quantity
of prayer. I repeat, not focusing so much
on the quantity of prayer, but rather on
the quality of our prayer. Not how far
we have gone into reading the Quran,
but how far has the Quran reached within
us.
Not on how many sunnahs we have done,
mashallah, do as many as you can but
rather how much of the prophetic
characteristics
have we imbibed.
Not so much of how much dhikr, mashaAllah,
we repeat on the tongue and please do
so, but more on how much Allah is
remembered in the process
in the heart.
Not so much Allah being mentioned on the
tongue, please do so. Keep your tongue moist
with the remembrance of Allah but more important
than that is how is Allah remembered in
the heart. Not how well we recited the
Quran in prayer but how well we have
reflected the Quranic values
in our character and our behavior. Not so
much on mere absencing from food and drink
as much as it is a period for
a catalyst for transformation.
Not focusing on how hungry you personally feel
until iftar,
but how you evoke your civic responsibility
realizing for many people there is no iftar
everyday.
Yes.
We have abstained from the impulse of eating
and drink drinking,
but we need to graduate
to refrain from greed and gluttony
and self selfishness.
Yes. We have avoided sinful and wrongful actions
to the best of our ability, but now
we need to graduate to the avoidance of
evil and corruption.
Yes, we have increased
our prayers in the solitude of the night
when nobody can see us.
Now we need to increase
our ability to do things
not for show.
Yes, we have multiplied
asking Allah for forgiveness.
We ought now to graduate, to increase in
forgiving those around us, the creation of the
Creator.
Yes, we have enhanced
our individual
generosity
and this is where I really need us
to reflect on this.
There's so much
generous generosity
displayed by Muslims in Ramadan which is excellent.
So many organizations, so many institutions
doing such great work. May Allah reward each
and every one of them. Each and everyone
who distributes, who collects, who contributes,
and who benefits. May Allah reward each and
every one of it. But if you noticed,
we feed the poor, and next year, we
feed the same poor and their children. And
the following year, we feed the same poor
and their children and their grandchildren.
We have advanced our individual
generosity to help feed the poor.
It is high time that we graduate
to a collective commitment for the eradication of
poverty.
We have not eradicated poverty.
Sometimes we perpetuate
it by mere handouts rather than empowerment of
people.
Institutions and organizations
must come together and think of ways
how we can though make those who are
receiving zakah
be
payers of zakah so they can benefit other
people
rather than keeping them in perpetual poverty and
feeling good that we are giving our charity
to them. Good to give. Please continue giving.
But there needs to be some change in
what we are doing because we are not
eradicating poverty.
We are only feeding the poor, which is
good, but it's a temporary measure.
So we have enhanced our individual generosity
to help to feed the poor. It is
high time that you graduate
to a collective commitment as an ummah for
the eradication
of poverty.
We have been attending the school of fasting
through this month of Ramadan.
Ramadan upon Ramadan at the institution of Ramadan
for years now.
We're trying to pursue taqwa,
but are we moving from self centeredness to
social consciousness?
Are we moving from self righteousness
towards righteousness?
What we're asking is, are we indeed graduating
from being a Muslim
to being a
Amin al Baran min. We make dua for
Sheikh Monat who is currently covering
of an operation after being involved in an
accident.
May du'a Allah
grant the operation to be a complete success
and, restore success
so they can be back in this community.
Soon. And also allow me to agree on
behalf of a few people. It is, brother
Hussain Shabuddin who will be leaving on 15th
April
at 8
PM. He's one of the neighbors here with
the masjid in, number 22 Belmont
Avenue.
And, he will be leaving 8 o'clock on
Friday 15th April, insha'Allah.
For Umrah. Inshaa'Allah.
And then for myself as well, insha'Allah, I'll
be leaving on Tuesday insha'Allah if everything goes
well. Also, my wife and I inshallah have
been invited to perform umrah inshallah.
So we'll be leaving on 12th,
that is next week Tuesday inshallah.
And, for 10 days, Allah
accept our ummla, inshallah.
And if there's any shortcoming from my side
or our side, we beg your forgiveness inshallah.
And definitely inshallah,
myself and my wife and I'm sure all
those more at Ameerin that will be undertaking
the journey of Umrah will keep, the jama'ah
and the of Muhammad
in our du'as. So we request to add
Allah grant us strength
to fulfill the monastic of the honor to
the peace of our ability Insha'Allah
and to return to our families Insha'Allah.