Sadullah Khan – Post Witr Talk 1 Ramadaan 1444 23 March 2023

We wish each and everyone a

morally uplifting and spiritually beneficial Ramadan.

Ramadan Kareem,

and we commence our theme for this blessed

month.

Moral guidance from everyday experiences.

The saying attributed to the prophet Muhammad

where he said

Righteousness

or goodness

is neither in dressing up nor in outer

appearances,

but rather

in inner tranquility

and self dignity.

And this notion of focusing

on the inner

rather than the outer

is ideally reflected

in the Ibadah of Siam,

the fasting in the month of Ramadan.

For fasting is a form of worship

that is not outwardly

observable,

unlike any of the other worships.

When we make salah,

it's observable the performance of salah. When we

give charity

of zakah, it's observable of the giver giving

to the one who receives,

and of course the performing of the rituals

of Hajj are all observable,

but the fasting of Ramadan

is unobservable.

We live in a world

dominated by superficial perceptions

where outer appearances

seem far more important

and significant

than the inner realities,

and how often

in our lives we find that our judgments

are based on stereotyping,

very often on prejudice, whether it be looks,

whether it be color, gender, nationality,

ethnicity,

social status, all of these are outer appearances.

Now there's an incident

that captures how people tend to focus

more on the outer

than the inner reality,

focusing on the bark

rather than the tree.

A group of young graduates,

all emerging leaders in their respective communities

were having some complaints and they wanted to

see the sheikh.

So the sheikh invited them,

the old sheikh Mohammed Saeed, to meet with

them, and this group of young

people

journeyed towards the sheikh to his place, to

his village,

and eventually gathered at his home, and the

Sheikh noted that after a short while, they

were talking among themselves and their conversation was

focused on negativity,

on the complaints and challenges

rather than things that are positive.

The Sheeran brought them a large container, a

jug

of, coconut juice or coconut water, if you

will if you will. And he poured this

coconut water

into assortment of cups,

plastic cup, porcelain cup, glass cup,

crystal cup. Some were plain, some were ordinary,

some were

expensive, some were exquisite,

and he told themselves

to help themselves to a cup of this

coconut water.

The first batch of people who went to

the best cups

and leave the plastic in the cheaper ones

for the others to to to to have.

After they all drank, the sheikh said to

them, you may have noticed

that all of the nicer looking cups were

taken first,

leaving behind

the plainer ones.

While it's okay to want the nicest looking

thing,

it is very often

an indication

of the source of people's negativity

and the stress relations that they have in

their lives.

He said, I gave you all the same

juice,

and be rest assured

that the cup itself added no value to

the juice at all.

In fact, the quality of the juice was

not compromised

by the cup.

In fact, the cup is merely the holder

of what we drink.

It is the outer container,

not the inner drink.

What each of you really wanted was a

refreshing cup of coconut water. You wanted refreshing

coconut water,

not the cup in itself,

but you instinctively

went for the best looking one.

Life is like coconut water,

the sheikh reminded them. The jobs, the positions,

the money, your titles,

these are merely cups.

They are like instruments that contain your life.

We compete for the cups,

but the type of cup we have does

not does not necessarily

define

the quality of fulfillment in our life.

Allah brings forth the juice in the coconut,

but we choose our cups.

And we may sometimes not enjoy the juice

because we focus far too much on the

cup itself.

You see,

even within our own selves,

there's a very often a focus of prioritizing

our outer appearances, which is good, but so

much priority on how we look

than how we really are.

And the moral guidance we did use from

this example of Sheikh Mohammed Sahid and his

students

is that

being too preoccupied

with competing for the outer,

sometimes we're misappreciating

the inner.

And the barriers between

the inner and the outer is beauty beautifully

captured in the dua of Sayyidina Alikarum Allah

waja.

With the focus

on

goodness

inwardly and outwardly. He supplicated the very famous

dua.

Allah,

make my inner to be better than my

outer, and make my outer to be good.