Sikander Hashmi – Final Moments of Ramadan KMA Friday Message
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Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters,
my young
friends,
We begin by praising Allah
the lord of the universe,
the creator, the sustainer, the nourisher,
the one who has brought us
to this final Friday of Ramadan. And we
begin by sending peace and salutations upon his
beloved messenger,
Muhammad,
the son of Abdullah
My brothers and sisters,
any goodness that we find,
any acts of goodness that we are able
to do,
It is only on only through the mercy
of Allah
As the people will say,
Allah tells us in the Quran
what the dwellers of Jannah, the believers are
going to say.
And all praise is for Allah
who guided us
to this.
And if Allah
had not guided us,
we would not have been able to do
it.
So even in doing good, even in doing
acts which are pleasing to Allah
we are taught to have humility and to
ascribe success
to Allah
and to be grateful
for the opportunity to have worshiped and obeyed
the commands of Allah
Not to be, to be arrogant
and to think that, oh, this is something
that I have done.
This is something that I have accomplished.
I offered so much salah.
I felt so good in my heart. I
recited so many,
completion of Quran.
This is not the attitude of the believers.
So we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
his blessings, for guiding us
for bringing us to this blessed day. Some
of us were ready when we started this
journey 28 days ago.
We hit the ground running.
Others perhaps
were a bit slow, but now
have warmed up.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept
whatever he has guided us to do thus
far. Ask Allah
to forgive us for our shortcomings.
My brothers, if I could just ask you
to please come forward and fill in all
the gaps
so that way we can have maximum
space for everyone.
And sit the way maybe you sit in
so that way we can, if possible, so
that way we can fill in more space.
So my brothers and sisters,
this is a short journey journey that we
are on.
When the person passes away on the day
of judgment, when they're asked about the life
of this world,
it's gonna seem like mere hours.
It's gonna seem like
mere hours,
maybe days. That's it.
Right? Right now, it seems like it's long.
Right? Just like when
you are doing something
and you're busy, it seems like maybe it
was, you know, or sorry, when you're not
busy and you have lots of time, it
looks like it's a long time. But when
you look back,
right, it seems like it was very short.
Or let's say you are doing something in
which you are occupied. You are busy, and
it seems like the time has flown away.
Why the difference?
It's the same time.
It's still 60 seconds in a minute, still
60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in
a day. But if you're doing something and
you're busy and you're enjoying it, it looks
like it flow away.
If you have nothing to do, you're bored.
You are killing time, and I say, don't
kill time. You know? You're not supposed to
kill anyone, especially not time. Don't kill time.
But let's say you're killing time.
Then it seems like, oh, it's such a
long day. It's the same.
Seconds and minutes and hours. Right? So on
the day of judgment,
right, it will seem like this life was
nothing. It was just a few hours. It
was just a few minutes, a few days
perhaps.
Right? So this is a very short journey.
And so we need to make the most
of it in Ramadan,
as we're trying to do, but outside of
Ramadan as well. Right? Because our destination
is a rub, Allah
And to get close to him, to earn
his love and his pleasure, and the closer
you get, the more beloved and more special
you become to him
The prophet salallahu
alayhi wasallam has told us, hadith
meaning that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has said
has told the prophet
what he has said, and, the prophet has
related to us. The Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says,
The most beloved thing with which my servant
comes closer to me, comes nearer to me
is by doing what I have enjoined
upon
them,
to do the to do the obligations. When
we do these obligations,
we get closer to Allah
And Allah
then said, and my servant keeps on coming
closer to me
through
performing through performing optional acts until I love
him or her.
So the obligations bring us closer to Allah
So if you're fasting and you're feeling closer
to Allah
that may be the reason.
If you are reciting Quran, if you are
making dua, you are giving charity, you are
offering night prayer in Ramadan,
and you feel closer to Allah
Indeed, that is the case
because the obligations bring us closer to him
and the nawafil continue to bring us closer
and closer to him.
As Allah says,
until Allah
starts loving that person.
How amazing would it be
to be loved by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
specifically, not the general, you know, mercy and
love that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has for
his creation,
but specifically
being loved by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. May
Allah
grant us his love of that type. Ameen.
And then at that point, the person becomes
supercharged.
Not in an arrogant way.
Not in an arrogant way.
But
Allah
supercharges their faculties,
their senses,
and his guidance towards them.
So they have the divine support and blessings
of Allah
And who doesn't want that, my brothers and
sisters? So on the day of Eid, we
want to be more closer to Allah
We want to be more beloved to Allah
We want to feel more love for Allah
than we did on the 1st day of
Ramadan
and we want to keep it that way.
We want to keep it that way. You
know? Think about
the end of Ramadan as an achievement
by the grace of Allah
something that you have gained and collected and
have worked worked hard to do so, and
you don't want to let it go. You
don't want to let it spill
away
because, you know, the last 28 days
have been about purification.
They have been about elevating our level of
taqwa
and coming out as permanently better people
towards others and as better servants to Allah
Right? I give this example you probably remember.
You can imagine the difference between a person
who fast, who goes to Ramadan for 40,
50, 60 years of their life.
2 people. Same amount of Ramadan.
Okay?
One of them
goes forward each year,
at the end of Ramadan, find themselves most
ahead,
and then reverses.
So imagine someone sitting in their car in
the parking lot, and they just go ahead,
and then they reverse. And then they go
ahead, and they reverse. And they do that
50, 60 times.
Have they changed
anything in terms of where they have gone?
No. They're still stuck in the parking lot
as opposed to someone who uses each Ramadan
as a stepping stone.
So they make some gains. Yes. Maybe after
Eid, it goes down a little bit. Right?
Because, you know, shaitan is out and the
temptations are, you know, again there, and and,
you know, the environment is not there, and
you're not feeling it the same way. This
is to some extent, it's natural.
Right? But a person moves up
and still is able to maintain a certain
level which was better than what they had
before Ramadan,
and they continue that. The next Ramadan, they
move up even more, and then they go
down a little bit. So now,
cumulatively,
they've gone ahead. And they do that for
50, 60, 70 Ramadans.
Can you imagine where they will be in
terms of the relationship with Allah
and on this journey out of this parking
lot
as opposed to the person who just moves
forward and reverses?
There's a world of a difference.
So this is something to think about, my
brothers and sisters, because the primary impact should
be on our heart as we have discussed,
because taqwa resides here, and the purpose of
fasting is taqwa, first and foremost.
And when a person has taqwa, it spreads
out
into their actions,
into their words,
into their
thinking and their attitude.
Right? Because taqwa,
the it lies in the heart, and the
heart is
the core, which controls everything else as the
prophet
has told us. That if the heart is
sound,
then
the rest of the body is sound.
The rest of the actions are sound. The
rest of the speech is sound. But if
the heart is not rectified,
then all of the other things also become
corrupted.
Tells us that
is not achieved,
attained
through
the outwardly actions.
But rather it is acquired attained
with that which occurs, which is found
from the the greatness of Allah
and his reverent fear,
and his
inside of the heart.
And one of the finest definitions of is
the following, that of Allah
is being on the way to him at
all times
with overwhelming
glorification,
inciting nearness, and in urging joy.
So this overwhelming glorification
is to have the heart
filled with glorification of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
and such a state makes the servant unconcerned
with glorifying others
or paying attention to others beside Allah. Meaning,
unnecessary attention or negative attention towards others beside
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. A servant should always
have this state especially when they are remembering
Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. So we want this heart to
be filled constantly with the remembrance and the
glorification
of Allah
Because the physical actions,
the deeds as we discussed, should have an
impact on the heart. You know, you could
think of taqwa
as the foundation
or the roof.
Right? It get it's it it gets damaged.
It starts leaking,
or it leaks and causes more damage. And
you keep repairing and you keep going back
to that.
But the damage is because the root problem
is not solved.
Right? Think of someone. Roof keeps leaking. He
keeps repairing the plaster, you know, the the
drywall and the paint and put everything in.
Then again, same thing happens. Still fixes it
again. Keeps doing it over and over again.
Or flooring gets damaged, keeps replacing the flooring,
but he's not he's not fixing the leak.
So similar is our state, my brothers and
sisters,
that the lack of taqwa is at the
root of our symptoms and the consequences of
our spiritual illnesses.
So the question is, how will this Ramadan
change you
after Ramadan?
If you want to truly know how successful
your Ramadan has been,
see how you are like after Ramadan.
Because in Ramadan, it's easy. You know, this
time every night and people come to the
masjid and, like, you know, there's a vibe.
Everyone's posting good stuff on social media. You
know, whatever. Like, you know, it's it's it's
it's pretty positive. You know? But
the true test is gonna come after Ramadan
as to how your Ramadan went because Ramadan
is supposed to charge us for the rest
of the year until the next Ramadan comes
around.
So after Ramadan, you're gonna find out how
strong your battery is of Taqwa. How strong
your battery of iman is? How long does
it last?
And what impact does it have upon you?
See, my brothers and sisters, the time is
running out.
Ramadan is leaving.
You have 2 types of guests.
You have a guest
who you're nice with. You're welcome now.
But you can't wait until they leave.
And say, good riddance. Okay? They're gone.
By the way, the sunnah of the prophet
is
3 days you host someone as nicely as
you can.
After 3 days, they're no longer a guest.
Okay? You can ask them to help out.
I added that part. But, basically, you know,
after 3 days, you can lower the level
of hospitality because
they're true guest for 3 days.
So you say good, written, saying, you say,
okay,
they're gone because you're tired. Right? Then there's
the other guest
who you actually want that they stay with
you.
You want them to stay. You don't you
really don't want them to leave.
Right? Someone who truly value, who you truly
value, you truly love, you truly revere your
respect. You don't mind getting tired for it
for them. You don't get mind getting worn
out. You don't mind going the extra mile
and keep doing it even past 3 days.
So this should be our relationship with Ramadan.
And not that we say, okay, good riddance.
Now we're we're back to normal. Can't wait
till it's over because, you know, my subscription
is is is going to waste, and, you
know, I need to do this, and I
miss this, and I miss that. No. What
we want to do, it's possible you're in
that state.
Right? But what we want, we want to
have the relationship with Ramadan that we don't
want Ramadan
to leave. My brothers and sisters, Ramadan is
about foundational and transformative change.
Right? So that we start valuing the words
of Allah
We start building and strengthening our connection with
Allah
And we start sacrificing because Jannah does not
come cheap.
Jannah is valuable, and it is important. It
does not come cheap. So we gotta struggle
and strive and make the effort and feel
it to put the pleasure of Allah
after all of our,
you know, to put the pleasure of Allah
after all of our needs and pleasures is
not really a sacrifice.
It's not really a sacrifice. True sacrifice is
that we feel something and we put our
own,
pleasures
and desires
behind the command and the pleasure of Allah
And lastly, we have been making tawba in
this month.
Allah guided us.
Has enumerated many signs for the acceptance and
non acceptance of tawba.
Signs of acceptance and non acceptance of tawba.
You wanna know if your tawba is accepted
or not. So among them, number 1, the
servant should be better after repentance than before.
Your actions should be better after making Tawba
than before Tawba. This means that the repenting
person
should see whether or not they have increased
their good deeds and decreased their bad deeds.
So if you have done tawba in Ramadan,
but after Ramadan, you find that the good
deeds have not increased,
and the the bad deeds are continuing or
even more, then that is a concerning sign,
my brothers and sisters.
And also, he should be become more humble
and benefit from his state of mind by
resorting to supplications of humility
and servitude. So it should bring about humility
inside of a person,
and make them want to do more service
for the sake of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So this is a very important
question that as Ramadan comes to an end,
may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept and continue
to guide us.
After going through this training of Ramadan and
this, you know, this period, what change will
come in your life in terms of your
attitude, in terms of your personality,
in terms of your belief, your relationships,
your feelings, your worship?
And what sin or doubtful act will you
leave? And what goodness are you going to
add even if it is small?
Even if it is small because the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, take up good
deeds as much as you are able to
for the best deeds are those done regularly
even if they are a few.
The prophet
whenever he began an action, he would do
it continuously.
He would go do it continuously, meaning he
would not leave it. An optional action. He
would not just give it up after some
time. So think. What is it? It doesn't
have to be huge. It could be small.
It could be some thicket. It could be
some
some recitation of Quran. Something that you wanna
continue
after Ramadan, Insha'Allah. May Allah
grant us acceptance
and guidance and especially may Allah
forgive us for all of our shortcomings in
this blessed month. We thank Allah
for all that he has guided us to,
and we ask him to continue to guide
us after this blessed month as well.
So once again, we'll have a quick adhan.
A couple of minutes to offer prayers
and then