Sikander Hashmi – Seeking Rahmah in Ramadan KMA Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the connection between motherly love and the type of love a mother has for her child. They emphasize the importance of compassion and nurturing love for a mother to make the difference in her life. The upcoming months will bring reminded moments and the potential for peace and acceptance. The speaker advises against giving up on oneself and others, bringing acceptance and clarity to her life, and bringing acceptance and clarity to her partner's life.
AI: Summary ©
Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters,
my young friends, Assalamu alaikumu rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
We begin by thanking Allah
for allowing us
to witness
the first Jum'ah, the first Friday of Ramadan,
the most blessed day of the week and
the most blessed month. Alhamdulillah.
This is indeed
a great blessing of Allah upon
us
and another example
of
His mercy upon us.
As I always like to remind myself,
there's so many of our brothers and sisters
who attended the first Jum'ah last Ramadan,
but they're no longer around
to attend the first Jum'ah this Ramadan.
And in that way Allah
has favored us by giving us
this one more opportunity
to seek His mercy and His forgiveness,
and to seek the virtues and blessings
of this special month.
See my brothers and sisters,
we came into this world
with love and mercy upon us.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala put care,
mercy, and compassion
in the hearts
of our parents,
our caregivers,
that first nurse,
that first doctor
who picked us up gently,
making sure not to drop us,
cleaned us,
took care of us when our mother couldn't,
and our parents
who sacrificed for us
stayed up long nights when we were sick,
fed us at all hours of the day
and night,
washed us, changed our diapers,
took us to the doctor when we were
ill.
Allah
was the one
who put that love, that compassion,
that rahmah
into the hearts of our parents and our
caregivers.
And He nourished us through His mercy when
we were helpless,
when we were small,
tiny,
unable to stand up for ourselves,
unable to defend ourselves.
What's the only way a baby is able
to defend his or herself?
By crying.
That's all a baby is able to do.
So defenseless,
so many risks,
so many dangers,
that Allah
protected us. And He sent people to take
care of us and protect us. So He
nourished us through His mercy when we were
helpless.
And He continues to guide
us and bless us and feed us through
His mercy
Indeed Allah Azzawajal says,
My mercy
encompasses all things. And I was reading about
the word rahma, it was very interesting.
That often we translate it as mercy,
but in fact mercy in English is perhaps
not the best
translation.
Because in effect what rahmah really is and
Allah
has linked this word
with
the rahim,
with the womb.
And there is this
connection with motherly
type of love
as the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
had said
about the mother
who was feeding her child.
And the Prophet
asked that, Do you think that this lady,
this woman
can throw her child into the fire?
Do you think this mother who is feeding
her child,
do you think
that
she can throw her child in the fire?
And the companions replied, No.
And the Prophet
said,
Subhanallah that Allah
is more merciful to His servants, has more
rahma,
is more
merciful or has more rahma
towards His servants
than this woman does
towards her child.
So we find this connection
of motherly love. So the better way of
describing Rahma perhaps
is compassionate
nurturing love.
Because when we say mercy
in English, we get the meaning of somebody
who has done something wrong and they are
looking for
relief.
Somebody gets
charged with a crime and they go in
front of the judge and they plead mercy
as an example.
Or somebody is has in power
and is about to hurt or do something
to another
being and then they plead mercy and they
have mercy upon them. So this is the
connotation we get in the English language. But
rahma is not like that, right? Or is
much more than that, let's put it that
way. So compassionate,
nurturing love is the rahma that we are
talking about of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
we find this connection with that nurturing motherly
love, the type of love that a mother
has for her child, that special love. Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has much more of that type of love
for His creation.
In the end my brothers and sisters,
it will be his mercy, his rahma, the
better word. It will be his rahma that
will make the difference for us as well.
And actually, subhanallah,
you know, I was getting ready for Surah
Al Jum'ah today, and I was thinking to
myself, I don't know, subhanallah. This thought just
came to my mind that if I were
to die
soon,
tonight, tomorrow, today,
would I get Jannah or not?
Do I think that
maybe I would be deserving of Jannah or
not?
My brothers and sisters, the reality is that
nobody can assure themselves of Jannah.
No matter what our actions are like, no
matter how good we think we may think
we are, no matter, you know, what we
have done or how good we feel about
ourselves,
we are not of those people. Because there
are some religions who feel like, you know,
we have believed, we have done good, so
we should get Jannah. There is a sense
of entitlement.
And they say, well, okay. If I'm not
going to be assured of of salvation of
paradise, then what's the point? Then why should
I do it? Right. My brothers and sisters,
this is not the attitude of the believer.
This is not the attitude
of the believer because even Rasoolullah
did not take his jannah for granted. Can
you imagine?
The Prophet
the best of all the human beings of
the creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
He did not take his Jannah for granted.
That actions alone will not
enter any of you into paradise.
Actions alone will not enter
any of you into paradise or protect him
from the fire and not even me
except through the mercy of Allah
This is the the commentator said this is
perhaps from the humility of the Prophet
right? And knowing his position, you know, he
would
you know, of course, but he's the Prophet
of Allah, the fula last messenger of Allah.
Allah had
taken care of his actions, his deeds. He
didn't have to worry about sins, he didn't
have to worry about
committing any evil. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala had
protected him in that way.
Yet still,
yet still
he's saying, Not even me except through the
mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the
mercy of Allah
is what we need, my brothers and sisters.
Now on this 1st Friday of Ramadan,
most of us,
myself included
at the forefront
have gathered here in a spoiled
and dirty spiritual state.
You know, we try to wash up and
we try to dress nice for jama'ah as
we should for Friday.
But the reality
inside,
right, that
is very, very different because what do we
have? We have 11 months
without Ramadan.
We have 11 months of
shaitan being loose. We have 11 months of
accumulated
sins. We have 11 months of misdeeds
and mistakes.
And we gather in this month on this
blessed day in this spoiled dirty spiritual state.
And our state
may be even in a state of
of decay
and disease, and we may not even realize
it.
We may not even realize
that we are actually spiritually diseased
and
we have a spiritual cancer that is eating
us up inside or a spiritual tumor that
is growing and it's taking over our spiritual
body,
our spiritual heart and our spiritual body, we
may not even realize it.
If we were to die with all the
stains of these sins
and all of our hidden
thoughts
and temptations
and the spiritual diseases that we have in
our hearts right now,
what would be our state when Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala opens us up
for all to see and to be judged.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala protect us from
humiliation on the day of judgment.
So for the believers, this is a scary
thought. But my brothers and sisters,
this is the month of rahma and Maghfirah.
It is the month of mercy and forgiveness.
And while it is good to be fearful
of Allah
and his wrath and the day of judgment,
Allah also gives us much hope
and indeed wants us to always be
hopeful
in his mercy, in his rahma.
Allah gives us good news in the Quran,
telling the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam to say
That, oh, my servants who have transgressed against
themselves.
Meaning by sinning.
Do not despair
of the rahmah of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
of the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Indeed Allah forgives
all sins
and it
is He who is the forgiving
and the most merciful.
And this is
from the
the beauty of Islam
and from
the beauty of the rahmah of Allah
That a person can come with a mountain
full of sins,
a mountain full
of misdeeds.
And Allah
can wipe it out in a second.
And in fact,
perhaps even
for some
sinners who are blessed by Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Allah may even turn
their sins
into good deeds. Can you imagine?
So a person is a great sinner,
and he repents
sincerely to
Allah And instead of having him start at
0 good deeds that now you have to
build up,
it may be perhaps that Allah
loves his sincerity
so much
that he turns his 100 and 1000 of
sins into good deeds.
Allahu Akbar.
How great is the mercy of Allah
So my brothers and sisters, never despair of
the mercy of Allah.
As we read in Surat Yusuf, Laatay Asumu'rawwillah.
Never give up hope in Allah's mercy. Walatay
Asumu'rawwi lahi ilal. Qumul kafiroon.
Certainly no one despairs
of the mercy of Allah except the people
who disbelieve.
So the believer
should never ever ever give up on the
mercy of Allah
No matter what you have done. If you
have been away from the masjid for the
entire year, the last time you prayed was
maybe on Eidul Adha or Eidul Fitr. The
last time you came to the masjid was
last Ramadan.
Do not give up on the mercy of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This is shaitaan who tries to deceive us
and says that you have sinned so much.
You have done so much,
you have gone beyond the point of no
return,
and now there is no point.
Allah will never forgive you.
So continue committing your sin.
This is the lie from shaitaan. Do not
believe in the lies of shaitaan.
Do not believe in the lies of shaitaan
about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
No matter what you have done, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
can and will forgive you, insha'Allah,
if you turn to Allah
with sincerity.
So don't let
don't allow yourself to ever fall into this
deception because you see my brothers and sisters,
Allah protect us, but everyone goes through ups
and downs.
Sometimes there are people they are at a
spiritual high.
And SubhanAllah, something happens, a tragedy hits,
they go through some hardship,
or some fitna comes their way, and they
find themselves
hitting rock bottom.
In unimaginable
ways. May Allah protect us.
And then it is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
who also lifts them out of that. But
you've got to have a desire to be
lifted.
If you don't have a desire to be
lifted and to be saved,
then it's very difficult.
So at the very least, don't let that
desire go away, that desire to love Allah
and his messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, that
desire for Jannah, that desire for Rahma, that
desire for Mahfirah. If nothing else, keep that
desire alive. Perhaps it will be because of
that desire that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
have Rahma upon you, and he will pull
you out of that depth. So never give
up on yourself
and let us never give up on others
as well my brothers and sisters.
The mercy, the rahma of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is so great as Abu Huraira radiAllahu
anhu relates that Rasulullah he sallallahu alayhi wasallam
said that
Allah created mercy.
All the mercy,
all the rahma, all the compassion in the
world.
He divided it into 100 parts or all
of the rahma in the universe, let's say,
in all of the creation of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
divided it into 100 parts,
and He kept for Himself 99 parts.
And He sent only 1 part. What is
that? 1%.
Allah sent
1% of rahma
down upon the earth.
And it is because of this one part
that there is mutual love
among the creation,
not just the human beings, among the creation
so much so that the animal lifts up
its hoof from its young one fearing that
it might harm it.
Even that when a large animal is careful
around its child so as not to trample
it, this is also from the rahma that
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The 1% rahma that
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has sent upon the
earth
from the very beginning, from Sayyidha Adam alayhi
salam till the day of qiyama.
All of the compassion that you find, all
of the love that you find, all of
the kindness that you find
between relatives, between children, between parents, between all
of human beings, all of the animals, all
of the jinn.
Well, you probably don't know about that one,
but all of it
is 1% only
of rahmah that exists and 99%
Allah
has kept from Himself Subhanallah.
So we find enormous
amount of mercy in the hearts of the
creation but this is all just 1%. So
99% Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has.
So this is how merciful Allah
is, it's even hard to imagine.
And of course, we certainly don't want to
be those who are deprived
of that mercy then.
So we do need to work for it
now to attract it as much as we
can.
So we have the tools,
the receivers of mercy, right? Or the tools,
the antennas of mercy. Let's put it that
way. The antennas that allow mercy to be
received or that attract mercy. What are they?
They are
the fasting in the month of Ramadan.
They are standing in prayer in front of
Allah
They are sadaqah
and of course
all the good deeds which are pleasing to
Allah
These are all tools
for attracting the mercy of Allah
And ideally we want to do it properly
because the more
better you do it, the more presence of
heart and mind, the better the signal of
rahmah inshaAllah,
the better the reception of rahmah,
the stronger signal you're gonna get. The more
presence of mind that you have, the more
presence of heart that you have, and the
more properly that you try to do it,
the stronger will be the signal of rahma
being beamed upon you, and the stronger will
be the reception, insha'Allah.
Part of that also, my brothers and sisters,
is to feel neediness,
to feel weak in front of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala,
to feel the burden of our sins and
our shortcomings.
Not in a way that makes us despondent
because Allah tells us not to become despondent.
So not in a way that it pulls
us down and it demotivates us, but in
a way that humbles us.
Regret that humbles us and makes us needy
and wanting
of
rahma and mafira from Allah
And the best way to increase the intensity
of this Rahma being being down upon us
is
to transmit
Rahma to others.
As the prophet said,
that the one who does not show Rahma
towards others
will not be shown Rahma by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
That those who practice rahma,
the people of rahma,
to them, for them,
al rahman, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has rahma
upon them.
So have rahma towards
those upon the earth.
The one in
the sky
will have mercy upon you. My brothers and
sisters,
what's interesting here, the Prophet
does not say
that have mercy, have rahma only towards the
Muslims.
Have rahma, have mercy only towards those who
are coming to the masjid.
Only have mercy towards the human beings.
Rather
Have Rahmah upon
all of the inhabitants of the earth, all
upon the earth.
If you want to have the mercy of
Allah
intensified upon you,
be merciful
towards others.
So this Ramadan my brothers and sisters, let's
not just beg Allah for His mercy,
but also work to reform ourselves because Ramadan
is really the month of reform.
It is the month of positive change.
It is not just a month of fasting,
just not eating and drinking,
or just standing in qiyam at night or
just reciting Quran. But really all of this
is meant to change ourselves for the better
is to
rectify our behavior,
to purify ourselves
of our weaknesses and our shortcomings.
So let us
also work to reform ourselves so that we
become the true embodiment of mercy of rahmas
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's rahma continuously
finds us insha'allah.
How can we do this very quickly? Number
1,
spend our lives in such a way that
our presence becomes rahma for others. It means
of rahma for others.
Forgive others
if you want Allah to forgive you.
Clean your heart. Perhaps Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
will like it.
Perhaps Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will like it
and he will also
forgive you and have mercy upon you because
you have done that towards others.
Show kindness and compassion to everyone.
Deal in nice way, in the best way.
Always look to help others out
beyond the bare minimum, beyond what is required,
especially within our homes and in our families.
Instead of always looking for what is my
right,
always try to deal with with
your other family members.
And you will see the barakah, the rahma,
the love that Allah
will send upon your household, Insha'Allah.
And even if others do not reciprocate your
mercy and your kindness,
try to continue to be a form of
rahma
for all of the creation of Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And you will see how the mercy, the
rahmah of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala will descend
upon you. We end with the dua,
My Rabb forgive and have mercy and You
are the best of the merciful. We ask
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to shower His abundant
rahma upon us. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala to soften our hearts. We ask Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to purify our hearts, to
fill our hearts with goodness and love for
Him. May May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make
us the recipients of his endless rahma until
the day that we meet him. Allahumma ameen.
We'll take a quick break.