Your Death is Between Two Deeds – Ramadan 2021 Preparation

bla

bla

enough handling hamdulillah nama do we want to start you know who wanna stop fetal? When are we to be la Himanshu Rudy and fusina woman say Dr. Molina Mejia de la who Fela and will be Linna when they yield little fella her the other watershed one La La La who are the WHO la sharika wa shadow Ana Mohammed Abdullah who are sudo yeah you Alladhina amanu otaku la haka to party, Walter moto Illa, one two Muslim moon. Yeah, you're Latina and otaku Allah will tumble enough some pajama to avoid WhatsApp Allah in Allah forbid on Bhima Tamela. All praise is due to Allah the Exalted, we praise Him, we seek His help, his guidance and his forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of

our sins and the evils within ourselves. Whomsoever Allah guides because they are sincere, non kin misguide and whomever he rightfully causes to be led astray because they are not sincere, none can guide and I bear witness and I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone. And I testify that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam peace be upon him, is His servant and final messenger. Allah the Exalted reminds us in the Noble Quran for our own benefits. What is translated as all believers are you who believe have Taqwa of Allah, be mindful and conscious of Allah's right upon you, and die not except in a state of worship? May Allah subhanaw taala allow us to live upon

die upon righteousness Allahumma Amin.

The believer dies between two deeds, one that was completed and one that was not. And when we reflect on the last 12 months, we find two different types of simultaneous reflections. The month of Ramadan is already around the corner.

The month of Ramadan every single year as it's coming around, we say Subhan Allah Salam, O Allah and again, an entire year flew by. It says though yesterday it says though we were celebrating Ramadan from home for the first time, it says no, we were fasting and praying and Kellyanne from home for the first time for many people, a virtual or COVID era Ramadan, which many lectures were online, in which many events were live streamed. And almost at the same time, last March 2020, that's when things began to get canceled. Conferences canceled. Programs shifting to the online world many schools moving online, many companies sending their employees to work from home remote work.

And as we experienced a most unique Ramadan for many people, they learn how to pray clean,

frankly, for the first time, and many people learned how to fast Ramadan, and the etiquettes of fasting and breaking a fast and many other rulings of Ramadan for the very first time.

And Alhamdulillah we say that there is a silver lining in what we are experiencing, there are many silver linings, there are many wisdoms that we cannot see. And some that we can, perhaps extract from this experience from this pandemic, that for many people, learning how to worship on their own learning how to worship fully, comprehensively and seek the knowledge that they need, the basic knowledge that every Muslim Muslim should seek in terms of how to worship Allah, for many people that was lost that I'm alone.

And as we are on the verge of another Ramadan, we reflect on how this pandemic for many people has been a trial, a test, a test of faith, a test of patience, submit a test of your understanding of powder, why this world exists, why we are here in the first place. For other people, perhaps it was a type of martyrdom shahada for our brothers and sisters who passed away due to this pandemic, may Allah accept the my Shahada, Lama Amin, for some people, perhaps it was a punishment for those who are evil and Allah knows best. But ultimately, we cannot see behind the scenes. We can control what we do, how we respond, how we adapt how we adjust, and that's what we're commanded to do. That's

what your life is about. when anything comes your way. How are you going to respond to it a test of this world, Leah blue Acoma ucommerce and Ramona to test you to see what's best in their deeds, their actions and as the Ramadan is around the corner and we ask Allah subhanaw taala to grant us an accepted Ramadan Alana but little known Ramadan Jana fee human and MK Moline. We say that if anything matters to you, and anything is valuable to you, you prepare for it, you plan for it. A lot of people put so much effort planning for their very first job interview for the very first time they have no experience. A lot of people plan ahead when it comes to their travels their travel

plans, especially when there are multiple logistical factors. A lot of people when they care about certain events, you're running an event or project, a wedding, whatever it may be. You care about the details. It matters to

You so you plan ahead? What about the month of Ramadan, the greatest month of the year that guests that is coming to us, if we value it, we will prepare for it. But often times we don't have the motivation to prepare for something that we don't realize is valuable to us until it's gone.

And so as we reflect on this one phenomenon that we constantly remind ourselves about something we all observe 2 billion Muslims all around the world see the same thing happening every single year. And this is one way to become really motivated one way to become really passionate, dedicated, excited. Notice how in the last few hours of Shaban as also the prayer leaves and method of prayer begins in the month of Ramadan is here. What happens a lot of times people who are not praying for Yom the entire year they were praying just the five prayers nothing else. The entire year. No Cleon suddenly they're praying today we pray suddenly, apparently I'm late. A lot of people are not

reading any Quran regularly throughout the year, they put it to the side, it's not their main priority in life. What happens? Ramadan comes around, suddenly, it matters to them, suddenly, they have the strength and the confidence to read more Quran. People who are not fasting the entire year, a single day, suddenly Ramadan is here and they fast all 30 days. The question is why? If we can focus on this question of why we can help ourselves in so many ways, and our communities and our families.

Why is it that when Ramadan begins, suddenly people are doing more when they said previously, I can't, I'm too weak, I'm not confident, I'm not strong enough, I don't have good habits, I can't they're coming up with excuses. What change was not external, what change was internal, you want it to change. You want it to read Quran that night, you want it to value your time that Ramadan, you found value in something and you motivated yourself to pursue it. And this is very important for us to think about why because according to some, some psychologists, motivation is on a spectrum. So part of it can be completely autonomous or internal. So you have internal motivation with something

you naturally desire and something you already want to do. So you're excited, you're going to do it anyway. And then there's external motivation, something that you did not initially want to do. So your motivation to pursue it is more difficult. It's coming from somewhere else. For example, a lot of bachelor's degree programs require you to take classes, especially in America, classes that are not relevant to your field at all. And a lot of students take these classes because they're required, but they do not care about these topics at all. What happens they take the classes, and they're perhaps doing the absolute minimum amount of work possible just to get an A in the class.

Are we going to read more? Are we going to be excited about the engagement, the discussion, the projects? Are we going to read a supplementary and secondary material perhaps not.

And when you think about someone who signs up for a class, or a topic or a workshop, or seminar, at work, at school, at home online, something you are excited about what happens, you're excited, you don't miss the program, you don't miss the live sessions, you don't miss what you have to do. In fact, you read the entire text and perhaps two or three other texts as well. Why? Because it's something that you care about. And so the motivation is internal. Now the question is, how do we take external motivation and transform it into internal motivation? This requires us to reflect on the value the question of why, why should this thing matter to me. And so even in our faith, perhaps

as our children are growing up, we're telling them to do certain things externally, but internally, they are not motivated yet. And we might as parents as guardians or siblings be missing out on something very crucial internally in their development that will help them to connect to the external action. Why do we worship on the why is it so important? Why is gymnast so valuable? Why are we here in this world? Why are you existing? Why do you breathe? What is the purpose of life? Knowing why helps change your motivation to an internal one more and more and even even when it is not an internal motivation? We can have in shallow talent, the solder, the willpower, the grit, at

times when your motivation is fluctuating to still push yourself to do something important, but really everything comes down to the internal value system. Why? So your commitment to Allah recognizing Allah's majesty recognizing Allah subhanho wa Taala is right upon us. Once we think about all of these we realized Subhanallah one of the main reasons we change was already clarified to us in the Quran. And so the head of of Ramadan is not necessarily the fasting, the objective of Ramadan is not just the fasting or to stay away from sins and all of that those are means but what is the main objective that we're attaining through these actions? Allah subhanaw taala clarified it

for us so that we're never confused about it. So if we want to understand motivation from the Islamic psychological perspective, it starts here. Allah subhanaw taala says, Yo

yo, honey, hello, Medina no coup de ma de como si. CU te Ma Li como si, and we'll come back. What do you

mean by

Nikola lacuna, Moon, all believers fasting was prescribed for you obligated upon you, as it was obligated upon nations before you why so that you may gain tequila? Tequila is a term that is very poorly understood and mistranslated many times. There is no word in the English language that's equivalent to telco. telco has many connotations. And this is part of the richness of the Arabic language. Taqwa. Yes, it is God consciousness, mindfulness of Allah. But where does it come from? telkwa is a shield telkwa We call it to protect yourself against something to have a fortress. Now the question is, why would you protect yourself against something because you recognize that it is

dangerous for you, you recognize that the thing you are protecting is valuable to you. For example, some people when they buy their smartphones, $1,000 smartphone or even more these days, what do they do automatically, they'll go and buy some kind of phone case while you're protecting something valuable to you. And people are very cautious with how they treat it. Some people buy mashallah super expensive cars and then they go park in the parking lot. So they park far away from everyone and they take two or three spots. They don't want anyone parking next to them and hitting their doors. And so what happens here, when you're when you're valuing something you're cautious Tukwila

is for you. For example, as neighborhood eight all the lawn who said for you to be walking through a thorny path, there are a lot of thorn bushes, and to be very careful with your close with your body. Why? If you're not careful, and you're reckless, you're going to be pricked, you're going to be hurt. That's a minor analogy. Today, we can say for instance, when you're driving your car, we you cannot drive recklessly. May Allah subhanaw taala protect us. And forgive us if we have why. When you drive recklessly, you are endangering your life, the lives of the family members or friends in your car, the lives of people around you on the road, and so on and so forth. You're putting a lot

of valuable things at risk. Now many people don't drive recklessly of Hamdulillah. Why because you value your life. When something is valuable to you, you protect it. If your spiritual heart matters to you, and your desire to enter Jannah with Allah's pleasure and mercy, if that matters to you, then what should you naturally want to do, you should want to protect it. So you're not going to be going out and about and committing every action that's out there taking in all information, all types of media, all types of movies and TV shows, you're going to pick and choose very carefully. Another example, some social media apps today, they are so reckless for so many people, that the

algorithms are set up in a way that it will expose you to a lot of random things, things you did not follow pages you did not want to follow. So what happens, you're scrolling through the reels, you're scrolling through different videos, depending on the app and what happens, your eyes fall upon something you did not intend to see or you should not be seeing your ears listen to something you should not be listening to. And we know this. And so the one who is not cautious the one who does not have cautiousness or tequila in this case, just free for all I'll open up anything doesn't matter. The one who has Taqwa is careful why? Because something of value something of value is at

risk, my spiritual heart. Everything you consume with your eyes and your ears and your mouth and your words and your inter interactions. Your environment will affect your heart and your heart will determine what you end up doing with your actions. And that will determine where you end up in the next life. And so if the if agenda matters to you, and it has a price, if gender matters to you, and the pleasure of Allah and the mercy of Allah and the rights of Allah upon you, then you'll have Taqwa naturally. And so Taqwa comes with iman, belief in Allah recognizing who Allah is recognizing our need for him. All of these are part of taco. So when we say yeah, you Alladhina taco Allahu

Akbar, Ducati have Taqwa of Allah, as he deserves this, this word tuck, we're really cannot be captured in one or two English words have a shield against everything displeasing to Allah, everything that puts your athlete at risk, put a shield between you and that thing between you and that relationship between you on that door between you and that sin between you and that particular app or that website that you're visiting. Be very cautious with what you allow into your heart and into your home as well as for your children. So the objective of Ramadan la quinta taco, when you fast for the sake of Allah, and you do everything else required of you in Ramadan, naturally, you're

going to have a stronger shield against evil against misguidance against sinfulness against falling short, and that that should be the objective we keep in mind. And if Ramadan matters to us and we prepare from now like you're prepared for a marathon shahidul Coura this month, Shaban is the month of the reciters because of the some Sahaba would recite more Quran in preparation for Ramadan. If you want to recite a great amount of Quran in Ramadan and you want your habits to increase as we all should, then you should naturally warm up from now you should naturally Prepare from now your home should be prepared as well that your children when they're looking around the home they notice

something is different, whether it's through a masala designated area or having a certain area for two weeks together breaking fast as a family having certain times for her

Of course having Ramadan decoration if you want so your family naturally your children will feel that this is a blessing guest This is a special month we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us from amongst a limiter clean those who are guarding themselves against anything that is displeasing to Allah. So as a result they come they they follow the commands of Allah, they stay away from his prohibitions along with me. During the month of Ramadan, people are naturally more motivated because the value the value of Ramadan is clear the value of fasting the value of Jannah the lectures increase in Ramadan, the families are closer than Milan. And as these things increase in this

blessing month, we say if you want to succeed at the highest level, in this upcoming Ramadan, you must begin from now. And if you start preparing from now in sha Allah Tala and it's decreed for you to depart from this world to die before Ramadan at least you will have taken the first steps and Allah subhanho wa Taala we hope will reward you for that last for that sincerely and your son. One of the end results of all of this is what you gain tequila and Allah will forgive your sins. And this is what we hear every Ramadan you fast for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala the month of Ramadan as the Prophet sallallahu sallam said mon Samana, Madonna Iman and YT Serban Will Ferrell

Allahu Mata Mata called them in them they whoever fast the month of Ramadan with belief Eman wa T serve a hope for reward. You're hoping for that reward. Allah will forgive all of your past sins. May Allah subhanaw taala allow us to benefit from the reminder about Ramadan and to prepare for it. And to be amongst Animoto clean, Aloma I mean, once you have that objective in mind, taqwa God consciousness, mindfulness a shield, a shield for your heart, a shield for your your ticket to Jannah, a shield between you and all types of misguidance. Once that's clarified, then you need to specify what you're going to do in Oman. And the one who writes down their goals is more successful

than the one who does not according to many studies, sometimes five or 10 times more successful when they're clear about what they're pursuing. Especially if you have a very hectic schedule and lifestyle and family and commitments and responsibilities. Sometimes writing certain things down helps you to clarify where you're going, have a vision in mind, what is it that you want, and bring on board your entire family, your children, your spouse, your parents, if someone's living with you, bring on board your entire family. And during this blessed month, the month in which the Quran was revealed the final message of God to all of mankind until the end of times, the month of ikura,

recite read, during this blessed month in which we're fasting from February to motherhood. From the first prayer to the fourth prayer, as we're thinking about the things that we're going through. It's not just a physical thing, it's not staying away from food and drink and intimacy and just adding a few obligatory things or voluntary things. The month of Ramadan is also a powerful spiritual journey. You are telling your knifes your desires, you're telling yourself you cannot and I cannot do certain things that used to be 100. So outside of Ramadan, eating and drinking during the day is permissible. Depending on what you're eating, it's permissible. But during Ramadan, the days of

Ramadan, it's prohibited It's haram. So you're you're holding your knifes back from things that are generally Halal in order to strengthen your knifes against things that are haram so that you have the willpower, the resilience, the strength. If you can fast as a Muslim, if you can fast the day of Ramadan, you can accomplish anything. If you can faster day in on Milan, you can accomplish everything you want in your studies in school or to work with responsibilities with family, with your business with your projects, you can because you've developed the most important trait here, through tough bla and through email, and so on and so forth. You've developed conscientiousness

solder, you've developed willpower, and this is the willpower that we need that ends up leading to paradise. As we discussed last week, we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us amongst the people of Southern, not just patients, the people have willpower, that people have relentlessness that people have defiance that people who don't give up the people who don't burn out and when they burn out, they start over again. We ask everyone here to try to reflect as you're thinking about your journey towards Allah subhana wa Tada. Reflect, if you will, on the question of why. And I've I've mentioned this advice so many times, and so many people have taken it that hamdulillah so many of my teachers

have have given the same advice. It's very simple, very practical, but it requires you to put in a little bit of effort. If you want to be more motivated to do something. Write down a list of why 10 things 10 reasons why you should do this thing. 10 reasons why this is good for you. When you write down the reasons you're motivated, you will become more motivated, you will naturally become more motivated. And when you start to burnout as some people do when they set the bar too high or they start to feel distracted with their livelihood with a dunya with video games with sleep. When you find yourself distracted and burning out. Go back to your list of motivators and you will find

yourself in shallow Tada reflecting on why you started in the first place. And during this blessed month of Ramadan. I

As you're increasing your prayers, especially the voluntary prayers at night, reflect, if you will, in the following point, the salah and the acts of worship that dua supplicating to Allah subhanaw taala in Ramadan should not be like the type of dua or salah, you're praying right now meaning what? The quality and the quantity has to improve, especially the quality, especially the quality. And when you think about the advice of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one of the most powerful, simple, straightforward advices if we lived upon it, we will find the quality of Salah increasing naturally. When a man came to the Prophet salallahu Salam and asked for advice, he added his salatu

salam said, If you stand to pray for suddenly Salah to Madiran pray the prayer of the one bidding farewell.

Your bidding farewell. It's your last prayer in a dunya do we not know that everyone who died before us, all of our brothers and sisters, all of our loved ones, all of our family members who passed away before us. They die in between two prayers. They died with one final prayer that they completed and a prayer that did not yet be completed. And when you think about this, we have basically a brother in Michigan and some of you know the brother I'm referring to before he passed away. He said I feel like I'm living the advice of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in a way that I never thought of before. It's this advice when you stand to pray for solace Allah term over there and pray

as though you are bidding farewell to this world. This prayer is my last prayer. Because eventually it will be and if your habit is always to pray, as though your salah is the last, then eventually when you die, you won't have a reason to regret the quality of your final prayer.

And they diagnosed him with late stage cancer and told him he has several months to live in the Midwest, and Subhanallah when we visited him several times and we spoke on the phone several times. He said this is the one Hadith This is the one advice that he felt he had not lived upon before until he was given a diagnosis until he was told you have several months to live. And where are we today when Allah already gave us our diagnosis? Where are we today when we know that death is around the corner, that leaving could be at any time that this Salah literally this next prayer salatu Juma, this might be our last prayer.

And if this is your last prayer in this world in a dunya and you departed back to Allah, the Ever Merciful Ramadan, would you regret the quality of your Salah.

And it's much easier no doubt in Gemma or after a reminder for us to pray maybe with a little more emphasis with more who the test will be the salah that you're praying alone or at home, the quality of that prayer, how can you rush away from Salah away from Allah away from success away from everything that you need of a dunya Alpha? How can you rush away from that conversation with Allah back to a dunya so you basically did not give the slots right? Its quality, you rushed away from it, thinking that your success was somewhere else. And Little do we realize that that's where the success is. May Allah subhanaw taala allow us to pray every prayer as though it is our last and too

fast every Ramadan as though it is our last and to interact with our loved ones and with people around us as though it is the final interaction for one day, you will have said your last words to many people. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow us to live upon righteousness and our journey towards him. We ask Allah subhana wa Taala to grant us His pleasure and to keep us consistent and to protect us from the tribulations and the trials and the desires and temptations and the whispers of the devils and the societal pressures of this world. We ask Allah to protect us and our youth and our brothers and our sisters. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to elevate our ranks to grant us life

to Ramadan and to forgive us for all of our sins, the past, present and future the sins that are public the sins that are private. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to have mercy on us and our parents and our loved ones along the Amin seek forgiveness from Allah He is the oft forgiving the Ever Merciful AppFolio holy Harada was talking to the law and you want to confess stuff in the hula photo Rahim.

hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah while earlier he was talking he woman Wallah, we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to keep our hearts united to relieve us of our hardships to grant healing she fought to to those who are seeking she fought and to have mercy on those who passed away before us Aloma I mean, brothers and sisters reflect if you will on three questions. Three questions to summarize what we've stated up to this point. know in advance before Ramadan comes what is it that you want to accomplish? What do you want to accomplish with specifics? There are many deeds and perhaps we will specify before Ramadan and sha Allah many deeds that you should specify to increase

and improve in during the month of Ramadan. What do you want out of Ramadan? Don't make it general or generic Yes, the goal is tequila nearness to Allah. But what do you want to accomplish specifically, what are the specific acts of worship? Number two, why do you want to accomplish these things? The motivators what will help you

How to stay consistent so that you do not burn out. And number three, how do you plan to accomplish your goals? What is your strategy? You may have to do something different in your home your schedule might have to change your children, your spouse, your parents, someone might have to be on board. And what are you going to do if locally and some masajid are open and some communities are open? Depending on what happens before Ramadan? What are you going to do in terms of the interaction with a community in person or virtually? How will that affect your Ramadan? How will that affect your progress? Will that help you in some way? And please keep in mind there are many brothers and

sisters around the world who are celebrating or rather enjoying Ramadan alone. They are worshiping alone, they do not have roommates, family members, or they are converts and reverts. Make sure you're reaching out to others as well make sure that you're connecting the entire community online and offline, and that we're all working, working with one another towards Allah subhanaw taala as pleasure we ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow us to live upon righteousness and to die upon it. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to forgive us for all of our shortcomings. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow us to die between two Ramadan's in a state that is righteous. And if we were to pass away

during Ramadan to die in a righteous state as well, along the Amin, remember, once again, the believer dies between two deeds, one that was completed and one that was not the believer dies between two prayers, one that was completed and one that was not an unbeliever dies between two of them on lawns, one that was completed and one that was not work hard and take advantage of every opportunity. And don't allow the distractions around you in your life or with your family or online to be a reason for your heart, your spiritual heart to be at risk. Protect yourself, protect your investment, protect your journey towards Allah. That is taqwa. May Allah subhanaw taala make us

amongst unwell clean. Aloma Amin in Allahu wa Mala Iike Tonio Soluna, Allah Nabi Yeah, are you Alladhina amanu Sallu alayhi wa salim Otis Lima Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik ala Nabina Muhammad in February in Whitefield theory in WA Philomela in Yama Deen olam affinity misdemeanor well Muslimah it's what we need I wouldn't want me not even when I'm what a lot more fiddly while he Dina What do you why do you why do you Dina Allahumma Ya more commonly well hello we will have absorbed third bit Kulu banana Denecke Alana Medina What have you been? What Jana suburban Imani Tada Allah Moroccanoil Hooda what to call Willa alpha for one Alina, Allah one sorrel Islam or isn't

Muslimeen Allahu unsought any Muslim in Al Mustafa fina if he Colima can Allama federal carnavon in Muslim enough he couldn't Lima con fi couldn't Lima carne de Colima con yeah they'll generally when the Quran Allah Martha Anna Bella Alibaba Mirotic 100 or Jaime and along with his opener personal hajima wa jal Hydra Yamuna Yeoman el parque Allahu Akbar Liliana Ramadan wa Gianna fi human Allah Martha Bulleen Robina attina Feed dunya Hassan Well, Phil Filati hustler walked in, but now what often