Tahir Anwar – Ramadan Reflection Releasing The Bitterness

Ramadan Mubarak to everyone,

at the MCC community.

While it's

certainly

a unique set of events that we are

unable to see each other and meet each

other and greet each other at the masjid,

and, you know, we miss those opportune moments.

We are grateful to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,

for all of his blessings. SubhanAllah, there's just

the reality is that there's just so much

to be thankful for despite

all that is not working out for us

right now. Unfortunately, we're not able to go

to the masjid, and we are hoping and

praying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that may

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

allow for this

to be,

something that energizes us in the near future

when we start going to the masjid and

we start becoming more diligent when we go

to the masjid, inshaAllah, by the Fafal of

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So with that said,

once again, Ramadan Mubarak, I pray to Allah

that this Ramadan is one full of blessings

for us and our families and our communities

insha Allah.

And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reward us

for all of our good actions, but may

Allah also reward us for the struggles that

we're going through in this month of Ramadan

because we're not able to do so many

of the things

that we do communally at the masjid.

Insha'Allah,

Allah is kareem, Allah is kind, Allah subhanahu

wa ta'ala is merciful, and Allah subhanahu wa

ta'ala will reward every single one of us,

insha'Allah. Amini rabbal alamin.

It will be my pleasure, insha'Allah, to be

with you, once a week, whether it be

virtually,

in this format,

and be able to

share a few things with you during the

course of the month of Ramadan.

It's a blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

that, you know, while we are unable to

see each other, we're able to access

many of our teachers. I get to hear

so many of

my local teachers and colleagues as well online,

and that's a blessing from Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala.

May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala elevate

all of our teachers. May Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala preserve them and their families, and may

Allah reward them for all the sacrifices that

they make. Ameen You Rabbil Alameen.

What I wanna do there's a there's a

text called, the Ramadan of the prophet Muhammad

sallallahu alaihi wa sallam or the prophets Ramadan

sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And there's some portions

in there that I want to spend the

next few moments,

sharing with you insha'Allah.

When the month of Ramadan would begin, there's

a hadith of Ubada ibn Samit radiAllahu anhu

narrates from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam

that when Ramadan would begin the prophet sallallahu

alaihi wasallam would make a du'a. Allahummasalimni

liramadhanalimu

taqabbala.

Oh Allah, preserve me for Ramadan,

preserve Ramadan for me,

and accept my deeds or preserve my deeds

in the course

of this month. That's why there's a narration

Aisha radiAllahu anha narrates that when the month

of Ramadan would come, the color of the

prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would change.

Imam Munadi,

in explaining why the color would change, he

said that it would change because

out of a fear of a weakness occurring

that could result him in not fulfilling

the requirements of worship.

In other words, the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam

would get worried. You know, while, of course,

naturally he was happy as we all are,

but there would be a certain fear, a

certain worry on the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.

And that fear and that worry was that,

you know, that his condition would change and

that he would not be able to worship

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

because this month

is a month dedicated to direct

acts of worship of Ibadah to Allah

starting from

our Fard prayers,

starting from our Fard fasting

to our sunnah prayers,

be those the prayers that we associate with

all of our 5 prayers or be it

salatul taraweeh,

the recitation of the Quran,

giving in charity,

all of these things completely dedicated to Ramadan.

Right? That's why the time in Ramadan is

not to be wasted. Right? The time in

Ramadan

is not to be wasted. All these other

things

that, you know, we do otherwise

can actually wait until after Ramadan. That's how

the Sahaba used to prepare for the month

of Ramadan. Now, of course, we're still in

slightly in the beginning of Ramadan.

By the time you will see this

recording, it will be, you know, the 4th

day of Ramadan and potentially the 5th night

or the 6th, but kher what the point

is that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam

used to congratulate the Sahaba. The Nabi sallallahu

alaihi wa sallam would congratulate his companions by

saying, and these are the words of the

Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the month of

Ramadan has come to you. It's a blessed

month. Allah

has prescribed its fast upon you. In it,

the gates of paradise are opened, the doors

of * are closed, and the devils are

locked up.

If in it is a night that's better

than a 1000 months, and whoever is deprived

of its goodness

is surely one who is deprived.

Not only you know there's that hadith of

the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam where

once the Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam was climbing

a pulpit, he was climbing a mimba, and

as he climbed the first step, he said

Amin. As he climbed the second step, he

said Amin. As he climbed the 3rd step,

he said Amin. The Sahaba later inquired first

of all, the Sahaba, you know, looked and

said, what's happening?

Then they inquired, and the Nabi salallahu alaihi

wasallam responded and said that Jibrael Amin, alaihi

salallahu alaihi wasallam came to me, and he

made 3 supplications.

And I said, Amin to all 3. They

said, You Rasulullah,

what are those 3 supplications? The prophet, alayhis

salatu wa sallam, responded and said that,

be deprived or be destroyed the individual

who upon whom it comes the month of

Ramadan,

and he does not acquire his forgiveness

during the course of this month. The prophet

sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that is a dua

did Jibril Ameen made, and I said Ameen

to it. The second dua he made was

that be deprived or be destroyed that individual

who finds his parents alive

and doesn't serve them enough

to guarantee entry into paradise.

The Nabi alaihi wasalam says I said Amin

to it. And the third

the the third time I said Amin was

the Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasalam says that Jibrael

Amin said that you be deprived or be

destroyed the individual upon whom your name, the

name of the Nabi Muhammad

sallallahu ta'ala alaihi wa sallam is mentioned, and

they they don't send salutations

upon you. And the Nabi alaihi salam says,

I said Amin to it. In other words,

Allah has made forgiveness

so easy during this month of Ramadan.

As one of our teachers and friends recently

shared an example with us, and he said

it's like

a person, it's raining outside,

and,

it's about getting wet. How easy it is.

All you have to do if it's raining

is step outside and come right back in

and before you know it, you'll be wet.

You'll be wet even if you don't want

to get wet. Right. Many a times it's

raining and you have to step outside to

grab your mail from the mailbox or go

to your car for something and you don't

want to get wet, but you still end

up getting wet. That's what Ramadan is like.

Right. That's what the blessings of the month

of Ramadan are like. That even if you

don't want, if just a little, all you

have to do is open that door and

step outside.

Right? All you have to do is open

that door and step outside,

and the mercy of Allah

will attach itself to you. Right? The forgiveness

from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will attach itself

to you. So we learned that when the

month of Ramadan would begin, the Nabi sallallahu

alaihi wasallam

would congratulate

his, his companions. So we can say Ramadan

Mubarak to each other, and we can continue

saying,

Right? We welcome you. We welcome you, oh,

month of Ramadan. We should be in gratitude

that Allah

has allowed us to enter into the month

of Ramadan. We have witnessed the month of

Ramadan and hopefully by now, insha Allah, Allah

Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has already forgiven our sins.

And from here onwards, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

will elevate our status with Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala with him Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

Greeting the month of Ramadan, the Nabi sallallahu

alaihi wasallam is narrated to have said, oh

people,

Ramadan,

the chief, the sayeda

of all of the months has come to

you, so we welcome and we greet this

month.

What I wanna share in the few moments

that I have left is a,

sermon. This is a very famous sal a

sermon. Salman al Farasir radiAllahu anhu narrates

that on the last day of Shaaban,

the Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam

delivered a khutbah, delivered a sermon, and it

is as follows. The Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam

says, oh, people, a very blessed month is

about to come over you. This is the

Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam

teaching his companions

the merits of this month, the importance of

this month, the grandeur, the greatness

of this month, and we take this hadith

as a reminder for us to increase in

our actions

and make our actions better.

Oh people, a very blessed month is about

to come over you, a month in which

is a night better than a 1000 months.

Ladies and gentlemen, you know, the the hadith,

you know, we a lot of times the

Quranic ayah says, kharum min alfishaar, and we

say, oh better than 84 years of worship.

This is just to show a lot of

times in the hadith we have examples of

3, 7, you know, a 100, 700.

Allah is using the term a1000 here. In

other words, it is so so large.

Better than a 1000 months could mean better

than a 1000 years or a better better

than a 1000 lifetimes.

We don't know the magnitude of this. Just

don't lose out on it is what

Allah is reminding us and the Nabi

reminds us.

He continues,

a month whose fasts Allah has prescribed for

you and made its qiyam, its prayers, a

source of reward.

Whoever gets close to Allah in it with

voluntary good deeds

will be like the one undertaking Fard in

the other months. Any voluntary deed, brothers and

sisters. You know the sunnah prayers that we

do and the nafal prayers that we do

and any voluntary action that we do? We

will get the reward of an obligatory action.

And then he continues and says whoever fulfills

a farb in it will be full will

be like the one fulfilling 70 fara'ils in

another month. So for every fajr prayer that

we do, we get the reward of 70

fajrs. Every Duhr prayer that we do, we

get the reward of 70 Duhr prayers. Now

that doesn't mean that it's equivalent to 70

Duhrs and that we don't have to make

up Duhrs that we've made that we've missed

in the past. It just means that Allah

will give us the reward

of that prayer times 70.

It's a month of patience,

and the reward of patience is paradise.

It's a month of empathy, and a month

in which the believers livelihood,

riz, is increased. Brothers and sisters, I know

many of us are going through financial difficulties,

and I know that many of us are

worried what what the next few weeks and

the next few months

will bring. But let us not forget the

promise of Allah

If we want to guarantee

financial goodness in the upcoming days months, then

be as charitable as you can in this

month, and Allah will reward us, and Allah

will return it back to us.

Whoever provides food

to open the fast of another will have

the forgiveness of his sins and freedom from

*. He will receive the same reward as

the fasting person, and there will be no

reduction in the reward of the fasting person.

On this, some of the companions

pointed out and said, oh, Rasulallah, You Rasulallah,

not all of us have the means to

feed a fasting individual. And the prophet responded

and said, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, that Allah will

give such a reward to one who gives

even one date or one drop

of milk or water. In other words, you

don't have to give much to the fasting

individual.

Have the honor. Figure out. Find ways where

we can bring

the date or the water or the milk

or the food

to the to the dinner table of the

fasting individual to attain that reward.

It is and by the way, this doesn't

mean that you have it has to be

someone else.

This reward could be for your own families.

If you have done the grocery shopping through

which people will eat that evening, if you've

done the cooking through which people your own

family will eat that evening, that reward will

be with you for the sake of Allah

Subhanahu Wa Ta'a. Right? A lot of times

we think other no. Even in our homes,

you've done the groceries, you've done the shopping,

you've paid for it, you've cooked for it,

you've worked hard for that meal, Allah

would reward you.

It's a month of waluuhma.

The first part is mercy. We're going through

the first 10 days of mercy. Wa'usatuhuuhmaqfirah,

the middle 10 days are for of forgiveness.

And wa'akhirahu,

the last 10 days are i'tum mininar, our

freedom from the fire of *. Make plentiful

4 things in it. With 2 of them,

you can please your lord, and without the

other 2, you cannot survive. The 2 things

with which you can please your lord are

the dhikr of the kalimatayibala

illaha illallah Muhammadu Rasulullah

and istighfar seeking forgiveness.

The best way to do this, brothers and

sisters, is after every prayer, say la ilaha

illallah Muhammadu Rasulullah 3 times, and astaghfirullah

or astaghfirullah haramimin kullidhambimwattubu

ilay, or any form of istighfar after every

prayer, 3 times. And if you are inclined

that before salatulmagrib

or before salatul Fajr, as you're waiting for

the prayer or after salatul Fajr Fajr, you're

trying to find an easy form of dhikr

that you don't have to work too hard,

find it asbih and

and seeking His protection from the hellfire. Right?

Oh Allah, give me paradise, give me protection

from the hellfire. Right? Allahumma inna nas arookaljanna

wana urdu become annal. Allahumma inna nas arookaljanna

wana urdu become annal. This does not have

to be done in Arabic. This could be

this could be said in Urdu, English,

Farsi,

Arabic, whatever language you want, it has to

come from the heart, though. The request to

Allah has to come from the heart.

And whoever gives water to a fasting person,

Allah will quench him on the day of

judgment from my fountain,

from from which he will not feel any

thirst

up until entering paradise.

May Allah make this month of Ramadan

a blessed one for all of us. May

Allah give us the strength, the tawfiq, the

ability to increase in our charities, in our

ibadah,

and ultimately,

may Allah

accept it from all of us.