Tahir Anwar – Ramadan Reflections Saying Goode to Ramadan
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As this beautiful month,
is about to come to a close,
naturally it's been
an interesting and unique month.
We continue to
pray to Allah
This is a month Allah says ayaama madoodat,
a certain specific
number of days,
and essentially the goal, right, our goal in
this month is what,
so that we may acquire taqwa, the consciousness
of Allah
And what else is
our mission? Our mission is forgiveness
from Allah
Everything that we are required to do in
this month,
the fasting,
the prayers,
the recitation,
all of that
is to become close to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And if we have been able to become
close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in the unique situation that we happen to
be in, then insha'Allah,
we are amongst those who are the winners
and those who are successful.
And if we haven't been able to come
close to Allah
then it's not too late because all it
takes is one sincere moment, literally a sincere
moment
to remember Allah
Allah reminds us,
Right? Ask Allah
silently with lots of humility.
Find that one moment with Allah
and all will be good, insha'Allah.
So there's a few things. First of all,
you know, as we close these nights,
we've been reminded again and again again and
again, Let us increase our dhikr of Allahumma
innakaafoooon
tuhibbal afa'afooAnni.
O Allah innakaafoooon,
You are the one who forgives, tuhibbal afa,
You love to forgive, so forgive me. Make
this dua in any language. Aisha radiAllahu anha
narrates this from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
and it's been narrated that Sufyan Thawri who
writes,
for me, dua in this night is better
than prayer.
Now that doesn't mean that he wouldn't pray.
It would just mean that he personally would
find a certain satisfaction
in du'a that he would not find in
prayer on this specific
night. Right? So whatever it is that we
do, du'a,
dhikr,
charity,
waking up a little early for suhoor so
that we can get in our tahajjud,
whatever it is extra that we can do
during these nights, let's make it count. We
just have a few more nights left, We're
almost there, and inshallah, the blessing is bill
Allah
Also keeping in mind
that
no one,
no one should end this month with a
feeling of guilt.
No one should end this month feeling
that what they have done has not been
accepted.
No one should end this month feeling
that this Ramadan
was not a good Ramadan or this Ramadan
was a bad Ramadan. There's no such thing
as a bad Ramadan.
There's no such thing as not a good
Ramadan.
There's no such thing as my actions have
not been accepted by Allah
Though we are reminded that there would be
people, as I mentioned earlier, who would make
du'a for 6 months after Ramadan
for Allah to accept their Ibadah of their
Ramadan, but that means inshaAllah that Allah will
accept our Ibadah. So I don't want anyone
to end this month, this month of the
blessed month of Ramadan, this beautiful
month of Ramadan, thinking
that my actions weren't accepted, I wasn't able
to go to the masjid,
so I didn't get my extra rewards, that
I wasn't able to host people for Iftar,
so I won't get that extra reward. Whatever
actions that we have been able to do
in the past that we haven't been able
to do this month should not be a
reason for us to think that this was
not a good Ramadan, this was not a
fulfilling Ramadan
simply because we weren't able to do those
actions
and we would have had we had we
had the ability to do so inshallah, we
have a reward with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
without even doing them. And the fact that
we want to do them and we aren't
able to do them, then insha'Allah there's an
increase in our reward with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Do not underestimate
the power of Allah. Do not underestimate the
mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is
not a time to be having negative thoughts
about Allah. This is a time about having
positive thoughts about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the
mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the acceptance
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and this is
what leads us into
our Eid. Right? This is what leads us
into our Eid. It's been mentioned, Abdullahib no
Abbas radiAllahu anhu narrates, and we're gonna talk
about the last night of Ramadan. We don't
know when it will be, naturally moonsiding.
So whatever whichever night it is, Abdullah ibn
Abbas
narrates it. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
at Iftar on each night in Ramadan, 100
of 1000 of individuals are freed from the
fire of *,
but on Friday that many people are freed
every moment.
And when the last night of Ramadan arrives,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala frees and forgives the
amount of people that He has freeing and
forgiven
during the course of the entire month.
So if if,
just in case,
we haven't made it into that list,
all we got to do is get that
last moment of Ramadan,
right, that last day. If tonight is the
sighting of the moon, then make sure that
we are while we make arrangements to sight
the moon and fulfill that sunnah, but let
us make sure that we spend a few
moments alone with Allah
asking him for forgiveness.
Allah will not allow any believer who asks
him for forgiveness
to not be forgiven
during this blessed month. All we have to
do is ask. So and if it's not
that night and if we complete 30 nights,
then, of course, we know for a fact
that I will be the next day, then
on the 30th night evening of Ramadan, before
Salatul Magrib, make du'a to Allah
for the acceptance of our deeds. Right? For
the acceptance of our deeds, for forgiveness,
for a blessed future, that may Allah
relieve the ummah, relieve the entire earth with
the difficulty that it happens to be going
through, right, asking Allah
and as we're talking about dua and as
all of us
make dua in our homes, with our families,
with our children, with our parents, I ask
you to keep me and my family in
your,
blessed duas
as well. Now
also keep in mind that the the nights
of i'id
are considered to be nights of Ibadah and
worship. Right? These are nights of Ibadah and
worship. The prophet, it's been narrated that the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, although Ramadan would technically
be over at the time of Maghrib, he
wouldn't go home. He would remain in the
masjid, go directly to the Musallallahu alaihi wasallam,
and then proceed to his home from there.
Abu Umama radiAllahu anhu naresat the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam said, whoever stands
in prayer in the nights of Eid for
the pleasure of Allah
his heart will not die
on the day all the hearts will die.
In other words,
if we can
take a few moments on the night of
Eid, after isha, just as we have been
praying taraweeh
every
day and we have been making tahajjud every
day, if we can take a few moments
and pray a few extra rak'ahs, Allah
will cause and allow our hearts to always
be alive,
always be conscious,
aware of Allah
aware of our surroundings,
aware,
right, of the reality of this life,
aware of the importance of the hereafter insha'Allah.
Mu'adhib Njabal radiallahu anhu is narrated is narrates
that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, paradise,
Jannah,
is mandated compulsory for the one who keeps
5 nights alive,
the night of Taruiyyah, the night of Arafa,
the night of 2 'ird and the night
of,
bara'ah.
So keep in mind that this, the night
of 'id happens to be a night of
'ibada
and worship.
Let's also keep in mind a few things.
If we haven't given our sadaqatul fiddle,
although it becomes an obligation on the day
of Eid,
at Fajr time, we can give it in
advance.
If you are aware of poor and needy
people in the community that you can get
it to directly so that they can enjoy
Eid as well. Let us try to do
that, so if we haven't given our sadaqaal
fitr,
zakatul fitra, fitrana,
whatever it is you call it, let's try
to make sure that we take care of
that
sooner
than later.
Also, keep in mind, you know, there is
a minimum amount. The Hanafis
have the most, the bare minimum amount, but,
you know, we say minimum of $5, but
give as much as you can. If you
can give more, please go ahead and do
so. Also, it seems,
like, mrid this year may be very, very,
very unique and very, very different.
Rather than be sad about it, honestly, let
us be grateful that we are alive,
let us be grateful that we are healthy,
let us be grateful that we have shelter,
let us be grateful that we have people
that love us, let us be grateful that
we have had this entire month of Ramadan.
Let us be grateful that we have been
able to fast. Let us be grateful that
if we haven't been able to fast, we've
been able to give the fidya. Right? We've
been able to give the fidya, that lengthy
hadith,
you know,
an individual made a mistake, had to give
a kafarah, comes to the Prophet
and the Prophet gives him all these options
in the end, right, he couldn't fulfill any
of the options, not even given charity, and
when dates were brought in charity, the Nabi
asked for him and said give this to
that man so he can give these dates
in charity, and he responds to the Prophet
He says, oh Messenger of God, give this
to a family that's poorer than my family.
So let us be grateful that for those
of us that haven't been able to fast,
we were able to give the fidya. There's
so much to be grateful for. There's so
much to celebrate.
Right? I just received word from someone who
says that all of a sudden they've lost,
eyesight in one of their eyes. SubhanAllah, let
us we have so much to be grateful
for. Yes, yes, unfortunately, we cannot celebrate,
with the community
at the masjid or at the fairgrounds or
at some large hall where we have all
dressed up and we're with our family and
friends and saying Takbiraat of Eid and so
on and so forth. I get that, I
totally understand that, we're totally going to miss
that. This Ramadan and this Eid is gonna
go down in history like never before, but
let us insha'Allah be grateful for all that
which we have
and I'm gonna recommend, especially parents of young
children,
make it a celebration,
decorate your homes,
buy, please, please for the sake of Allah,
because this Ramadan
and Eid has been so difficult for all
of us.
Let us buy gifts for our children. Let's
buy some nice gifts for our children. Let
them remember that it was that one 'id
that was so difficult that I was able
to, you know, I my parents got me
something that I had wanted for such a
long time. If Allah has blessed you with
the opportunity,
be grateful, and buy beautiful gifts for your
children, and and decorate your homes,
and and make this Eid one of celebration,
because we want we want to make sure
that we celebrate from the bottom of our
hearts, and we remain in a state of
gratitude to Allah
Say, You Allah, despite all the difficulty, You've
given us so much, and we want to
be grateful today, and we want to celebrate.
Please dress up. If you wish to buy
new clothes, please buy new clothes, please dress
up. And then when Allah
allows us the opportunity once again to see
each other, meet each other, greet each other,
hug each other, and have dinner with each
other, we will do that, insha'Allah.
We will make qada of our Eid, not
the Eid prayer, but qada' of the celebration
of our Eid. We will, insha'Allah,
whenever we can with our MCC community, insha'Allah,
we and and, you know, all the other
surrounding communities
that, you know, Livermore, San Ramon, and everyone
else, insha'Allah,
we will collectively,
celebrate. We'll have an Eid celebration, insha'Allah, all
of us. And we will celebrate, and we
will eat good food, and we will smile,
and we will laugh. But let us make
this, Eid a blessed one, for all of
us, Insha'Allah, we pray to Allah
for the acceptance of this beautiful month of
Ramadan,
and and let us ask Allah
to to forgive us in this month, and
to be to to become pleased with us,
and to remain pleased with us, and
allow us to be, to be in His
blessings and and allow us to keep all
of the blessings that He has given to
us and not take away anything away from
us, and allow us to have halal sustenance
and increase our sustenance and give shifa to
those who are ill. I know there's many
people in the in the, Tri City community
or Tri Valley community that are very near
and dear to my heart who are, very
very ill.
May Allah
bless all of you and all of us,
our parents and our elder ones, with shifa
and afiyah and blessings and happiness, and may
Allah
make this Ramadan
a beautiful a beautiful one for all of
us and a beautiful Eid for all of
us. With that said, a little a few
days in advance, insha'Allah.
To all of you.
Please keep me
and those near and dear to me, in
my in your duas, and you will all
be in mine.