Usama Canon – The Night of Power Ramadan 2012
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AI: Transcript ©
As we know, the Prophet, peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him, described Ramadan with
three unique qualities and he said that the
beginning of it is mercy and the middle
of it is forgiveness and the end of
it is freedom from the fire.
And so as we approach the end of
Ramadan, the meaning that should perhaps be most
present before us, the goal that should be
most immediate before us, the grand prize, as
it were, of Ramadan that we should all
be after is liberation from the torment of
the hellfire.
We hope and pray and beg Allah that
He grant us that, Ya Rabb al-Amin,
and that despite our shortcomings, despite our bad
manners, despite our heedlessness, that because of His
grace, His sublimity, His kindness, that He gaze
upon us and the rest of the ummah
and write for us freedom from the hellfire,
Ya Rabb al-Amin.
And we know that Allah created a world
of means.
He created a world in which He makes
ways for things to come about.
Like He created, He made the door so
you can come into the house so to
speak.
He created means for things to happen.
He is the ultimate uncaused cause of all
things but He created a world in which
if you want something to happen, you do
something to get that thing to happen.
And fasting Ramadan and standing at night and
giving charity, and all of these things that
we've been blessed to do of devotional activities
is one of the ways that we do
that.
But a reminder for us as we begin
to wrap up Ramadan about some things that
we can do throughout the rest of Ramadan
to hopefully save ourselves from the torment of
the fire.
There's a hadith where the Prophet, peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him, is reported
to have said, It's
a fascinating, everything the Prophet said was fascinating,
but the thing that he said, this is
a fascinating thing that the Prophet is reported
to have said, that whoever goes to fulfill
the need of their brother, and we understand
by language that this includes their sister.
The Arabic language defaults to the masculine like
many other languages do, but it doesn't obviously
suggest that it's gender specific.
So as I translate the rest of the
hadith, we'll just say it with the masculine
default.
Whoever goes to fulfill the need of their
brother, it's better than making i'tikaf, than engaging
in spiritual retreat for ten years.
Who just goes to fulfill the need of
their brother or their sister, it's better than
spending ten years in i'tikaf.
And whoever spends one day in i'tikaf, sincerely
for the sake of God, God will place
between them and the hellfire three trenches.
Each of them is further than that which
is between the heavens and the earth, or
the east and the west, if you will.
Look how beautiful, look how beautiful Allah is.
It's almost like you only don't get forgiven
if you really, really don't want to be
forgiven.
It's almost like only if you refuse forgiveness
will you not be forgiven.
Whoever fasts Ramadan will be forgiven their past
sins.
Believing in Allah, anticipating a reward will be
forgiven their past sins.
Whoever stands at night of Ramadan will be
forgiven their past sins.
Whoever gives someone to break their fast will
be forgiven.
Whoever stands on the night of power, believing
in Allah, anticipating a reward will be forgiven
their past sins.
And he says, whoever makes i'tikaf for one
day sincerely for the sake of Allah, it's
hyperbole, right?
When he says that he puts three spaces
between him and the hellfire, each of them
further than the heavens and the earth, it's
hyperbole.
Meaning that he doesn't even get anywhere near
hellfire if he does his i'tikaf sincerely for
the sake of Allah.
But at the beginning he says what?
To go fulfill the need of your brother
or sister is better than making i'tikaf for
ten years.
So the good news is as Ramadan wraps
up is back to life, back to reality.
It's time to get to work.
It's time to look at if whether the
spiritual energy that we got in Ramadan is
going to fuel anything meaningful in the world.
Are we going to be people who fulfill
the needs of those around us immediately and
then by extension anywhere people may have a
need.
And one of the fascinating things about our
Prophet ﷺ is that he always made room
for whatever lane you're going to be in.
In other words, if you're someone who is
able to do a lot of devotional work,
Alhamdulillah, you have the devotional side and you
get to be rewarded for doing that.
But many of us, especially the outside of
Ramadan are extremely busy, extremely busy.
But when the brother or the sister need
help, all of the sudden we become even
more busy.
Qari umar hafidhullah, may Allah reward him abundantly
and bless him and protect him and give
him good health and bless his family.
To think that a man who just spent
the last 27 days leading us in prayer,
the first thing he says when he's done
is pray for the volunteers.
If I was him I'd say pray for
me, right?
Pray for me.
But he says pray for the volunteers.
What happens when we need help in the
community?
Say brother there's an event, we need help.
And Alhamdulillah community like this, the volunteers are
very generous.
But sometimes when it comes time to help,
we get even extra busy.
I remember one time a brother who was
active in the community outside of the Bay
Area, he complained and he said every time
I call the brothers and say that we
need help, we need help with the masjid,
nobody shows up.
I say come at 7 or 8 o
'clock, we need to help so and so
do such and such.
Nobody shows up.
He said so one day I wanted to
trick him.
And I told him we have a meeting
at the masjid at 7 o'clock for
dinner.
And all of them came.
But there was no dinner.
So they came and said mashallah, okay where's
dinner?
He said there's no dinner.
I just wanted to show you where our
hearts are at.
That's why Imam Al-Haddad said if you
find it hard to go to the masjid
for Fajr, but then someone told you tomorrow
there'll be a wealthy person at the masjid
distributing wealth, giving out gifts, and you showed
up for Fajr, you know how sincere you
really are.
May Allah give us sincerity.
My father one time who's a Christian, he
said to me son, do you think you
could ask a few of the brothers at
the masjid to help me move?
I said inshallah.
I said probably, hopefully.
But in my mind I thought what?
Inshallah.
So I called a couple of brothers.
Brother Aqeeb, my dad's a mu'min, can you
help me?
Oh, I'm work, right?
Wife, kids, I'm busy.
And I started to think subhanallah I can't
find anybody.
But then luckily I found one or two
brothers who was willing to help.
So I called my dad, I said pops
alhamdulillah good news, I have brothers helping me.
He said no, no, don't worry.
He said the people at church found out
that I was moving and they have a
moving committee.
A moving committee.
It's there all the time.
Whenever anyone in the community is getting ready
to move, you just let us know and
we're ready to help.
So in our community we have some room
for improvement when it comes to willingness to
help one another.
However big or however small.
But even deeper than that is to do
a gut check about how we think about
these advices of our Beloved ﷺ.
Salawatu Rabbi wa Salamu alayhi wa ala alihi.
He says to go help your brother and
I automatically think of brother Zayd at the
masjid or brother Amr at the masjid.
Hypothetical Zayd or Amr, huh?
I say alhamdulillah this hadith, next time Asif
Bhai forces me to give a talk even
though I came just to pray, alhamdulillah inshaAllah
the hadith applies.
But more important even than that is for
us to remember that our parents, our spouses,
our siblings, our children, they're included in the
idea of someone being your brother.
Our families are Muslim alhamdulillah and it will
apply inshaAllah even if our families are not
Muslim, our families are Muslim.
So when the Prophet ﷺ says, man mashati
hajati akhi, whoever goes to help his brother,
it applies to our families as well.
So to think when your wife makes that
ridiculous request, that absurd request, that insane request
for you to stop on the way home
and pick something up at the grocery store,
right?
You think you can stop on the way
home and get some milk, long day of
work, right?
I don't have time for this, I need
to get home, watch the game.
Remember the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, man
mashati hajati akhi.
And it applies inshaAllah.
When your husband makes that ridiculous request of
kindly preparing a salt bath for his feet
or whatever when he gets home because he
had a long day at work, she doesn't
say, I'm busy with the kids, she says,
inshaAllah, man mashati hajati akhi.
And what did the Prophet ﷺ say?
Allahu fi ya'uni al-abdi, ma kan
al-abdu fi ya'uni akhi.
Allah will continue to help a servant as
long as that servant is helping their brother
and helping their sister.
So we say, how does a child help
their parent?
How does a child help their parent?
A child helps their parent by remembering that
the frame of reference and the experience that
their parent is drawing from is very different
than the frame of reference and the experience
that you have.
So you're patient with your parent.
Be a little more thick-skinned.
Don't be so reactionary.
Don't flip out every time your parent asks
you to do something or don't flip out
every time your parent doesn't understand.
They just don't understand.
Maybe they don't just understand but even if
they don't, be a little more thick-skinned,
be a little bit more patient.
Try to be more understanding.
Try to be more merciful.
How does the parent help the child in
addition to all the ways that the parent
is helping the child already?
Help the child by remembering that the frame
of reference that your child and the experience
that your child is drawing from is so
different than the one that you're drawing from.
Somebody came up to me the other day.
They said, the reason we need young people
like you in our community is because you
speak the lingo of the youth.
And Ali John can relate to the fact
that I asked myself, do I really?
Because even me, I don't know.
I was with a young person in our
community a few weeks ago.
They said, are you going to be at
such and such place at such and such
time?
I said, I'm not really sure.
She said to me, okay J.W. I
said, J.W.? What does that mean?
She said, just wondering.
I said, J.W. Marriott.
I think it was J.W. Marriott.
J.W., different language, different experience, even in
a few years.
So if I'm out of touch, subhanAllah.
So to be patient.
One of the Salaf, Allah be well pleased
with them said, I never asked my son,
and don't get any ideas here, but this
is just to speak in hyperbole, that I
never asked my son to do anything for
me for 30 years, because I was afraid
that he might disobey me.
I was afraid that he might say no
and get in trouble.
It doesn't mean we're not going to ask
our children to help us, but it means,
go out there and help your child by
remembering that drawing from a different experience.
And we have to remember that our Prophet
ﷺ was the best example when it came
to accessibility.
And I'll leave you with one story, because
it's a story that is moving.
When your beloved was in the marketplace and
he went to buy something for himself, and
he only had a few coins, he didn't
have very much money.
And he came and saw this young slave
girl in the marketplace weeping.
And he said to her ﷺ, Maliki yahadihi,
what's wrong miss?
What's wrong?
When the Arabs say yahadha or yahadihi, it's
either kind of an affront or to speak
in an endearing way.
If you say yahadha, it's either saying hey,
hey, or it's like saying, hey.
So he says Maliki yahadhihi, what's wrong miss?
And she says, O Messenger of Allah, the
ladies who own me, they sent me to
the marketplace to buy something, and I spent
the money.
So what happens?
Does he give her a khutbah?
Inna alhamdulillah, nahmaduhu wa nasta'inuhu.
What does he do ﷺ?
He gives her the little bit of money
that he had left for himself.
And he says, here you go.
So she goes on her way and he
goes on his way ﷺ.
And he comes back a little while later
and he finds that she's still sitting there
and she's still crying.
So he says, what's wrong?
Did I give you the money?
Did I?
And she says, O Messenger of Allah, I
bought the thing that I was told to
buy, but now I'm late.
And I'm afraid that when I go home,
I'm going to get punished for being late.
And she said, O Messenger of Allah, would
you do me a favor?
And he said, huqban wa qara'ah.
I would be honored to.
What do we say?
It depends on what it is.
That's why you have to write before you
say yes.
You say what?
Depends on what it is.
He said, I'd be honored to.
And she said, O Messenger of Allah, would
you walk me home?
And so the Prophet of Allah, a leader
of a community and a father to children
and a husband to his family ﷺ, took
time to walk this young lady halfway across
town.
They said she lived in the furthest part
of Al-Madinah.
And when they came to the door of
the house, the Prophet said, As-salamu alaykum.
And nobody responded.
So he said again, As-salamu alaykum.
And nobody responded.
And then he said a third time, As
-salamu alaykum.
And then they said, Wa alaykum as-salam
wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
So the Prophet came and he said, Why?
Why didn't you respond the first two times
I said salam?
They said, O Messenger of Allah, we knew
that if you greeted somebody and they didn't
respond, that you would just keep saying salam
and we wanted you to just keep saying
salam to us.
So then what did he do?
He said this young lady asked me to
come with her.
I'm paraphrasing obviously for time's sake.
He said this young lady asked me to
come with her.
And she's worried because she's late.
And they said, O Messenger of Allah, since
you brought her, she's free.
She's free.
She's free.
And they freed her.
This is how the Prophet was, salallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
How could you be the one who says,
Tanamu ayni wa la yinamu qalbi.
My eye sleeps but my heart never sleeps,
salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
How can you be the one, kani yadkura
Allaha ala kulli ahyani.
Who remembered Allah in every situation.
How could you be the one He never
got angry for himself, salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
How could you be the one How could
you be the one that never said no.
As if for us, Dr. Scribeson in praising
his great grandson Sayyidina Ali Zayn al-Abideen
ibn al-Husayn, radiallahu anhu majma'in.
He never said no, except when he said
there's no God but Allah.
And if it wasn't for that testimony, his
no would have been a yes, salallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
One of the sahaba as we closed, one
time they saw the Messenger of Allah wearing
a burda, a mantle, like a cloak.
And they said that he looked exceptionally handsome
in it.
And he was always exceptionally handsome, salallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
I see some of the mouths not moving,
it's like you didn't hear the name of
the Habib, salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
I know it's late but it's never too
late for Sayyidina Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
They saw the Prophet wearing this burda and
it had a reddish tone to it.
And one of the sahaba came and he
said, Ya Rasulullah, can I have that?
Can I have your coat?
Imagine, be careful on the way out somebody
because you heard what he said.
He said, Ya Rasulullah, can I have your
jacket?
Can I have your cloak?
And he said, no, of course, yes.
And he gave the sahabi to wear the
cloak.
But then the companions were bothered by that.
They didn't like the fact that he took
the Prophet's cloak.
So they came and they said, why did
you take it?
The Prophet looked exceptionally beautiful in it.
And he said, I only took it because
I know he would never be asked something
and say no.
And I didn't want it for myself but
I wanted it so they could bury me
in it.
So I could be buried in something that
touched the body of the messenger of Allah,
salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
How could you be all of those things
and then still be in the menial service
of the people in your community?
Still be the one, it was narrated about
him, that never did one of his family
members or his community or a young person
or an old person in his community call
him except that he responded by saying, Labbayk,
here I am at your service, salallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
So we pray that Allah will make us
service minded people.
Now some of you may say that doesn't
sound spiritual enough.
That doesn't sound Ramadan-y enough.
But it's actually at the core of Ramadan.
For those of you who came late, he
said, whoever goes to fulfill the need of
his brother is better than being in Itikaf
for 10 years.
And whoever spends one day in Itikaf, sincerely
for the sake of Allah, Allah will put
three trenches between him and the hellfire, each
of them further than that which is between
the heavens and the earth.
May Allah free us from the hellfire.
And may Allah continue to bless this community.
Bless this masjid.
Bless the people who care for it.
And bless the people who spend their money.
And bless this young man who's knocking over
the microphone.