How Fasting in Ramadan Helps us Achieve Taqwa P1
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Channel: Yasir Qadhi
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AI Generated Summary ©
The goal of fasting is to increase the sense of sincerity and awareness of Allah's watching. The fast is designed to fortify the ability to be patient and fortify the mechanism of achieving Sabr, which is to be mindful and not act in a sangified manner. Visits are essential for achieving taqwa, which is the fruit of being a patient person and being a good manners person. Visits are also important for achieving taqwa, which is the fruit of Islam's love for the people, and offers a fast ofinos to achieve it.AI Generated Transcript ©
Dear Muslims,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has legislated
fasting
for a higher purpose.
The goal is not to abstain from food
and drink.
The goal is not to be hungry and
tired.
The goal is not to observe an outer
ritual only.
There is a higher goal that is explicitly
mentioned in the Quran.
O you who believe
fasting
has been ordained for you,
as it was ordained for many generations and
many ummahs before you. You are not the
first to fast.
Fasting has been ordained for you,
so that you may achieve
taqwa.
So the fast of Ramadan
is meant for the higher purpose of achieving
taqwa.
In today's very brief khutba,
I will go over some of the mechanisms
of how
and why fasting achieves
taqwa.
Because when we understand the ultimate goal,
then the journey becomes easier.
When we have the destination in mind,
then the hurdles that we face getting there,
we have more Himma and courage to overcome
those hurdles.
And in today's brief khutbah,
I will list 3 specific
aspects
of the fast
that actually taps into the higher goal of
taqwa.
3 specific aspects
of our ritual
that is actually
demonstrative. We're doing this ritual for a higher
goal.
The first of them, number 1.
What the fast does
that allows us to achieve God consciousness taqwa
is to inculcate in our hearts
a level of sincerity,
and a level of awareness that Allah is
watching us.
Sincerity,
ikhlas.
Fasting
is the one deed
you cannot do to show off.
Nobody
can monitor your fast.
Not even your wife, not even your child,
not even your mother.
Anybody
can break the fast secretly, and nobody will
be the wiser.
The only
mechanism we have
to perfect our fast
is to know Allah is watching,
is to know we are doing this for
the sake of Allah.
And therefore,
automatically,
our fast, it is our
going to the gymnasium of Ikhlas.
We are working out our sincerity to Allah
day in, day out,
morning, afternoon, late afternoon,
evening.
We're tired, we're thirsty. We can go quietly
and go and take some water drinks. No.
We will not do so. Why? Allah is
watching.
Allah is watching even if nobody else is
watching. And so for 30 days, we are
going to the gymnasium
of Ikhlas, of sincerity.
For 30 days, we are inculcating
the sense of Allah is watching, Allah is
Sameer, Allah is Basir,
and that is the essence of taqwa, because
taqwa literally translates
as God consciousness.
That is the literal meaning of taqwa, that
you are aware that Allah
is watching,
and
sincerity
is demonstrated
primarily through the fast. No other good deed.
The prayer we come, everybody can watch us.
The sadaqa we give, everybody can see when
we give the sadaqa.
As for fasting,
the only being that can monitor it is
Allah. And therefore, of the strongest
mechanisms of establishing taqwa is the fortification
of sincerity,
the awareness that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
watching. And that is my first point about
how the fast helps us in the broader
goal of taqwa.
Point number 2,
Of the
mechanisms
that help to achieve taqwa
is the
very important concept of being patient and sabr.
Of sabr.
Being patient.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
praises sabr in the Quran. And our Prophet
shalallahu alaihi wasallam said, that the pinnacle of
iman is sabr.
The pinnacle of iman is sabr. What is
sabr?
Sabr means
to withhold and restrain
your actions,
to control the tongue, to control one's emotions.
Means to act in a manner that is
in conformity with the sharia.
And sabr
is a very very
difficult reality to achieve.
There are many ways to do it, but
without a doubt,
the number one mechanism to achieve sabr is
via the mechanism of fasting.
Fasting
helps us be patient.
Obviously it does. Because if patience means to
withhold and restrain,
if patience means to control You know, when
you're angry,
sabr comes and keeps your anger in check,
you don't act upon anger. When you want
to say something nasty, vulgar, when you're angry
sabr comes in, and sabr says, nope, control
your tongue. Sabr says, act in a dignified
manner. Sabr says, don't say or do anything
except that Allah will be pleased with it.
How do we fortify
our sabr? Well, what better way to do
so than to train our body?
When we're hungry, no eating and drinking.
When we're thirsty, nothing for us to quench
that thirst. Why?
Because we are
fortifying the mechanism of sabr in our lives.
In fact, our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
fasting
is half of conquering patience.
If you wanna achieve 100%
marks in patience,
half of it is by fasting, and the
other half by other mechanisms, knowing who Allah
is, reading the Quran, and sunnah, and other
aspect.
50% of your final exam on sabr.
50% of your grade on sabr, you can
get it via the mechanism of what? Fasting.
And obviously, what fasting does, we are once
again forcing
our body to be controlled by our soul.
We are literally
controlling
via the pure power of our will and
our iman.
We are showing ourselves,
when Allah says don't do, I will not
do. When Allah says do not cross this
line, I will not cross this line. The
body is screaming, it wants its food, it
wants its caffeine, it wants its water, and
the soul says no. Sabr, sabr, sabr. Until
maghrib, we will not do anything.
And once again, we are inculcating,
and we are nourishing
the beauty of sabr in our klub. And
therefore,
this is one of the strongest mechanisms
of how the fast is going to make
us of the muttaqeen.
Because you can't have taqwa without sabr. You
cannot achieve God consciousness without being a patient
person. And what is patience?
Patience is to control one's desires. That's the
literal meaning of patience. Your anger is there,
your frustration is there, your sadness is there,
Whatever the emotion is, is there.
In Allah's mercy,
emotions are not sinful.
But patience
tells us to keep the emotions in check,
and to not act upon the emotions except
in a manner that will be pleasing to
Allah. So come, Ramadan,
and we have
the physical emotion, if you like, of hunger.
We have the bodily emotion of wanting to
be quenched.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us the
reality of sabr through sawn. So once again,
point number 2 here. How does one achieve
taqwa? By mastering patience. And
the fast of Ramadan will help us master
patience. Point number 3.
You cannot have taqwa.
You cannot be of the people who are
God conscious
unless and until
you are treating mankind
in an ethical manner, in a manner that
exudes mercy and compassion.
Taqwa
automatically indicates good manners and akhlaq.
There is no such thing as taqwa and
rudeness,
taqwa and arrogance, taqwa and harshness.
The muttaqih,
his heart is soft not only to Allah
but especially to the creation.
The longest
series of verses that describes the muttaqeen,
at the end of Surat Al Furqan, it's
literally a page and a half of description
after description.
Multiple characteristics
of that description
involves how you treat other people. In fact,
the very first characteristic,
waibadurrahman
al ladheena yamshoonaal
ardihoona
waidha khathabahumaljaheelu
nakalu salama.
The servants of Ar Rahman are those who
walk on this earth with ultimate
humility and modesty.
And when the ignoramus want to have a
fight, they say, Salam, peace, we're not involved
in bad manners.
Subhanallah.
How does one master good akhlaq?
How does one treat people the way they
deserve to be treated? Once again,
come the month of Ramadan,
and the Muslim ummah,
wallahi, it is a miracle. No matter their
level of iman
ummah wallahi, its iman is alive, and let
nobody tell you contrary to this. The ummah,
yes, there are bad things that we have
to criticize, but as a whole, the heart
is beating, and it is beating hard. And
how do you know this? Look at the
month of Ramadan across the Muslim world.
Wherever you are,
without a doubt, people's generosity,
people's religiosity,
the masajid are packed to capacity
during this month every single day. That is
not a show. That is not one off.
Everybody
controls the tongue.
Everybody wants to act more ethical.
Everybody is trying to control their temper, and
they start treating people in a better manner
than they do outside the month.
And this is of the essence of taqwa,
to control
one's
interactions with people, and to treat people in
the best of manners, and to be as
polite and kind, and as merciful, and as
generous.
This is of the essence of taqwa. Karam,
generosity.
And the month of Ramadan is the month
of generosity.
No poor person ever goes hungry in Ramadan.
Every community opens its doors. Every masjid opens
its doors for the people to come, for
the people to be fed. And this is
the essence of taqwa. You cannot have taqwa
unless and until you are treating the people
the way they deserve to be treated. And
in this month of Ramadan, what did our
Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam say? When one of
you is fasting, then even if an ignorant
person comes and curses you, even if a
foolish person comes, tries to provoke you, you
say, Allahumma inni saim, o Allah, I am
fasting. You remind yourself,
you can't go there. If somebody else does
something,
you cannot resort to that level. And so,
one of the mechanisms of mastering taqwa
via the fast of Ramadan
is by conquering
our bad manners, and by treating people with
the utmost compassion, and kindness, and good akhlaq.
And there are many other things that can
be said, but because of time, we will
limit ourselves to these 3. Number 1, sincerity
and the awareness Allah is watching us. Number
2, the mastery of sabr and patience. And
number 3, the perfection
of one's akhlaah. And InshaAllah, next week we'll
continue on the same vein. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala bless me and you wither through
the Quran. And may he make us of
those who, it's verses, they understand and apply
its halal and haram throughout our lifespan. I
ask Allah's forgiveness. You as well ask him
for his gafoor and the rahman.
Alhamdulillah.
All praise is due to Allah, the One
and the Unique.
He is whom we worship, and it is
His aid that we seek. He is the
Lord of the oppressed, and He hears the
prayer of the weak. As to what follows,
the blessings of taqwa are too numerous to
mention.
And of the greatest of those blessings, because
we wanna achieve taqwa, and Ramadan allows us
to achieve taqwa. So
by incentivizing
taqwa,
by making us want to be of the
people of taqwa,
this should incentivize us to fast the month
of Ramadan.
Once we know how blessed taqwa is, once
we know Ramadan and the sayam is meant
for us to achieve taqwa,
then we should be motivated
to perfect our fasts in order to achieve
taqwa. And the blessings of taqwa are too
many to list, but we'll mention 1 or
2 things for today. Of them, and perhaps
the greatest of them, Allah
lists only very few things in the Quran,
and says Allah loves those people. Hardly 12
are mentioned. Wallahu yuhibbu. Hardly 12. And one
of them, multiple verses, wallahu yuhibbuul
muttaqeen.
When you achieve taqwa,
you achieve the elite status
of becoming beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
When you achieve taqwa,
Allah loves you. And when Allah loves you,
then you have achieved success.
So taqwa guarantees
Allah's Mahaba.
And with Allah's Mahaba comes so many other
blessings.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran,
regarding the people of Taqwab. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says,
My rahmah, My mercy
encompasses
every created being. In other words, without Allah's
mercy, we will not be here. Every one
of us, there's Allah's mercy encompassing us. But
some people get Allah's rahma more than others.
Who are those people?
I will apportion My mercy.
The bulk of My mercy, I will write
it for those who have taqwa.
Everybody
must be immersed in Allah's mercy to live,
or else we wouldn't be here without Allah's
rahma. But some people will get the lion
share of Allah's rahma. And Allah tells us
in the Quran, Who are those people? Fasaaktubuhalil
ladina yattaqoon.
I will write My mercy. My mercy has
been a portion for those who have taqwa
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Taqwa of Allah brings about Allah's blessings in
this world and the next. Walawannaahlquraamanuwataqoo
lafatahinaalayhim
barakati minasama
If only the people had iman and taqwa.
Allah says, I would open up the doors
of the heavens and earth, and every good
will fall upon them. Allah says in the
Quran, wamayatakilaha
yajaa Allahumakraja
wayurzukumin haydulayatasib
Whoever has the taqwa of Allah, I will
help him from sources he never expected, and
I will make a way out for him
from places he never knew would help him.
Whoever has the taqwa of Allah, Allah will
help him in this world and the next.
Allah's mercy surrounds and envelopes him. Allah loves
him. Allah shall protect him from every calamity
in the next life. Taqwa of Allah is
our ticket to salvation.
Taqwa of Allah is our ticket to salvation.
And the fast of Ramadan
helps us to achieve the best ticket. Therefore,
brothers and sisters, embrace the fast of Ramadan.
Thank Allah that Allah in His mercy has
literally gifted us the reality of fasting, so
that we can achieve the higher purpose of
taqwa.
Thank Allah for being of the ummah of
Islam, thank Allah for being where we are.
Alhamdulillah,
Alhamdulillah
who has guided us to this. Alhamdulillahiladihadanalihada,
wamakunalinahadadiyah
innidain faaminoo, allahumaalata rabbihadanyombihamban
innidain faaminoo, allahumaalata rabbihadanyombihamban