Time Will Not Wait – Prepare For The Inevitable
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Channel: Yasir Qadhi
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AI Generated Summary ©
The importance of remembering the blessings of Islam is emphasized, including the realization that time is a commodity and the lifespan of individuals is 10-12 years. The need to be prepared for a inevitable meeting and not allow begging and pleading is emphasized. The importance of fulfilling God's timing and not procrastination is emphasized, along with the importance of praying for their health and donating to the community. The upcoming 24th is the most powerful night for Islam, and individuals are encouraged to make a commitment to their values and strive to achieve their goals.AI Generated Transcript ©
I had one
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
in the verses pertaining to Siam Ramadan,
he concludes those verses.
So that you may finish
these short number of days, 29, 30 days.
You finish these rituals.
Wali tukabbiro
Allahhaalamahadakum,
and so that you may praise and glorify
Allah
because He has guided you.
And so that you may show your thanks
to Allah.
So let us take the spirit of this
verse.
We are winding down the days of Ramadan,
walituq minu'idah.
Let us glorify
Allah and praise Allah
for all the blessings He has given us.
And let us demonstrate
shukr to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Allah reminds us to ponder
over all the blessings He has given us.
And the greatest of those blessings, O Muslims,
the greatest of those blessings is the blessing
of Islam.
We thank Allah for having guided us to
Islam,
for having created us, for having bestowed upon
us so many blessings,
apparent and hidden. We thank Allah for the
blessings of wealth, the blessings of health, the
blessings of family,
the blessings of safety,
the blessings of peace.
Wallahi, if we were to sit down and
try to count the blessings Allah has given,
we would not finish that list.
And for every blessing that we have,
we look around and we know people who
do not have that very blessing.
We thank Allah for having gifted this ummah
with the gift of Ramadan.
For how fortunate are we that Allah has
given us this holy and special month.
We thank Allah for having gifted us laylatulqadr.
That one night
that is more precious to us than a
lifetime of worship.
And no ummah before us has been given
this beautiful night.
We thank Allah for having been given the
opportunity
to worship
because there are so many people, Either they
are not even Muslim,
or they are Muslim but they are not
worshiping in this month. And here we are,
Alhamdulillah,
despite our sins,
inspite of our shortcomings,
and we all have our shortcomings.
Here we are,
on this blessed Jumu'adeh,
in this holy Masjid,
wanting Allah's forgiveness.
And the very fact Allah brought us here,
the
good.
And of the factors we should be contemplating
and thanking Allah for, is that of time.
That of time.
That one precious commodity,
that on the one hand we are all
given an equal amount per day, per hour
we have the same amount,
And yet, we are given unequal in terms
of our lifespan. No one knows how long
they're going to live.
And of the most miraculous
blessings that Allah has given us, and of
the most precious blessings
is this blessing of time. And that is
why Allah has given so many qasams and
oaths about time. Walasr, wal fajr, wal duha
Allah wants us to think about this time.
And, O Muslim,
it was barely a few days ago I
stood on this platform before Ramadan.
And I said, Before you know it, Ramadan
will be over. And here I am standing
today, and this is the last jumu'ah of
Ramadan.
How quickly
time has flown by.
Let this be a lesson, O Muslim. Just
yesterday it appears, we were wondering how am
I gonna do Ramadan, how am I gonna
balance work and family
and Ramadan?
And now we are bidding farewell to this
month.
And Allah knows who amongst us will be
sitting here next year and who will not.
Allah knows for who amongst us. This is
our last Ramadan,
and statistically
it is the last Ramadan of a percentage
of us in this audience. And Allah knows
who will be given 20, 30, 50 more
Ramadans
after this one.
So as swiftly
as this month flew by,
as quickly as this month began and it
is now ending,
so to realize
shall be my life and your life.
So to realize that before we know it
in the twinkling of an eye, and our
entire life will now be coming to an
end, and we're going to be meeting our
Lord.
So the question we have to ask ourselves,
are we going to prepare for that inevitable
meeting?
Are we gonna take the lesson from the
swiftness of Ramadan
and apply it to our entire life and
be ready and prepared?
At least in Ramadan, we have a schedule
and routine. In Ramadan, we know we have
to put the best in the last 10.
In Ramadan, we strive to be our best
in these last days before Eid.
But the angel of death has no such
appointment,
And our time on earth has no such
clock down that Allah has told us,
which means we need to prepare on our
own.
And the wise person,
and the intelligent person is the one who
understands this reality,
and hence prepares for it before it happens.
O Muslim,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has told us multiple
times in the Quran,
that those who are not prepared,
they're going to be begging and pleading
at a time when begging and pleading is
of no value.
Allah says in the Quran,
Allah says, Be generous and give of your
wealth before the time will come when death
reaches a person. And he begins negotiating with
the angel of death, and he begins begging
and pleading. I ask you, I beg you,
just a little bit more time. Ajan, just
a little bit more time. And I promise,
I swear, I'm gonna be good, I'm gonna
give charity, I'm gonna be of the salihin
and the murseenen.
And Allah reminds us, walaniu akhirallahu
nafsanidaajaluha.
There is no negotiating
with the Angel of death. There is no
negotiating
when that time comes.
Allah tells us in the Quran,
When death
comes, He will say, O Allah, send me
back, give me one more opportunity.
I wanna go back to this world, and
I promise
I'm gonna be in the life that I
used to live. I promise.
Again, the Quran is telling us multiple times,
these are real
conversations that are going to take place with
1,000,000 of people and the angel of death,
with 1,000,000 of people and Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
O Muslim,
Allah
has opened up a window into the future.
Allah has told us conversations that we have
no idea about. These are recorded in the
Quran. These are real life conversations. Why?
So that me and you, we don't fall
pursuit to those conversations.
We don't want to be amongst the people
negotiating.
We don't want to be amongst the people
begging and pleading. You Allah, just one more
chance. You Allah, send me back, I promise
you. Laali a'malusaliyahanfima
taraktu And Allah says, kalla.
No. Inna kalimatunhuaka
illuha It is Allah's kalima, He has said
it. Allah has already decreed
every single one of us will have an
exact lifespan. He knows it, no one else
knows it. Not the angel of death. The
angel of death does not know my time
and your time until the time comes. Then
Allah tells him,
no one knows the exact time that we
will leave this world except Allah. And that
time,
it is not negotiable.
There is no begging and pleading. You cannot
renew the contract of life once it comes
to an end.
So, O Muslim,
as swiftly as this month flew by,
do you not realize
so too will your life fly by? Do
you not realize this even in light of
your own circumstances
today? How old are you today? Ask yourself.
Go back 5 years, 10 years, 20 years.
For those amongst you in their seventies eighties,
go back to the last 50 years.
Do you not see how quickly and swiftly
your entire life just flew by?
No matter what age you are, you understand
that time is that one resource and commodity.
We cannot trap it. You can trap wealth,
you can trap possessions. You cannot trap time.
You cannot stop time.
So if we understand this reality
and if we read the Quran with an
open mind and a pure heart,
how can we not take advantage
of the time that Allah has given us?
How can we not understand?
I do not control the past anymore. It's
gone. And I have no guarantee for the
future.
The only time that I have control over
is right now.
This is the only time I have control
over. Once we understand this,
then it comes to the reality and conclusion
that
I must
make sure
right here and now I am striving
to be the best person I can so
that I'm prepared when my time finishes.
There is no delay,
There is no procrastination
when it comes to worshiping Allah, when it
comes to religiosity,
when it comes to filling my heart with
iman.
There should be no delay
when it comes to forming a relationship with
Allah. There is no tomorrow that is guaranteed.
O Muslim,
stop deluding yourself that one day you will
be a better person.
Stop listening to the whispers of shaitan that
when I reach this milestone,
then I will start practicing Islam. When I
perform the Hajj, when I reach 60, when
I do this, when I do that, You
and I both know these are false excuses.
There is no excuse
to procrastinate
religiosity.
The religion of Allah is the most important
facet of our existence.
And it must be manifested
not tomorrow,
today, right here and now.
O Muslim,
in this entire month,
Allah blessed us to come closer to Him.
Allah blessed us to
strive to attain
a level of piety we do not have
outside of this month. Allah blessed us to
pray more regularly. Every one of us, we
raise the bar of salah.
Allah blessed us to be more charitable.
Allah blessed us to come to the masjid
more frequently.
Allah blessed us to listen to the Quran
more regularly.
Allah blessed us to give up sins that
we typically do outside of this month. And,
O Muslim,
ask yourself,
do you not feel blessed then? Do you
not sense that inner peace? Do you not
appreciate that religiosity?
Ask yourself the feeling you have right now,
the feeling of having accomplished something. You're not
perfect. I'm not perfect. We haven't done the
best job, but we've done some job. And
doing that some job in Ramadan,
it makes us feel
an inner sense of fulfillment,
of nobility,
of peace.
We've actually done something and we feel so
good about it. Not perfect, we know we
fell short, but Alhamdulillah,
we've done something. Well, guess what? That feeling
of happiness,
that feeling of fulfillment,
that is how the believer feels when the
angel of death comes. The feeling of, okay,
well, the time has come, but alhamdulillah,
I've done something.
That's the feeling you and I need to
have when we see the angel of death.
The feeling of happiness, not regret.
The feeling of accomplishment, not remorse.
And that feeling, it is possible.
It is possible. How is it possible? It
is possible when we make the best use
of our time right here and now.
When we strive in every day to do
what we can.
When we strive in every week and every
month to show Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we
are living lives of purity, lives of spirituality,
lives of ethical fulfillment.
O Muslim,
realize that even if Ramadan comes to the
end, the Lord of Ramadan is ever living
and shall never die. Realize that even as
Ramadan comes to the end, religiosity
should never come to the end. Now that
Allah has blessed us to raise the bar
of salah, of sadaqa, of zakah, of fasting,
of reading the Quran,
when Ramadan finishes. We understand we cannot maintain
that level. We understand.
But as we flutter back down a little
bit, as we go back down a little
bit, my ask to myself and all of
you is
the place that we settle in after Ramadan
must be as far above the place we
were before Ramadan as possible. That's my ask
to you. Where we settle back down? Because
we're not gonna continue the same. We're not
gonna be praying 20 rakaat, 8 rakaat. We're
not gonna be listening to 1 juz. We're
not gonna be giving our zakat every single
month. Agreed. That's why Ramadan is special. But
do not
intend
to go back to the exact same lifestyle,
O Muslim.
Do not intend to go back to the
way you were 4 weeks ago.
Because if that is the case, then you
have not benefited from the time of Ramadan.
You have not benefited from this opportunity to
come closer to Allah.
O Muslim, the purpose of Ramadan
is to give you a boost every year.
That's the purpose.
And if you could chart out a graph
of your iman
versus your life,
ideally,
ideally,
Ramadan, you would go up much higher, and
then you would fall a little bit. But
where you would fall would be higher than
you were the rest of the year. And
then the next Ramadan, another boop, another bump,
and then it goes a little bit back
down, but then it's still higher than it
was the previous year. And then the next,
and then the next. If you could draw
a chart of the ideal Muslim,
the ideal mumin,
you would see during Ramadan, every year they
go to the highest they've ever been. And
if they fall a little, where they stop
will be a higher bar than what they
were before Ramadan, such that if we continue
to do this, if we continue to literally
push the bar, then the best Ramadan of
our lives will be the last Ramadan of
our lives. And the best days of our
lives will be the last days of the
highest bar that we would have had will
be the last days of our lives. That's
the ideal goal, but it's only gonna happen.
It's only going to happen
if right here and now we make a
commitment to Allah.
That when Ramadan finishes,
I'm going to strive
to be a better person. And here is
where I ask myself and all of you,
make a mental checklist.
Make a mental checklist.
Where am I falling short in my religious
obligations?
What am I not doing that I'm supposed
to be doing? Make a note and then
make a promise to Allah. Concentrate on the
top 2 or 3 things. I'm gonna try
my best to be more regular regular in
salah. I'm gonna try my best to make
better khushuah in my salah. I'm gonna try
my best to fulfill the sunan and nawafil.
You raise the bar in 2 or 3
areas of the rituals that you knew you
were lacking
in. As well, look at some of the
sins you and I are guilty of.
What are you doing that you should not
do? In this month, we've all cut back
on that. Make a commitment to Allah. Oh
Allah, when Ramadan finishes, I promise you, I'm
gonna strive my best to cut back, to
minimize, to overcome this addiction I have, this
problem that I have, and strive. Remember,
perfection is only for Allah. It is in
our striving,
it is in our struggling that we find
salvation, not in achieving perfection.
So put that on your list, that the
sins that I'm guilty of, I'm gonna concentrate
to eliminate these sins.
What akhlaq issues are you struggling with? We
all have akhlaq issues. We all have issues
of whether it's temper or anger or swift
tongue or being backbiting, whatever it might be.
What are your akhlaq and moral issues that
you're struggling with? Make a note in your
mind, after Ramadan, I'm gonna concentrate on these
particular ones. And guess what? This is how
we improve ourselves.
This is how every year we're gonna raise
the bar. Every single year, we're gonna finish
Ramadan better than when we started and the
next Ramadan is gonna be easier and better
and so on and so forth. Oh Muslim,
the days of Ramadan are winding down,
but belief in Allah, religiosity,
rituals, ibadah, tawakkul ikhlaas sabr, they never stop.
And if there's one thing we've learnt,
it is
that the sweetness of worshiping Allah
is more important to us than anything else.
There is no sweetness,
and there is no joy, and there is
no nobility
that is greater than the sweetness and joy
and nobility
in worshiping Allah. We know that right here
and now. That's why we've given up food
and drink. We've given up so many of
the pleasures. We've given up our sins because
inside of us, we feel a sense of
peace and security.
This peace and security is what will save
us in this dunya and the next.
O Muslim, as the days of Ramadan are
winding down, realize we still have 2 or
3 opportunities for laylatul Qadr. Tonight in particular,
it is the most potential and powerful night.
We do not know the exact night of
laylatul Qadr, but number of traditions do mention
the 27th more than others. And that is
why historically and culturally, we all know the
27th. It is in our minds that it
is the most powerful night. And there's a
reason for this because the sunnah, the the
hadith, they mentioned 27
more than they mentioned any other number. And
that's why so many of the sahabas as
well, they felt this has the greatest candidate
for Laylatul Qadr. And so tonight is indeed
27th.
Try your best, O Muslim,
to strive and worship tonight and on 29th.
These are the 2 odd nights left. And
realize, O Muslim, our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
he reminded us that death is always something
that comes to us in a complete surprise.
In one hadith in Sunan Al Tirmidhi, he
took a stone, a rock, and he threw
it
ahead of the ahead of himself. And then
he took another one, and he threw it
even ahead of that one. So there was
2 stones. Each one of them, one was
was maybe 5, 10 foot, another was like
15, 20 feet ahead. And he said, Do
you know what are these two things? They
said, What, O Messenger of Allah? He said,
As for the farther rock, the farther stone,
the one that is the furthest away, that
is the man's hopes and desires and dreams.
And as for this one close here, that
is a man's death.
Death always comes before you finish your hope
and desires and dreams.
As for the farther one, you see it,
you think it's right there, but death is
always in between you and your hopes and
dreams. Do not delay, O Muslim. Do not
procrastinate,
O Muslim,
and do not be amongst the category of
those who, when they see the angel of
death, they begin negotiating.
Rather, we want to be in the other
category. What is the other category? The other
category Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells us in the Quran, Inna ladheenaqalu
RabunAllahu
Thummaastakamu
tatanazalu
alayhimulmalaikatoo
Allah takafu
walatahzanoo
The righteous people, when the angel of death
comes, of course, everybody's scared when they see
that. So the angel of death himself is
going to say, don't worry. We're taking care
of you. Don't worry. You're in good hands
here. Nahnu a'uliya'ukum
fil hayatadunya
wa fil akhira.
We are your protectors. We took care of
you in this world. We'll take care of
you in the akhira as well. I wanna
be in that category. I wanna be in
the category of the angels bringing me peace,
bringing me calm, making me feel comfortable at
that time. You as well want to be
in that category. There's only one way. There's
only one way to achieve that category, and
that is to prepare for it. Not tomorrow,
not next year, not after hajj, not after
a milestone, to prepare for it right here
and now.
Oh, oh, believer in Allah, choose religion over
all aspects of life. Oh, believer in Allah,
choose Allah. And if you choose Allah, you
will be successful in this dunya and the
akhirah. May Allah bless me and you with
and through the Quran. And may he make
us of those who is verses they understand
and applies halal and haram throughout our lifespan.
I ask Allah's forgiveness. He was well asking
for his Dhulafur and the Rahman.
Alhamdulillah,
all praise is due to Allah, the one
and the unique. He it is whom we
worship and it is his blessings that we
seek. He is the Lord of the oppressed
and he hears the prayer of the weak.
As to what follows all Muslims in these
last days, there are a number of things
that we should be especially doing. And of
course, we already mentioned to prioritize the last
1 or 2 odd nights, 27th
29th. And also, to make a commitment to
Allah to make sure post Ramadan,
we are trying our best to be as
good as we can. In these last days
as well, one of the obligations
upon us is zakatul fitr. Oh Muslim, there's
2 types of zakats that are obligatory. There's
the general zakat that we all know of
2.5%,
and then there is zakatul fitr. Zakatul fitr
is obligatory
on every person who can afford, and by
and large all of us in this audience
we can afford. And that is a person
who has surplus food. That's the minimum of
zakatul fitr. As long as you can feed
your family, and you can feed one more
person, then zakatul fitr is obligatory on you.
Zakatul fitr is obligatory
on the household earner. So if the husband
is working and the wife and children
are not, then every single household earner,
every single person of the household, you must
give zakatul fitr on. Even those that were
not fasting, you give zakatul fitr. So if
your child is not fasting, or there's an
elderly person, or there's a pregnant lady, still
the husband will give zakatul fitr. Every person
in the household, you give zakatul fitr. And
it is the food of 1 person. It
is just the food of 1 person, and
there's a box outside. You can give cash,
and we will be distributing,
to the people who are in need. So
you give zakatul fitr before salatul'een,
And you may give it even from now,
we will be distributing it, insha Allahu Ta'ala,
or give it to any other cause, but
make sure for every single person you give
zakatul fitr. As well, for those who are
elderly
and not able to fast, then you should
pay the fiddiya on their behalf as well.
And the fiddiya is, not necessarily due before
Eid, you can do it after Eid, but
it is always good to give the fiddiya
as well. So zakatul fitr is a mandatory.
Before salatul Eid, fiddiya can be done at
any time, but of course it is better
to do it in the month of Ramadan.
Also, all Muslim, the day of Eid itself,
it is a day of majesty,
say the takbir because Allah has guided you.
Those takbiraat of Eid, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar,
they are meant to remind ourselves of the
blessings of Allah. They're meant to remind ourselves
that Allah has guided us. The day of
Eid is a special day. It is the
holiest day of the year. Aidul Fitr al
Eidul Adha. So make sure that that day
is a day of worship. O Muslim, Ramadan
is ending, but the worship of Allah does
not end. Do not stop worshiping Allah after
Ramadan. The day of Eid in particular, because
it is a day of celebration,
unfortunately,
all too often, things happen that should not
happen. Oh, Muslim, do not transform
the the day of Ramadan, the day of
Eid into a day of sin and transgression.
Oh, Muslim,
the salah of Eid is just as mandatory
as the other salawat as well. Make sure
you are praying your salawat on the day
of Eid. It is so sad that on
the day of
Eid, the maghrib salah will hardly be even
paid attention to because we're in celebration.
Make sure you pray those salawats.
Make sure you start the commitment to being
religious from the very day of Eid. Oh
Muslim, indeed, Eid is a day of happiness.
So yes, dress your best, dress your finest,
but do not disobey Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
in what you do on that day. And
as we celebrate, and we should celebrate, and
as we bring happiness to our children and
family, and we should,
don't ruin that happiness, but temper it. Temper
it in light of what is happening in
ghazah.
Just make sure your children realize, make sure
you appreciate the blessings Allah has given us.
Don't stop your own happiness because that is
against the sunnah. That is against the sunnah
to live a morose and morbid life because
of any calamity. That's not right, but at
the same time, you cannot just ignore the
plight. So there's a middle ground, there's a
happy balance here, and make sure your family
is aware, and make sure you may might
even tamper down just a little bit, 1
or 2 notches, and perhaps, perhaps if you
can give sadaqah and charity on that very
day, and remind your children that, you know
what? This is we're gonna be doing this,
you know, for for the children of Ghazah
or something. So that they keep this point
in mind that we are grateful to Allah,
but there are people that are struggling. There
are people that are not able to celebrate
the way that we are. So, all Muslim,
try to find that middle and happy balance.
And yes, indeed, do what you can to
make your children happy because
these customs, these cultural, you know, connotations of
i'id, they're important in living in the society
that we do. They're important that your children
understand and appreciate.
This is our holy day. It is important
they know this. We live in a society
and a land. When it comes to Christmas,
when it comes to Thanksgiving,
the whole society is
flooded with lights and candies and sweets. Well,
we need to teach our children. We have
holier days. We have better days. So yes,
indeed, show extra love to your family on
this day. But as I said, in light
of what is happening, temper that with just
1 or 2 notches down so that your
family feels the love, but it also feels
the concern. It also feels the ummah, you
know,
the the brotherhood that we should have for
all of the other Muslims out there. Indeed,
it is a difficult time. We have to
balance these commitments, but this is our trial.
It is what we the least we can
do is we can help our brothers and
sisters in Ghazah, especially on that day, remember
them, make dua for them, and if possible
to donate, it will be important to do
so.
After salah, our brother Javed has important announcements.
Please stay for that,
So,
brothers and sisters. As you're aware,
Epic, as you have seen is doing so
many services.
We had our fundraiser
last week for our expenses.
We did not raise what is required. And
so I want to make a special plea
and request
that our operating expenses for this year, insha
Allahu ta'ala, we wanna make sure we are
done with them for every single year. As
you know, this is our masjid, your masjid,
my masjid. There is no funding coming except
from all of us. So please, I make
a special plea and request to all of
you, and not just a one time, but
actually if you can become regular donors every
single month, whatever is your membership fee for
other aspects, your masjid has priority. So
Those brothers who are leaving right now,
on your way out, you can donate whatever
you can donate into the boxes or that
we have the kiosk.
But as I mean, I'm not I don't
do the fundraising.
Simplest,
the operation of this masjid is a multimillion
dollar. It's not in 1,000. It's a multimillion
dollar operation,
and we only rely on the community,
donations.
Very inspiring, Khutba, simply said,
whatever we're gonna do today,
inshallah, it's gonna be sattkajari, and there cannot
be any better way or better month or
better day to it in the last Jummah
of the the Ramadan.
So you see the brothers here.
I'm not gonna ask you for 1,000 or
100 and whatnot,
But on this pledge card, if you could
just put your phone number
and an amount.
$20,
$25,
$50,
and one, we don't have that many pledge
cards.
If you do so, it's gonna be recurring.
So inshallah go and, you know, we'll we'll
take it every month. We'll call you, by
the way. I will call you for the
phone number, and we'll get all your information.
So on your way out,
I'm asking all the volunteers to give the
pledge cards to everybody, Insha'Allah, whoever that we
can. And put down whatever amount that you
wanna put it, $20, that's gonna be a
recurring, Insha'Allah.
And inshallah, this is gonna continue
as long as you would like to to
give the donation to the Masjid.
So everybody should have a pledge card inshallah.
We have 2 announcements.
Sister Ferdowsa, one of our community members in
sick and ICU,
and sister Mona as well. She's very sick.
They're both requesting for
dua. May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, cure all
of our sick ones. May subhanahu wa ta'ala
them. Wassaallahu wa sallamu wa rah Muhammad.
them. Wassaallahu wa sallamu wa rah Muhammad.