Zia Sheikh – Ramadan and Goal Setting
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AI: Transcript ©
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger
of Allah.
Come to Prayer.
Come to success.
There is
no god but Allah.
Brothers and sisters, one of the most important
parts of Islam is to give in charity.
And charity can come in many forms.
One is the obligatory Zakat that we give,
which is one of the five pillars of
Islam.
And anything in addition to that is non
-obligatory.
Obviously, you have Zakatul Fitr, which is also
an obligation, which is given before the Eid
prayer in Ramadan.
But the majority of other charities that are
given, they are non-obligatory charities.
So, Islam has a very fundamental place, or
charity has a very fundamental place in Islam,
so much so that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, throughout the Qur'an, He has mentioned
the importance of spending in charity.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He addresses the
people of Quraysh.
And He, knowing that the people of Quraysh,
even before the Prophet ﷺ, were known for
tending to the Hajjaj that came to the
Baytullah.
As you know, the Baytullah was built by
Ibrahim ﷺ, and people did still perform Hajj.
And during that Hajj, obviously, they committed acts
of Shirk and so on.
But there was a Hajj, or a kind
of Hajj, that was still performed during those
years of Jahiliyyah.
And the people of Quraysh used to be
very proud of the fact that they are
the tenders of the Hajjaj, and they take
care of the Hajjaj, and they are in
charge of the maintenance of the Ka'bah.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses them
and says in Surah At-Tawbah, أَجْعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ
الْحَاجِ وَعِمَارَةَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ كَمَنَ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ
الْآخِرِ وَجَاهَدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ لَا يَسْتَوُونَ عِندَ
اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهَدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ
أَعَظَمُوا دَرَجَةً عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ The
question placed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is, that are you making or do you
consider the feeding of the Hajjaj or giving
them water and the maintenance of Al-Bayt
Al-Haram.
Just imagine how praiseworthy these actions are.
And we would also be honored to be
doing these actions.
Maintenance of the Ka'bah.
What could be more honorable than that?
And the Hajjaj that are coming that are
the guests of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to give them, to feed them, to make
sure that they're comfortable.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, that
are you comparing these things to that person
who has Iman in Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala on the last day and he strives
in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
Allah says, لَا يَسْتَوُونَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ They cannot
be equal in the eyes of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala does not guide the wrongdoers.
And then he says, who is the one
who has the highest reward in the eyes
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا Those people that have Iman.
وَهَاجَرُوا And they migrated to preserve their Deen.
وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ أَعْظَمُوا
دَرَجَةً عِنْدَ اللَّهِ They strive and they spend
in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala their wealth and themselves.
They strive with their lives and their wealth
in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
They are the highest in status in the
eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ They are the people that
are going to be successful.
In addition Allah goes on to say, يُبَشِّرُهُمْ
رَبُّهُمْ بِرَحْمَةٍ مِّنْهُ وَرِضْوَانٍ وَجَنَّاتٍ لَهُمْ فِيهَا نَعِيمٌ
مُّقِيمٌ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عِنْدَهُ أَجْرٌ
عَظِيمٌ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives them
tidings of mercy from Himself and His own
pleasure and Jannat, gardens in which they will
be enjoying the blessings and they will stay
in these gardens forever and indeed Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has with Him a huge
reward.
So this is very very clear what Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala prioritizes when it comes
to the a'mal of a person.
Again the things that are mentioned in this
ayah الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا First and foremost that a
person has iman and a person strives to
preserve his deen so much so that even
if he has to make hijrah and leave
his land which is the most difficult thing
to do leave a person's home leave a
person's business and everything that a person has
ever worked for to leave it simply for
the sake of the deen and then on
top of that he strives to promote the
deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with
his wealth and with himself Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says these are the people that
have the highest reward.
So these are the qualities that we are
supposed to inshallah instill into ourselves.
Majority of charities in this country or the
masajid and the institutions in this country they
run on charities and they run on sadaqat
and we do not have what's known as
wazaratul awqaf endowments and things of that nature
or a government funding us and that has
its own benefits alhamdulillah at least we have
the freedom of speech and we are not
tied up to the whims of the government
when it comes to the khutbas and the
lectures and so on that we can give
in our organizations but the reality is that
without these charities our masajid cannot function and
sometimes the attitude we have and the thinking
we have is oh no another fundraiser and
another request for money and another time that
somebody is standing in front of us and
talking about charity so we really need to
understand that we should not think of this
as some kind of a hardship rather we
should assume that this is an honor for
us and this is this is an opportunity
for us to give for the sake of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and it is
a chance for us to get closer to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and each and
every time we get an opportunity like this
we should take full advantage of it and
think of it as an honor not as
a burden if we look at the verses
that talk about people that spend in charity
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says الذين ينفقون
أموالهم بالليل والنهار سر و أعلانية فلهم أجرهم
عند ربهم ولا خوف عليهم ولا هم يحزنون
those people that spend their wealth night and
day in secret and openly Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says they have their reward with
their lord meaning it's such a huge reward
that it's not even mentioned only Allah and
only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can give
that reward that is befitting of such a
person that gives in such charity and on
top of that ولا خوف عليهم ولا هم
يحزنون there will be no khawf upon them
and neither they will be worried neither in
this world nor the hereafter the prophet a
.s. said من تصدق بعدل تمرة من كسب
طيب the person who gives even equivalent to
a date in charity and it is from
meaning it's from halal wealth and the wealth
that he earned from the sweat of his
brow the wealth that he earned in using
halal means Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepts
it with his right hand and Allah himself
knows what that means we cannot describe his
hands or his qualities but Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala accepts it, this is what it
means and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
grows it and takes it for him and
multiplies it for him and tends to it
يربيها looking after somebody taking care of somebody
just like we give tarbiyah to our children
and the hadith actually goes on to describe
another form of tarbiyah كما يربي أحدكم فلوه
just like one of you takes a foal
meaning a horse's child it's called a foal
in Arabic it's called faloo so you take
that horse and you rear it and you
feed it and you take good care of
it and you give it exercise so that
it becomes a good trustworthy horse for you
so this is how Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala takes your wealth and he multiplies it
and takes care of it حتى تكون مثل
الجبل and this date dates equivalent that you
gave in charity it will turn into something
equivalent to a mountain this is how Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala takes even the smallest
of charities and he multiplies them this is
what we're supposed to be striving for in
another hadith of Sahihain of Bukhari and Muslim
Prophet ﷺ he said مَا مِنْكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ
إِلَّا سَيُكَلِّمُهُ اللهُ لَيْسَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ تَرْجُمَان there
is nobody amongst you that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will not talk to, meaning everyone
when we meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
we will talk to him Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will talk to us and there
will be no interpreter between us there will
be direct talk Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will be talking to us directly so this
person who is talking to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala فَيَنظُرُ أَيْمَنَ مِنْ he will look
to his right فَلَا يَرَى إِلَّا مَا قَدَّمْ
and he will only see what he sent
forth he will see what he sent forth
in terms of charity وَيَنظُرُ أَشْأَمَ مِنْ he
will look to his left فَلَا يَرَى إِلَّا
مَا قَدَّمْ and he will only see whatever
he sent forth meaning in terms of charity
وَيَنظُرُ تُلْقَاعَ وَجْهِ and he will look in
front of him فَلَا يَرَى إِلَّا النَّارَ تِلْقَاعَ
وَجْهِ and in front of him he will
only see the hellfire which is right in
front of him so the Prophet ﷺ he
said فَاتَّقُ النَّارَ وَلَوْ بِالشِّقِّ تَمَرَى so save
yourself from the hellfire even if it is
through giving one portion of a date or
a half a date in charity this is
again something that we should be striving for
in the Qur'an of Allah ﷻ he
said that a person will say يَا لَيْتَنِي
قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِ I wish that I had sent
forward for my life I wish I had
sent forward for my life he will realize
at that point when he sees Jannah and
Jahannam he will realize that that is the
true life whatever was left behind was a
temporary life something that finished which Allah ﷻ
he describes this worldly life as وَمَا هَذِي
الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا لَهُ وَلَعِبُ وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ
لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ this worldly life is just a
play thing it's wasteful time and the real
abode of the hereafter that is the life
that is the true life the life that
is permanent everlasting it is something that will
never ever finish so a person if he
gets success in that life that is the
true success if a person gets failure in
that life that is the true failure so
we need to make sure we send forward
for that true life so that we don't
have to wish as this person says يَا
لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاةِ I wish that I had
sent forward for my life there is a
very famous ayah of the Quran which you
probably heard before Allah SWT says لَن تَنَالُوا
الْبِرَّ حَتَّى تُنْفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ you will never
attain righteousness the word is very powerful and
strong the word لَن تَنَالُوا it means you
will never ever attain it it's a lot
of emphasis you will never attain righteousness until
you spend from that which you love so
we will never get the status of piety
the status of being close to Allah SWT
the status of البر until we spend that
from which we love so Ibn Umar he
read the Quran and he passed by this
ayah and he thought to himself what is
the most beloved thing to me and he
had at that time slave girls were very
common a slave girl who he loved very
much so he said to her I'm setting
her free for the sake of Allah SWT
it's also mentioned that Ibn Umar in his
lifetime he set free more than a thousand
slaves more than a thousand slaves had been
set free by Ibn Umar the very famous
story of Abu Talha who had the same
verse and he said to himself what is
the most beloved thing to me and he
realized that the most beloved thing to him
was his property and a garden which was
known as Bayruha and he gave it in
charity and then he went to the Prophet
SAW he said to him he said the
most beloved thing to me is my property
which is known as Bayruha I hope to
get the goodness of it and the accumulation
of it with Allah SWT put it O
Prophet of Allah wherever Allah SWT shows you
it to be fit so then the Prophet
SAW he said to him it is an
exclamation of congratulations if a person congratulates in
Arabic one of the words used is so
he is congratulating Abu Talha for giving in
charity such a precious commodity that would be
a means of his salvation in the hereafter
so the question is that what is the
most beloved thing to us my dear brothers
and sisters and I am sure that each
one of us would say our family followed
by the wealth that we have in our
accounts and so on so this masjid is
something that it runs on these funds and
your donations your generosity so inshallah today we
are going to have a fundraising dinner fundraiser
after the Jummah prayer and this will be
for the purpose of the monthly costs the
operational costs that exceed approximately $30,000 per
month it is such a huge operation that
we are running here but it is not
fulfilled by the actual donations in Jummah so
inshallah after the Jummah prayer we request inshallah
to sit for a couple of minutes I
will try to finish within 5 minutes so
that inshallah we can have this quick fundraiser
we know the month of Ramadan is coming
up and we need more and more funds
during the month of Ramadan where the costs
actually get doubled because of the heating and
the air conditioning and the electricity that is
used during the blessed month so please do
try to give as much as you can
after the Salat