Bismillāhir-Rahmānir-Rahīm
South Africa - Capetown (Bayān)
28/06/15 Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db
Yā ayyuhal-lathīna āmanū, udhkurullāha dhikran kathīra – O’ people who believe, remember Allāh swt excessively.
The reason Allāh swt created us was to remember Him. All of life has value only when we remember Him; otherwise, life form has no value. Out of all creation, every single one is remembering Allāh swt. Some ‘ulamā and mashā’ikh mention that an animal’s life is not based on physical health. Rather, when they stop making the dhikr of Allāh swt, Allāh swt causes that animal to die. Allāhu akbar kabīra!
Allāh swt made all of creation make a special dhikr. Allāh swt makes all of the creating (ahlul ardh was-samāwāt) - every bacteria, microorganism, plant, fish - trillions of life forms to make du’ā for our maghfirah. Can you imagine how sad it would be if the believer themselves don’t make du’ā for their own magfirah!
How many opportunities, how many ways have we created to do ghaflah, to forget Allāh swt? Mindless surfing, reading extra news, eating and sleeping more than you need - so many ways we have found to become ghāfil of Allāh swt.
Monday - Friday - people come out in their thousands, in their suit. They go past Wall Street - they spend 12 hours working and earning - they are so capable. Just their annual bonus is 100s of thousands. They run corporations that run the world - but they flock to bars. This same person, they voluntary lose all their talents and walk around mindlessly when they finish work on the Friday! Then Monday, they are back at work. If there was a weekend they weren’t able to commit the sins, they’d be upset on the Monday. They discuss their weekend plans now and if someone had outdone them, they make their own form of niyyah to out do them. So much talent wasted, subhānAllāh!
What has Allāh swt told us in Qur’ān? Fa ithā faragta, fansab. Wa ilā rabbika, fargab. When you are free, turn to your Rabb, in yearning, in longing. In simple english, when you’re free, show me! Show me all the time you were busy, you were missing me. Those who miss their morning coffee, they think about it, and then as soon as the next opportunity arrives, they go make their coffee. Similarly, we should feel like this.
We have all the recitations, melodies, meaning, conferences, lectures etc of Qur’ān, but we have lost THE feelings. How many people can say this āyah defines me? Who can say I’ve become this verse of Qur’ān. Ramadān is the month of Qur’ān - shahru ramadānal-lathī unzila fīhil-Qur’ān!You cannot let Ramadān only be about fasting and recitals. The month will end and we will go back to what we were like. This month is about ‘la’alakum tattaqūn’ - so that you get taqwa. To fear Allāh swt is one meaning; another meaning is to be aware and conscious of Allāh swt as is His right…that means never forget Allāh swt.
Every second you spend fasting, you spend that doing the dhikr of Allāh swt! We spend 24 hours in dhikr. This is to enable us to get this taqwa. Same person who did sin prior to Ramadān says it is Ramadān so i cannot do this anymore. Was it just hunger and thirst that made them like this? No, its because their heart was either in one or two conditions - doing dhikr or intending to do dhikr. When a believer becomes like that, it becomes difficult to sin. So many say they were doing sins they were addicted to, they couldn’t stop, but they can stop in Ramadān.
Ramadān comes from the root letters ‘ra, mīm, dād' - another word comes from this too - 'tarmīd', which means to sharpen! Ramadān is a 30 day training to sharpen our imān, taqwa and dhikr…so that we can use it for the rest of the 11 months. Its the mercy of Allāh swt that He keeps sending us Ramadān. People think the 30th of Ramadān is the end - but no, its the starting line. Make the intention that you want the nūr of hayā, nūr of taqwa, nūr of sunnah etc in this month. But we can gain this only if we make effort.
Wallathīna jāhadū fīnā, lanahdiyyanahum subulanā - those people who strive, we will surely guide them. Who normally prays 1.5 hours extra salāh after ‘ishā outside of Ramadān. We don’t even do it once. We lost it last year but this year we don’t want to lose it. Many of you have spent many Ramadāns - our problem is we have fasted many many times before; but very few of us change. What if someone said to you they have been on Hajj 30 times, yet they haven’t changed. You’d think there is something wrong; there are people right here who have spent 20/30 Ramadāns, but have still not changed.
Tap into the features of Ramadān. We are now into the middle ten days- they are for maghfirah! Beg Allāh swt to forgive you for every single sin; ask to be from muttaqīn. The last ten days are ‘itqun min an-nār’ - emancipation/freedom from the hellfire. Maybe you have done a lot of major sins before - maybe you hurt people, maybe you betrayed, maybe you deceived, maybe you lied, maybe you didn’t pray at all, maybe you did adultery etc - their name was written in those destined for hellfire, but its Ramadān so they shut up! 20 days, they stay away from these sins, Allāh swt takes their name out of the list for hellfire. You sinned for 40 years, you had taqwa for 20 days and you can have paradise. If Allāh swt takes your name out of the list, is there anyone who can put you back on the list?
There is a gate called Rayyān in Jannah especially for those who fast! We always want to be near to You, yā Rabb e Karīm - these are the du’ās you should make. Teach the children that Ramadān isn’t only the month of fasting - its a month of wilāyah, a month of mercy, a month of taqwa, a month to gain the love of Allāh swt, a month to become the friend of Allāh swt! May Allāh swt change us this Ramadān; may He swt give us a life changing Ramadān, may He swt change our lives this Ramadān. Amīn
By mureeda from UK
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