Preparing For Ramadan: Embracing Its Virtues And Divine Blessings

Jumu'ah Khutbah — The Virtues and Blessings of Ramadan

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَكَفَى وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَى، وَأَمَّا بَعْدُ

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. It is the fadl and karam of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He has brought us to the beginning of Ramadan insha'Allah very soon. And we are now most likely on the last day of Sha'ban.

The Hadith of Salman on the Last Day of Sha'ban

There is one beautiful hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. There is some kalaam on the sanad, but most of the matters in this hadith are corroborated by other hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And it is in Bab al-Fada'il — among the virtues — the hadith that gives us the virtues of this month. This is a hadith wherein Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam was reminding the Sahaba ridwanullahi alayhim ajma'in about the blessings of the upcoming month of Ramadan. This hadith is traditionally shared and served as a reminder for us, sometimes towards the end of Sha'ban, sometimes in the beginning of Ramadan.

And we will continue to discuss this hadith at greater length insha'Allah ta'ala. On this particular occasion, it is not just towards the end of Sha'ban or towards the beginning of Ramadan, but most likely insha'Allah it is the last day of Sha'ban itself. And these are the very words we find in the hadith:

(Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, Hadith 1887; also reported in Sahih Ibn Hibban)

Salman radiyallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam gave us a speech and reminded us — he gave us some advice — fi akhiri yawmin min Sha'ban, on the very last day of Sha'ban. So Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is encouraging the Sahaba, awakening them to this great blessing that is coming, to ensure that they do not miss out.

SubhanAllah, we do not have Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam present amongst us to remind us, but we have his words on the same day of the year. And we can try to imagine — if Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam himself was reminding us — how much effect we should have taken. May Allah give us tawfiq to take a similar amount of effect insha'Allah. It can never be equal for sure, but similar insha'Allah.

A Great and Blessed Month Has Come

He said: O people, a great and blessed month has dawned upon you — it is approaching you. This is such a month in which there is a night which is better than 1,000 months. It is not equivalent to 1,000 months, but it is better. How much better? Allah alone knows.

If Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam was highlighting something for us, if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is encouraging us, then for us to turn a blind eye, a deaf ear towards it — this is a sign of our rashness. Nothing less than shaqawa. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow our hearts to be softened, our eyes to be wet, and our hearts to tremble — with anticipation of the blessing of this month, as well as hope of acceptance and fear of rejection.

There is such a night, khayrun min alfi shahr, which is better than 1,000 months. If there is still not a change in our schedule, then through our lisan al-hal — through our actions — we are showing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as if we do not care. Insha'Allah, no believing Muslim will utter such words with their tongue. But even though we are not saying it with our tongue, we have to question ourselves and ask: what are we showing through our actions?

Fasting as Obligation, Qiyam as Additional Worship

This is such a month in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made the fasting in the day an obligation, and He has made the standing in the night a form of worship — tatawwu'an — an additional worship on top of the fara'id. In this case, the fuqaha come later and classify it as a sunnah mu'akkadah.

One unique thing to note here is that when it comes to the practices, we say the fara'id are from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the sunnah is from Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam. They are one and the same. Yes, Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam himself adopted such verbiage on certain occasions — iftaradallahu siyamahu wa sannantu lakum qiyamahu — that Allah has made the fasting of the day fard, and I have established the sunnah of the qiyam at night. But at the end of the day, whatever Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam says, it is not something additional and separate from what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has prescribed. Rather, whatever he says, it is on behalf of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:

Whatever Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam is commanding you, do it — who said so? Allah said so. And whatever he forbids you from, abstain from it.

Just like that woman who was engaged in the practice of tattooing, and when she was caught and brought to the Sahabi radiyallahu anhu, he said that Allah has prohibited this. She said, I read the whole Qur'an — because even the one involved in tattooing, having a tattoo shop, she had read the whole Qur'an and knew the meaning of the Qur'an in that time. So where is it in the Qur'an, the prohibition of tattooing? I believe it was Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu — the Sahabi in question — he replied: do you not see that Allah ta'ala says: wa ma atakum al-rasulu fakhudhuh wa ma nahakum 'anhu fantahu — whatever the Prophet has commanded you, you must do that, and whatever he has forbidden you, you must abstain from it. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has very clearly prohibited us from such actions.

So subhanAllah, over here, the fasting of the day is a direct order from Allah, and the qiyam of the night as well. Ja'alallahu siyamahu faridhatan wa qiyama laylih tatawwu'an — Allah has made the fasting of the day obligatory, and Allah has declared the qiyam of the night as an additional form of worship, tatawwu'an, additional to the fara'id — the sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

Nawafil Rewarded as Fara'id, and Fara'id Multiplied Seventy Times

Whoever does any nafl act of worship in this month, it is like the one who has fulfilled a fard action. SubhanAllah. So this is being mentioned as a virtue. What that tells us right away is that the rewards of the fard are higher than the rewards of the nafl. So this is an upgrade — if you do a nafl action, you get the reward of a fard, and a fard is supposed to be greater than a nafl.

And there are so many lessons you can learn from that. What are the implications of this? That we sometimes have issues where we are missing out on fard. If we are missing out on a fard because of a sinful act we are involved in, that's quite obvious — we should stop the sin and do the fard. But if we are missing out on fard because we are involved in nawafil, that is a level of deception of Shaytan upon us, and we are victims — we are deluded by missing out a fard on account of nawafil. That's something interesting for us not just to know, but to search in our lives and see: what are those nafl actions we may be involved in that are actually preventing us from fulfilling fard obligations? That is a very important muhasabah. We have to check ourselves — I must check myself, you must check yourselves.

How can we ensure that we never sacrifice the fard obligation of Allah? Not on account of acts of disobedience for sure, but also not on account of nafl actions. If a person is engaging in qiyam at the sunnah mu'akkadah level or beyond — at the nafl level — all night, but ends up missing his fard of Fajr, then this is nothing short of a deception of the devil. They are veils that Shaytan covers our eyes with to blind us. And they are the hijab of dhulmat — the veils of darkness. But for those who are a little bit more advanced, they are hijab of nur — veils of light — to block us from the actual nur. May Allah protect us from all the talbis of Iblis.

So this is an upgrade — if you do a nafl action, you get the reward of fard. Fard actions are more rewarded, and missing a fard is far more serious as well. If a person fasts the entire year, nafl fasts cannot equal one fard fast of Ramadan. A person gives nafl sadaqah — it can never equal the fard zakat, and so on.

And whoever fulfills one fard action in this month will receive the reward of 70 fard. SubhanAllah. So there are buy-one-get-one-free deals — this is buy one, get 70, from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the number 70 — lil-kasrah — it means many. How many? Allah knows best. It is a figure of speech in the Arabic language. Just like in English we use the number one hundred — like you tell your son, "I told you a hundred times to do your homework and you still haven't done it?" So the kids nowadays may say, "Baba, you said it like three times, how is that a hundred?" So what does that mean? A hundred times means many, many times.

Like Allah ta'ala told Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam in Surah al-Bara'ah:

These hardcore munafiqun — hypocrites — if you ask Allah to forgive them 70 times, Allah will never forgive them. And that meant: as many times as humanly possible. But Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam tried to do more than that. He said, okay, maybe I'll try 71 or more. Umar ibn al-Khattab told him, ya Rasulallah, this is what Allah is saying. Until the command very explicitly came — it was sarih, there was qat'iyyat al-dalalah, there was no ambiguity — when Allah ta'ala said:

Regarding Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul: do not pray his janazah salah, do not stand by his grave, do not make dua for him, because he is a disbeliever in Allah and His Messenger. So anyway, 70 means — Allah knows best how many.

The Month of Patience

And this is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Jannah itself. SubhanAllah — so much we can say here. What is the level of sabr for us? It is so little compared to the great sabr of those who preceded us. But at the very minimum, we should not complain about the fast. This will negate the thawab of our fast if we complain. Whatever difficulty comes, bear it patiently.

I mean, typically when we talk about bearing pain, it is when children are being blown up and houses are being destroyed in calamities. For us it is a little bit of thirst or hunger, a little bit of changing the times of our meals. That is the extent of whatever pain. It is laughable to say that we have to be patient for it. May Allah reward us despite our weakness, and may Allah ta'ala grant us the reward of sabr.

The Month of Sympathy and Increased Provision

And it is also the month of showing sympathy. This is an action item for us — how do we actually give in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to those who are less fortunate? It is not something we just teach the kids — oh, our little kids are so cute, they come back from school, we have a sadaqah box, we learn in this month that we've got to help those in need around the world. And we look at them and think, okay, this is your childish thing, you think you're going to end world hunger and bring world peace, and when you grow up you'll realize it's just all like this.

نَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِن ذَلِكَ. We have to truly imbibe within ourselves — have this muzakarah with our children and talk to them, and with our wives and our kids at home — that we should, we need to, we have no option but to feel that pain for the Ummah throughout the world.

And this is the month in which the provision of the mu'min increases from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Reward of Giving Iftar

Whoever gives iftar to a person who is fasting, this becomes a means of forgiveness for all of his sins. It doesn't mean elaborate dinners. This is the month of fasting, not feasting. This was just to give something for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for those who cannot afford it.

SubhanAllah, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

(Reported by al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman; also cited by Ibn al-Mubarak in al-Zuhd)

The highest form of sadaqah is to give food to that stomach that is hungry. The more hungry the recipient is, the more rewarding the sadaqah. Irrespective of the level of taqwa, ilm, or other attributes of the receiving party. Yes, there is reward for feeding people of ilm, amal, or taqwa, or your shaykh or ustadh, for the sake of showing respect for their sifat — how Allah has selected them — and for them to make dua for you, etc. That is a different component. But here, Allah ta'ala and Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam are teaching us that when we are determining who we should feed, it should be those who are the hungriest.

You will receive the reward of the fasting person by giving them iftar without their fast being decreased in the slightest.

The Sahaba said: Ya Rasulallah, many of us are so destitute that we don't even have anything to share with the fasting person. How can we give them iftar without having enough for ourselves? Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam replied:

Allah ta'ala will grant this reward for whoever gives a fasting person even just one date, or just a sip of water, or a sip of milk. SubhanAllah. The fact that they are even asking such a question indicates their financial and economic condition.

The Three Portions of Ramadan

This is the month whose first ten days are of rahmah, whose middle ten days are of forgiveness, and whose last ten days are deliverance from the fire of Jahannam. May Allah ta'ala make us all among the utaqa' Ramadan — those whose sins are forgiven in this month.

Whoever lightens the burden of his employee, of his servant in this month, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive his sins and deliver him from the fire.

Four Essential Practices in Ramadan

Excessively engage yourselves in four practices. Two are such practices that you will please your Lord. And two are such practices that you have no option — it's not just a matter of gaining Allah's pleasure; there is no way out. You better do it.

Those two practices that will please your Lord: excessively saying أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ and seeking His forgiveness — أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ.

And what are those two practices that you have no option — la budda, it is necessary for you? That you have to seek from Allah ta'ala His Jannah, and seek His protection from the fire.

Giving Water to the Fasting Person

And whoever gives a sip of water to a fasting person, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will grant him the drink from the Hawd of Kawthar from my hands on the Day of Judgment — such a beautiful drink that he will never ever feel thirst again.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to benefit from these beautiful words of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam as narrated by Salman radiyallahu anhu — فِي آخِرِ يَوْمٍ مِنْ شَعْبَانَ — on the last day of Sha'ban. And may He allow us to prepare for this upcoming month and grant us all maghfirah in this month.