Steadfastness After Ramadan: The Path To A Blessed Ending

Opening

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ، اَلْحَمْدُ لِلهِ وَكَفَىٰ وَسَلَامٌ عَلَىٰ عِبَادِهِ الَّذِيْنَ اصْطَفَىٰ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَقَدْ قَالَ اللهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ فِي مُحْكَمِ تَنْزِيْلِهِ، بَعْدَ أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيْمِ، بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ:

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, respected elders and young students, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

The Purpose of This Life

Allah, when He has sent us into this world, it is primarily for a test — to see who amongst us is good in our actions, who is more perfect and better in their actions. He says He has created life and death to test you: who are more beautiful in their actions.

And this test does not end until the end of our life. We have to engage in the ibadah of Allah until we face death, until death comes to us. And it is not limited to any particular month of the year or any particular years of our lives.

The Blessings of Ramadan

As this blessed month of Ramadan has come, Allah has made it the season of goodness, the season of khair and ibadah. Allah opens the doors of Jannah, the doors of Jahannam are closed, and the rebellious shayateen are chained. And Allah is increasing the rewards of the virtues. Whoever fulfills an obligation in this month will receive the reward of 70 faraid outside of Ramadan. And whoever fulfills a nafl in this month will get the reward of a fard. So Allah, in every day and every night of Ramadan, is freeing untold numbers of souls from the fire of Jahannam.

And then Laylatul Qadr is better than a thousand months. So many different virtues of this month, so many different fadail and opportunities for khair and opportunities to make tawbah. These are opportunities for us to return to Allah.

But unfortunately, whatever good we are able to acquire, we have the shaytan al-rajim who is out there. His objective — as he made this promise to Allah himself — is: "I will come to misguide this Banu Adam, this Adam and his progeny, from in front and from behind and from the right and the left, and I will misguide all of them. Perhaps only your selected servants of Allah will be the ones who will be able to escape from my grasp." So he brings all our old habits back as soon as this month finishes.

This month, Allah said:

Fasting has been prescribed upon you like those prior to you, so that you may increase in your taqwa. And this was the month of the Quran:

On all of these sifat, attributes, and qualities of this month — the question is: how much of this do we retain? How much of this do we keep with us till we die? And how much of it will we leave behind as we go back to our old ways?

The Importance of the Ending — Al-Khawateem

Because in our deen, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam made it very clear:

What counts in the court of Allah, and based on which we will be judged, is the khawateem — the ending.

And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave the example that there is a person who does many righteous deeds and is apparently a salih individual and is on the path to Jannah — but then shortly before he passes away, right before he passes away, he commits such sins that he is thrown far away from Jannah and he enters Jahannam. On the other hand, it is also possible that a person may be on the path leading towards Jahannam, committing all sins and wrongs, but right before he passes away, if he is granted the blessing of iman, then he may end up entering into Jannah.

So we have to continue to ask from Allah that He does not allow us to go back to our old ways. This is a du'a taught to us by Allah in the Quran:

"Oh Allah, do not allow our hearts to become crooked — and zaygh means crooked — do not allow our hearts to become crooked after You have guided us. And grant us Your mercy, Oh Allah. You are the greatest of givers."

The Du'a of the Prophet for Istiqamah

Somebody asked the wife of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Umm Salama radiyallahu anha: "Our Prophet, your husband, used to make a lot of duas — which dua did you hear him making the most?" And she said, "I heard him asking Allah for istiqamah."

Even though istiqamah is something which he was already granted by Allah. In fact, he had to believe in the fact that Allah selected him to be His Prophet — just like we believe in his prophethood, he had to believe in his own prophethood. And by virtue of that, he knew that he would be on the right path. No one is granted the nabuwwah and then commits a major or minor sin, much less leaves Islam. But the reason he made this du'a is to teach us — ta'leeman lil-ummah — that this is the most important thing.

And Allah commanded Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the Quran:

"Be steadfast the way you have been commanded by Allah. Be steadfast, do not waver, do not become weak, and do not incline — وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا — do not incline towards the dhalimun."

The Reward of Istiqamah

And the virtues of istiqamah — Allah says:

Verily those who say "our Rabb is Allah" and then remain steadfast — Allah will send the angels. The angels of mercy will come to take their souls, and they will give them the glad tidings: "Do not fear, do not grieve. Take the glad tidings of the Jannah that you have been promised. We were your friends and supporters with you on your side in the worldly life, and we will be with you in the hereafter. You will have in Jannah whatever your heart may desire, and you will have whatever you may ask for. This is a gift prepared for you from the Forgiving, Merciful Allah."

This istiqamah is the actual pinnacle — the most difficult thing to achieve. That is why the ulema and the mashayikh of suluk they say: al-istiqamah fawqa al-karamah — having steadfastness is harder to achieve than one thousand supernatural miracles and feats of wonder. Istiqamah is even greater and more difficult to achieve than a thousand miracles.

The Steps: Ilm, Amal, Ikhlas, and Istiqamah

When a person begins a journey towards Allah, the first thing is that he has to acquire knowledge. Without knowing what is halal and haram, what pleases Allah and what displeases Him, a person cannot make the right decisions and the right choices.

Then, after acquiring the ilm and learning how to worship Allah, the second step is that a person has to make amal on that ilm — practice it. If a person does not practice the knowledge that he has, then that ilm will be of no avail. Al-ilmu bila amalin, kashajarati bila thamarin — the ilm without practice is like the tree without fruit.

And the ilm without amal is actually a further hujjah and a testimony against the individual on the Day of Qiyamah. These are the people Allah says have gone astray despite having ilm. So first is the ilm, then followed by amal.

And after a person has amal, then a person must ensure that they have ikhlas and sincerity in that amal — that whatever amal they are doing, they are doing it only for the pleasure of Allah. And once a person works on developing the ikhlas, then the final pinnacle — the final peak of this effort of suluk — is to develop istiqamah and steadfastness on that ikhlas, which is in the amal based on their ilm.

So these are the steps. From a positive perspective, we can go up this way. The other statement of the mashayikh is that all mankind is headed towards destruction — except for those who have knowledge; they are saved. And all those who have knowledge are headed towards destruction — except for those who make amal and practice. And all those who are practicing are headed towards destruction — except for those who have ikhlas. And those who have ikhlas are in a dangerous position: will they maintain that ikhlas with istiqamah, or will their niyyah change at any moment?

So these are the steps ahead of us. Whatever ilm we are able to acquire in our life or in this month, whatever amal we are able to acquire in our life or in this month, and whatever ikhlas we are able to develop in our life or in this month — the question is: will we have istiqamah on that or not? Will we continue to persevere with that or not?

The Power of Ikhlas

And if the ikhlas is there, then Allah will not be looking at the quantity — He will be looking at the quality. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to Mu'adh ibn Jabal radiyallahu anhu:

«Oh Mu'adh, develop ikhlas and sincerity in your amal, and then a little amount of amal will be sufficient for your salvation.»

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22128)

Otherwise, if you have mountains of good deeds without ikhlas, they will be turned into dust and will have no weight in the scales of justice. Because Allah on the Day of Qiyamah will not be counting the good deeds — He will be weighing the good deeds. And the value of the good deed will increase exponentially based on sincerity. That is how Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us that a person who gives a portion of a date in the path of Allah, with that ikhlas, can be more rewarding than a mountain of gold given in charity. The mountain of gold in quantifiable terms is much greater than a date, but it is the sincerity that will make it valuable.

So that is why we have to work on our intention. Whatever amal we are doing — if it is fasting, for example, in this month of Ramadan — Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: whoever performs a fast to show others has committed a minor shirk. The salah we are about to perform — whoever performs salah to show others is committing shirk. How many people are fasting and the only benefit they get is hunger and thirst? How many people are standing in qiyam al-layl and the only benefit they receive is staying awake and exhaustion?

If the ikhlas is there, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: whoever fasts in the month of Ramadan — all his previous sins are forgiven — with iman and ikhlas, looking forward for the reward from Allah. Whoever makes qiyam in Ramadan — ibadah at night — with iman and ikhlas, again all the past sins are forgiven. So on one side, he said that with ikhlas, it is a means of forgiveness of all the sins of one's life. On the other side, without ikhlas, it is exhaustion in the night, and it is hunger and thirst — aimless, fruitless, vain in the day. It all depends on the ikhlas and the sincerity.

So this is what Allah is going to judge. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:

«Verily, Allah does not look at your wealth, your faces, your beauty, or your external conditions. Rather, He looks at your hearts and your intentions.»

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2564)

This is what Allah wants to see. With respect to the qurbani, the sacrifice — the mushrikun of Makkah used to sacrifice an animal and smear the blood on the walls of the Ka'bah. Allah says:

Neither the meat nor the flesh nor the blood reaches Allah. He does not need that. It is the taqwa in your heart that reaches Allah. That is what He wants to see. And consider what kind of qurbani this is — that you slaughter it and eat from it yourself first, before you distribute it. Yes, it is sunnah — not necessary, but sunnah — to distribute one-third to the needy and one-third to the family. But they will be giving you their one-third too, so you'll be eating it, if not directly, indirectly. So you are enjoying your own barbecue, and it is called an ibadah. What kind of ibadah? It is all based on the niyyah. That is what Allah is looking for. He wants to see the niyyah in our hearts.

Closing: Ending This Ramadan Strong

So let us correct our intentions before this month of Ramadan goes, and let us work on asking Allah for thabat and istiqamah on that intention, so that when we are nearing our death, we will receive — inshallah — the glad tidings of the angels. We cannot give up whatever practices we adopted and changes we made in our schedule for this month of Ramadan. We not only have to continue that — we need to increase that. Continually work on increasing as the fitnahs and challenges are increasing. We have to continue to up the game with respect to our fighting back.

May Allah grant us all the tawfeeq to make amal. And Allah knows best if Laylatul Qadr has passed or not. If it has passed, may Allah accept it from us. If it is coming ahead, then may Allah grant us the tawfeeq to end this month strong. Just like the ending of our life is important, the ending of this month is important. So let us end this month — inshallah — on a high note, at the best note possible, and value the precious moments that remain.

All the money in the world — the billions and trillions — and all the assets in the world, and everything in it, dunya wa ma fiha, cannot be used to purchase back a single minute, or in fact a single second of our life. The second that has passed can never be brought back. We cannot turn the clock back. So if that is how valuable the past minute is, then the current and the future minute is equally valuable at the same level. Millions and billions of dollars cannot buy back that past minute — and so it is with every future minute as well.

May Allah give us tawfeeq to value these moments. Because what is our life but illa anfasun ma'dudah — a few measured, numbered, counted breaths. And when we finish that number, our breathing will cease. Time is the most valuable commodity you have been given with the responsibility to guard it, preserve it, and watch over it. May Allah grant me and all of us the tawfeeq to make amal.

Announcements

A few important announcements, inshallah. Please pass the donation boxes and donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah on the day of Jumu'ah. Sadaqah is more rewarding in the month of Ramadan, and there are additional Ramadan expenses that need to be covered. Please donate generously, inshallah.

Please join us for our daily Ramadan programs. Post-Fajr, we have a program discussing many current and contemporary issues. We also have a program after Asr of tazkiyah and du'a, a community iftar, and gems from the Quran after Taraweeh.

The Collective Khatam al-Quran Du'a will be on Wednesday, April 19th — the 29th of Ramadan — after Taraweeh. The Eid announcements will be made when the moon sighting comes in. It will be on either Friday or Saturday, as everyone is aware. There will be two sessions: one right after Fajr and one later at 10 o'clock.

There is a sisters' weekly special gathering — this is the final session. Every Friday during Ramadan from 5:30 PM to Maghrib, there will be programs for older sisters and younger sisters with iftar and dinner. For adults, the topic will be about nurturing spiritual habits post-Ramadan. For the youth: embracing the Night of Decree — Laylatul Qadr — and unlocking the blessings of Laylatul Qadr. There is also a third program for the younger children. All of this is from 5:30 PM to Maghrib with dinner following. Please see the website for more details.

There is a request for du'a for brother Ismail who passed away in Uzbekistan. May Allah have mercy on him.

Whatever you put forth in the path of Allah, then indeed Allah will not only replace it, not only will He double it — rather He will multiply it in multifold. So let us use this advantage of this blessed day of Friday, it being in the odd nights of the month of Ramadan, and give whatever we can. No amount is small. Please stop by the kiosks — there is Zelle as well, PayPal, you can donate your stocks, and you can visit the office, inshallah. There are many ways and opportunities to give, whether it is sadaqah or zakat. Let us give any amount that we can, inshallah, and Allah will use this as a means of barakah in our life, our health, and our family. Ameen.

Jazakumullahu khayran.