20170526 -1st Khutba- Imam Zia

Opening — Khutbah of Ramadan

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask His help, we ask His forgiveness, we believe in Him, and we put our trust in Him. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our actions. Whomsoever He guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He leads astray, none can guide him.

And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and He has no partner. And we bear witness that our Master and Protector is Muhammad, His servant and Messenger.

My dear respected elders, brothers and sisters, we are moments away from starting another blessed month of Ramadan.

And prior to us talking about that, let us make du'a for our Shaykh, Shaykh Mukhtar, who is not feeling well. May Allah give him a speedy recovery and give him the ultimate health so that he can fast the month of Ramadan properly. And he can come back and lead us as a community as soon as he is well and able to do so.

The Passing of Time and the Value of Ramadan

So Allah is enabling us to face another month of Ramadan and it is something that we should appreciate so much. It seems like we were saying goodbye to the last Ramadan maybe just a few weeks ago. And now again we are on the doorsteps of another Ramadan.

This actually should impress upon us the way the time is passing us by. And the barakah of the time is being diminished. We are losing the value of time in the sense that previous scholars and our pious predecessors had the barakah that we cannot achieve.

Despite all of our technology, despite all of our advancements, despite all of our fast transportation, despite our computers and the internet and the information superhighway, we cannot achieve in the same or even more amount of time that we have the amount of things that our pious predecessors achieved. And this is simply because there is a lack in barakah in this day and age. And this is something that the Prophet, peace be upon him, foretold.

But in any case, going back to the point of the month of Ramadan, we have to appreciate the fact that Allah is enabling us to meet one more Ramadan. The Prophet, peace be upon him, used to make du'a:

"O Allah, make us reach Ramadan."

And prior to the month coming, the month of Sha'ban was used for the preparation of the blessed month. Just like we pray the sunnah before the salah, the month of Sha'ban was used to psychologically make a person be ready for the main event of Ramadan. And this is something that we should focus on and think about — how can I use this month to the best of my ability and in a way that achieves the purpose that Allah set it out for, which is to gain the taqwa of Allah. Each Ramadan that we get is a blessing.

The Hadith of the Two Brothers

There is a hadith in which the Prophet, peace be upon him, was approached by a Sahabi who said, "Ya Rasulullah, I saw in a dream two brothers that had become Muslim at the same time. And one of them got martyred — he got shaheed. And we all know what the status of a shaheed is — his sins are completely forgiven and he will enter paradise and all of the things that we are fully aware of. And the other brother, again they had taken shahada at the same time, the other brother died a natural death one year later. But yet the Sahabi said, in my dream, I saw that the person who died the natural death, he is entering paradise before the person who died as a shaheed. Why is that, Ya Rasulullah?"

So the Prophet, peace be upon him, responded and said, "Why are you astonished at this? Why are you surprised? Didn't this person who died one year later — didn't he get the opportunity to pray the salah five times daily for one more year? Didn't he get the opportunity to make istighfar for one more year? Didn't he get the opportunity to fast one more month of Ramadan?"

So each and every time we get an opportunity to be blessed with khair, such as the month of Ramadan, we should appreciate it so much and we should understand that this is a renewed opportunity for us to get closer to Allah.

The Purpose of Fasting — Taqwa

So Allah tells us:

"O people of Iman, the fasting has been prescribed upon you." The word kutiba is from the word kataba — to write. Kutiba — it is written. Written, meaning it has been made obligatory upon you. The writing — when a person writes something down, he takes notes — it is when he realizes that this is very important. I need to write this down so I don't forget it. So Allah used the word kutiba 'alaykum to make us understand that it is important. This obligation that has been written for us, it is important and not something that should be taken lightly. And it was also written for the people before us — the Jews and the Christians and the previous nations were given methods of fasting too.

And then at the end of the verse, Allah tells us what the purpose is: la'allakum tattaqoon — so that you may gain taqwa. The purpose is not to fast. The purpose is not to stay hungry. The purpose is not to stay thirsty. The purpose is not to lose weight, although that's welcome. It's not to detoxify oneself — these detox plans that people read about and try to propagate and advertise. The purpose is solely and only to get closer to Allah and gain this taqwa that Allah is mentioning.

Five Unique Gifts Given to This Ummah in Ramadan

Going on to the five things that this ummah was given that no other nation was given before. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

(Musnad Ahmad; also referenced in collections of Ibn Khuzaymah and al-Bayhaqi)

"My ummah was given five things — five khisal — that were not given to any nation before this ummah."

The First Gift: The Fragrance of the Fasting Person's Mouth

The odour that comes from the mouth of a fasting person — because of the mouth being dry or because of the stomach being empty — this is more beloved to Allah than even the fragrance of musk. And this is not because a person is not brushing his teeth; a person should brush his teeth even in the month of Ramadan, using a miswak preferably. But this odour is coming because of the mouth being dry or because of the stomach being empty.

And in other situations, the Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade us from coming to the masjid while we are smelling — after we've eaten onion or garlic or strong-smelling foods. We are not supposed to come to the masjid unless and until we have cleaned ourselves and brushed our teeth and made our mouth smell fresh. But this smell that is coming from the mouth of a fasting person — it is an indication of the devotion of the slave to his Master, his love for his Creator. And Allah reciprocates that love, reflects that love back to His slave and says: "O slave, you have given up food and drink for Me. And because of that your mouth is dry and your lips are parched. And your mouth is smelling because of that, and I love this smell because you have done it only for My sake." So this smell is more beloved to Allah than even the smell of musk.

The Second Gift: The Angels Make Istighfar

The angels make istighfar for a fasting person until the person breaks the fast. Can you imagine — who are the angels? They do not disobey Allah. They do whatever they are instructed. They are not even able to disobey Allah — they can only obey. And these innocent beings are praying for your maghfirah, praying for my maghfirah. What a blessing this is — that the angels pray for a person's maghfirah from morning to evening until the person breaks the fast.

The Third Gift: The Rebellious Shayateen Are Imprisoned

The rebellious shayateen are imprisoned, and they cannot reach — in this blessed month of Ramadan — the person in a way that they used to reach beforehand. So you can see that most of the people abstain from committing any type of sin in the blessed month of Ramadan, out of respect for Ramadan and also because the shayateen cannot provoke them to do so.

Now, the question that people may have is: some people still commit sins in Ramadan. Why is that if the shayateen are imprisoned? The answer to that question is that sometimes — and may Allah protect us from that situation — a person gets into committing sins so much that it becomes part of his temperament. It becomes a habit of his. And when it becomes a habit, he does not need the shayateen to provoke him into committing that sin, because it is part of his nature now. So if a person is still committing sins in Ramadan, then he really needs to reflect upon himself and think about how he can get rid of these evil habits that are still being practiced by him even in the blessed month of Ramadan.

And the other answer to the question is that the rebellious shayateen are imprisoned, but the minor shayateen are still out there. And you can also say that there are shayateen in human form — shayateen al-insi wal-jinn — as Allah describes in the Quran. There are humans that are playing the part of Shaytan and they can provoke a person into committing sins. And that is why the Prophet, peace be upon him, used to stress upon the importance of keeping good company and having good friends:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4833; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2378)

"A person is on the religion of his friends, so each one of you should see who his friends are." If my friends are drinkers of alcohol, gamblers, drug takers, drug dealers, and they are engaged in illicit activities — that is a reflection of me. That is what I am also because I am keeping company with such people. So this is why the Prophet, peace be upon him, has this very profound statement: a person is on the religion of his friend, so each one of you should see who he is befriending.

The Fourth Gift: Jannah Is Beautified Every Day

Allah beautifies paradise for the believers every single day. You can imagine — if we have special guests coming, our parents are coming from out of the country, or a marriage is taking place and a new bride is coming to the house, how much effort is made in making sure that the house is beautiful, it is well decorated, and is welcoming for these new guests that are about to come and bless us with their presence. Similarly, Allah is beautifying Jannah every day in the month of Ramadan for the people that were fasting.

This is why? Because we are the special guests that Allah wants to welcome into paradise. And Allah says to this paradise:

"It is very close that My slaves are going to shrug away the difficulties and the hardships that they are facing in their lives and they are going to enter into you, O Jannah." So that is why I am beautifying this paradise — for those people that are taking hardships and going through difficulties for My sake.

The Fifth Gift: Forgiveness on the Last Night of Ramadan

On the last night of Ramadan, Allah forgives the fasting person's sins. So the Sahaba said, "Ya Rasulullah, is this last night of Ramadan that you are talking about — in which sins are forgiven — is that Laylatul Qadr?" The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "No. Laylatul Qadr has its own reward. That has its own blessing. That has its own virtue and reward. This is something different."

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

"When the laborer completes his work, he gets his wages — he gets his salary." The laborer in this case is the believer who has fasted and stayed hungry for the sake of Allah, and his salary, his wages, are in the form of the forgiveness of Allah.

So there are so many different ways that we can achieve the blessing of Ramadan, my dear brothers and sisters. We should not waste this opportunity. It could be the last Ramadan for us. It could be the last time we get to fast for the sake of Allah in the month of Ramadan. So we need to make sure that we reap its rewards. I am sure many of you know many people who were young, who were old, who were with us in the last Ramadan, yet they are not with us this year. So we need to take full advantage of the blessings that Allah is providing for us.

What Is Taqwa?

When Allah has said that He wants us to get taqwa, what is taqwa? One of the profound sayings of Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, is that taqwa is:

• To fear Al-Jaleel — meaning the Powerful One, Allah —
• And to practice upon Al-Tanzeel — meaning the revelation that Allah has sent to us, the Quran —
• And to be satisfied with the little that Allah gives us, rather than chasing after more and more worldly things which we are going to leave behind anyway —
• And to be prepared for the day of the great journey, which is the journey from this world into the world of the hereafter.

So these are the four components according to Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that make up what taqwa is. Again: taqwa is to fear Al-Jaleel, and to practice upon Al-Tanzeel, and to be satisfied with the little, and to be prepared for the day of departure.

Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, when describing the verse:

"O people of Iman, have the taqwa of Allah as He deserves, and do not die except in the state of submission."

He said: what is taqwa? He said:

(Athar of Ibn Mas'ud, referenced in Tafsir al-Tabari and Mustadrak al-Hakim)

That Allah is obeyed and He is not disobeyed. He is remembered and not forgotten. And He is thanked and a person is not ungrateful to Allah.

And then he goes on to say: wa shukruhu yadkhulu feehi jami'u fi'al al-ta'at — shukr does not mean that a person simply says "thank you Allah" or alhamdulillah; rather it means that all of the obediences that a person is supposed to do, and all of the things that he is supposed to implement in his life, they are implemented.

And what does the dhikr of Allah mean? It is not to just take a misbaha — a tasbih — and say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ — rather, that is rewarding in and of itself, but the true dhikr of Allah is that you remember Him with your heart, and remember His awaamir — His commands — and remember Him in every single one of your actions: whichever action you take, whichever step you take, whichever thing you are looking at, whichever thing you are hearing — you remember Allah and His commands in that looking, in that hearing, in that walking towards, in that touching. That is what the dhikr of Allah is. And when you have the true dhikr of Allah in your heart, you also remember the things that He has forbidden, and you try to avoid them.

Closing

There are many other definitions of taqwa that we don't have time to go into right now. But the main thing, again, my dear brothers and sisters, is that Allah has given us an opportunity — we should try to take full advantage of this opportunity, this chance, this time to reap the benefits of the rewards of Allah. This is the time that we need to take full advantage of. I pray that Allah gives us tawfiq to understand and practice what has been said and heard.