Don't Let Your Hearts Harden After Ramadan's Blessings

Opening Du'a

We begin with praising Allah and thanking Him for all of His blessings and bounties. Those that we are aware of, those that we are not aware of. Those that we remember, those that we forget. Those blessings that we see and those blessings that we do not see.

The Opening Verse

Where Did Ramadan Go?

Particularly we thank Allah for the blessing of Ramadan. It may be hard to imagine, but it was only a month ago. Yet it feels like a distant memory.

It was only a month ago that we were reciting so much Qur'an. But now our Qur'an has gone down. It was only a month ago that we were in Ramadan. But now our relationship with Allah has withered. It was only a month ago that we were in Ramadan. But now our connection with the masjid has been severed. It was only a month ago that we were seeking forgiveness from certain sins. And we have returned to those sins. It's only been a month ago. And those things we promised Allah that we would do — we have forgotten.

It's a strange predicament. What do we do? Ramadan was a high but now it's as if it never came. What went wrong? Where did we fall? Or who's to blame?

The Excuses We Make

We could say Shaytan was locked up — now he's free. He's working extra hard, making up for lost time. That's one possibility. We could say it was the environment, the culture that pushed us. We are motivated when we see other people doing good deeds, staying away from sin — hence we stayed away as well. We could say simply we live in a bad time. Of course Ramadan is Ramadan. But it's just the time that we live in.

But all those are really not fair excuses or arguments. For one thing, Allah already stated that Shaytan is our clear enemy. That's a standard. That's a constant. Whether Ramadan is there or Ramadan is not there — Shaytan is working. His effects are around us. And based on the understanding of the hadith too, not every Shaytan is locked up anyways. But if Shaytan — you already know — he's your clear enemy. We can't really blame him if Allah warned us of him.

We can't say the environment was the thing that caused us to do well in Ramadan, when we are the people who built the environment. I feed off of you, you fed off of me. I saw you working hard in Ramadan, you saw me working hard in Ramadan. We pushed each other that way. So I can't blame the lack of environment if I'm not in the environment, if I'm not creating the environment.

I can't blame simply the time. Because the time is simply passing moments. In the famous poem:

We criticize time — that time is like this, we live in this era, we live in this place, the world is like this. But the deficiency is in us, not the time. And if we were to blame time, if we were to critique it for one thing, that one thing would be the fact that it hosts us — that we are attributed to it, that we are associated with it. That's its biggest downfall.

We Have No One to Blame But Ourselves

So if none of those are valid excuses or reasons for not being in the situation that we want to be — or being where we don't want to be — the reality is that we only have to blame ourselves. We can make any excuses. We can ignore the fact. Allah says:

Rather, the human being is well aware — fully aware — has good insight into himself. He knows what he's doing. He knows what he's not doing. He knows the reasons why he's doing them. He knows why he's not doing it. He can give whatever excuse he wants. Allah already knows.

Allah knows. He knows us better than we know ourselves. So the issue is not Allah not knowing. It's the fact that we are not acting on what we are aware of. Because we're obviously aware of what's happening inside — what we want, what we desire, what we fear. We have this internal dialogue with ourselves all the time: to do, not to do; when to do, when not to do.

Taqwa Is a Lifelong Journey

Ramadan was a month of taqwa. But taqwa is not limited to Ramadan. It's to train ourselves for the entire year. It's to propel us for the next year. To develop that taqwa as a lifelong journey.

Ibn Sirin rahmatullahi alayhi, a famous salaf — one of the most famous people of Islamic history in our past — he says: "We used to see our elders and the people before us" — imagine, a thousand years ago, he's saying, our salaf — "we used to see them spending time going to study. Not fiqh, not tafsir, not aqeedah. But to learn wara', to learn taqwa." It was something that they would actively go to train in, to actively study.

But the strange thing today is we think we're born with it. We think the status quo that we have is what's desired from us. But how is that fair? What are we comparing ourselves to? Allah wants us to compare ourselves to the Sahabah, to the Prophets. And those are our standards.

Iman — O you who believe, have faith. Say, "I believe in Allah." Have istiqamah. Continue what you're supposed to do. Continuously progress. But we think, "I was born a Muslim, I know what I need to do." We think being born to a Muslim family — or accepting Islam, whichever the case — we think, "I did what I have to do. Now Allah is pleased with me."

It's as if a person should say, "Alhamdulillah, I was born, I have a beating heart. I've had a beating heart for 50 years, 60 years, 70 years. I know how the heart works." You have no idea how the heart works. You say, "Brother, I've been Muslim for 50 years — you think I don't know this?" Well, I don't know. You have a beating heart for 50 years too. Doesn't make you a doctor. Doesn't mean you can do surgery on the heart.

The standard that we want in our life is something that we should compare to what Allah wants from us — not what we already have.

Setting Spiritual Goals

So now — how do we move forward? What is the remedy? How do we fix this situation?

We go through this mental exercise for everything else in our life. We think about: what would my ideal life be? Whether that's financially, emotionally, physically, job-security wise, or whatever the situation is — we have an ideal, a goal. Even if it's very far-fetched: "I wish I could be like this. I wish I could do that."

When a person is younger, their greatest goal in life is to join the NBA or the NFL. A little bit older, their biggest concern is getting married. Or a little bit older — your kids, your job, whatever it is. We have an ideal. Talking about physical health, a person says, "I want a six-pack by the time I'm 16 or 17." Or a person a bit older: "I just want my cholesterol to be down to this level." We have an ideal. Financially: "I want my balance to be this much at this age. I want to have this much invested." We have goals.

But really — what are our goals for our spiritual health? Our spiritual progress? What's our long-term goal for our relationship with Allah? For Jannah? We have a whole bucket list of things. What about for our deen? When you think about your ideal life in the future, have you considered how much tahajjud in those nights? No, you don't. That's the first issue.

The Letter to Ashraf Ali Thanvi

But the good thing is, it's not all doom and gloom. Allah knows this. He expects this from us. Insan is meant to fall. Insan is meant to make a mistake. But we're supposed to get up and keep moving.

There's a famous scholar by the name of Ashraf Ali Thanvi, a great scholar. One day, he received a letter from one of his students. He said: "Sheikh, I go through these phases of my life where I'm very motivated. I read Qur'an every day. I do durood every day. I pray my salah on time. X, Y, Z — I do it all. One month, two months, three months — I'm going solid. Really good. And then slowly I dip. And slowly I go down until I'm the exact opposite of what I was just doing. Then three, four months go by — I'm drowning in sin." And at the end of the letter, he says: "What should I do?"

The Three Solutions

First, Ashraf Ali Thanvi says: "Don't worry. This is good news. This is what everybody goes through. So don't think you're alone. We all go through this exact same journey. But you need to have istiqamah."

And he gives a few solutions.

The first one: The only way to deal with lack of motivation is to do the job. You do the job. Success breeds its own motivation. Have uluww al-himmah — have the high aspiration. Have good long-term goals of what I want to be. Don't be limited. Don't be dependent on Ramadan. Ramadan is great, but don't limit yourself to that, because that's a very short time period. Have lofty goals. And keep working on it. If the goal changes, the goal changes. But if you're working in the right direction, that's what matters.

The second one: You have to be in the company of the pious. Be in company that will make you do good, that will motivate you to do what Allah is pleased with. Because if you're in that environment, change happens naturally.

The third one: If you're unable to do that for some reason or another, then you have to read the books of the pious. Learn from their writings. And read that every single day. It's not something that we do on and off. It's not something that we do whenever I feel down. We need to be structured. We need to have regiment. We need to be consistent with what we do.

But we're not. And it would be okay if we weren't that way in dunya — but we're not even that way there. When it comes to dunya, we're punctual. We're people — mashaAllah — a successful community. As a Muslim ummah in general, we're educated. We work hard. We're successful in our various fields. We excel. We expect the best from ourselves, from our children, from those around us. We're not people who are simply lazy and good for nothing. So if we can do that for the dunya, most definitely we can do it for the akhirah. Just as we make plans, just as we have assessments, we can do the same thing for the akhirah. All it takes is a little bit of work, high goals, and consistency.

The Standard: The Sahabah

And then for what should we compare against? We said that it should be the Sahabah radiallahu anhum. How does Allah describe them in the Qur'an?

When the mention of Allah is heard — when Allah is mentioned — their hearts tremble. Then when His ayat, His verses, His signs are seen, observed, are heard, their faith increases, it solidifies. They have tawakkul on Allah. Those people who perform salah properly and give zakat. And they have yaqeen in the akhirah.

The Hadith on Good Company

And then the main solution to have consistency — we said — was to have good company. What did the Prophet ﷺ say regarding this?

The one whose very sight reminds you of Allah, whose speech increases your knowledge, and whose actions remind you of the Hereafter.
(Reported by Ibn Abi al-Dunya and others; attributed to various companions of the Prophet ﷺ)

The person — by seeing them simply — reminds you of Allah. His speech increases your knowledge. And his action reminds you of the akhirah.

We ask Allah to give us the tawfiq to have long, high aspirations and to have istiqamah in that which pleases Him.

The Six Days of Shawwal

One last thing — many people have forgotten about the six days of Shawwal fast. Some people are under the assumption that it has to be in the first six days of Shawwal — like the first six days after Eid. That's not true. So we still have time to do the six days of fasting of Shawwal.

The reward is: a person who fasts in Ramadan and follows it by six days — any six days of Shawwal — it's as if they fasted the entire year. Those six days can be done together consecutively or they can be split up. We have about a week and a half, two weeks left. So insha'Allah there's still time to do it.

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously insha'Allah. There are many rewards for donating in general, and of course on Friday it's multiplied. The Prophet ﷺ said that generosity — sadaqah — is a branch from Jannah. As long as a person gives charity, they're holding on to that branch. And that branch will lead them to Jannah.

An Evening with Mufti Tariq Masood — a very popular scholar, famous online, particularly in Pakistan and internationally — he will be here at Dar-ul-Islam Saturday, April 27th, which is tomorrow, after Maghrib salah. This is pending his arrival at the airport tomorrow; if everything works well with customs etc., he will be here for that. Please come and join us.

Save the date for the annual retreat: Islam and AI — Navigating New Frontiers in the Modern World, Friday May 10th to Sunday May 12th. Registration can be done online. You don't have to come for the whole thing — any amount of time is acceptable.

Moms and Kids Sessions — many Muslims, nurture your little ones' love for the deen in a welcoming space by joining our fun-filled sessions every Thursday, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., for ages up to five, in the Sisters' Banquet Hall, lower level in the seminary building.

Summer Programs — we will be offering many summer programs for various ages: 14 and above, and a session below 14 for boys, girls, and sessions for ages four to five. Pretty much every age for your child is being catered, from the ages of four all the way to college.

Weekly Programs — join our weekly programs, particularly Team Fajr, which is tomorrow; Fajr is at 5:15. Tuesday Tafsir will continue after Salatul Maghrib — right now it's from Surah Mumtahanah. And our weekly Salawatul Khatira every Thursday.

The University of Chicago MSA presents an annual Qurra' Night. Various Qurra' from throughout the country will be coming for a benefit recitation for Gaza. After the Qur'an recitation from the various Qurra', there will be Tafsir by Mufti Bin Hajar al-Ahmad. This is at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago.

Du'a

Lastly, du'a requests for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. May Allah alleviate their difficulties and give them sabr and success in this life and the akhirah. And a man who is suffering from pancreatic cancer — please make du'a for him.