Indeed, Your Lord is Close | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Opening

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ وَصَلَاةُ وَسَلَامُ عَلَى أَشْرَفِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ النَّبِيِّ الْأُمِّيِّ الَّذِي اسْمُهُ مَكْتُوبٌ فِي الْإِنْجِيلِ وَالتَّوْرَاةِ — أَمَّا بَعْدُ

Allah says in His Noble Book, after seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1690)

Every Action Has an Objective

Dear brothers, sisters, families and children — whenever we start a new initiative or begin a new task, that task or that initiative has an objective. And albeit we are doing the small things within our work — we are filing the paperwork, we are charting in the computer, we are talking to customers — all of this has a much larger objective. And the objective is to keep the business afloat. We're making sure that our office is clean. We're making sure that the customers are happy. These are the small things. These are the small things that must happen in order for the objective to be achieved. And the objective is that the business can stay afloat, the house can stay happy, the family can stay united. These are objectives.

So in the month of Ramadan, we are starting this month knowing that we have to fast, we should try our best to pray Taraweeh, and wake up for Tahajjud, and recite Qur'an, and do all of these beautiful things. But what is the real objective from this? And what does Allah want from us? And what does He hope that we are able to achieve through these actions and through these acts? Is it simply fasting? Is it simply praying at night? Or is it more than that?

The Prophet ﷺ says that there are many of those that fast but they receive nothing from that fast except for hunger. And there are many of those that stand up and pray but they receive nothing from those prayers except for becoming tired and becoming exhausted. So what is the goal from these worships that we are, insha'Allah, soon to be commencing?

The First Key: Ihsan — Doing Everything with Excellence

Allah tells us: وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ — number one, in order for us to achieve the objectives from the month of Ramadan, وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ. Ikmal in the Qur'an gives the meaning of doing something with perfection.

This is one of the last verses that were revealed in the Qur'an. He says that today — أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ — We have perfected and completed your religion. وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ — so the first thing we have to do in order to earn the objective, which I will mention in a few minutes, is to live in the month of Ramadan with the quality, the perspective, the characteristic of Ihsan.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1955)

Allah has made Ihsan obligatory, compulsory upon every single thing that we do. And Ihsan and Ikmal is that while we fast we protect ourselves from things that bring the displeasure of Allah. While we pray we make sure that Allah is in our minds and He is the only one that we are thinking of. وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ — we do it well. And we do it with keeping Allah in our mind.

What happens when we do this? The objective becomes:

Allah says: when an individual does this — when an individual connects himself to Allah throughout the month of Ramadan through perfecting every single one of his amal or her amal — so if an amal that I'm doing is serving my family, we do it well. If the act that I'm doing in the month of Ramadan is making sure that I drive my children to Taraweeh, let's do it well. If what I'm doing in the month of Ramadan is reciting Qur'an, let's do it well. وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ — we have to do it well.

The Objective: Closeness to Allah

Allah says then the objective is achieved. What is the objective? A very simple objective:

Doing all these actions allows us to realize that we are very close to Allah. We are very close to Him. We're not that far from Him. And that's the objective of the month of Ramadan. That is the objective of fasting. That is the objective of praying — that we are able to realize that I'm close to Allah. Regardless of the amount of sins that I have accumulated throughout the year. Regardless of the different types of things that I was involved in throughout the year. I am close to Allah.

That is the greatest feeling that an individual can experience — closeness to someone who is of a high status. You know those individuals who have protocol, that know people in power, that know people that have a status — you can tell by their walk that they are connected to other people. We are people that are connected to Allah. That individual who has the keys of the treasures of the world:

When Allah opens up the door for us, no one can close it for us. And when He closes it upon us, no one can open it for us.

The Advice of the Prophet ﷺ to Ibn Abbas

The Prophet ﷺ looked at Abdullah ibn Abbas, who was a child that was seven to eight years old, sitting behind him on his ride. He looked at him and he said to him:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2516)

Take care of the commandments of Allah and Allah will take care of you. Make sure that you take care of the rights of people and Allah will assure that your rights are upheld. We are always looking after our own rights. The Prophet ﷺ is telling Ibn Abbas: look after the rights of people, because if you look after the rights of people, Allah will look after your rights. Allah will take care of you. Rather than simply demanding what my right is, let's demand the right of my children, the rights of my parents, the rights of my spouse, the rights of my neighbors, the rights of my community.

The Prophet ﷺ told Ibn Abbas: if you do this, Allah will take care of you.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699)

The Prophet ﷺ declared that as long as an individual is helping one of the slaves of Allah, Allah's help is always going to be with them. And the moment an individual stops helping others, Allah's help also becomes suspended — it suspends itself, it stops.

Then the Prophet ﷺ continues and he says to Ibn Abbas:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2516)

When you ask, ask only Allah. When you seek assistance, only seek it from Allah. And after all of this, the Prophet ﷺ says to him: Oh my son —

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2516)

That if the entirety of this world gets together to benefit you with something, they cannot benefit you. And we see this live in front of us — where everyone, all the countries, the superpowers, the intellectual minds of the world, the rocket scientists, the scientists, the physicians — every smart mind has been put together to find a relief from this pandemic that we are living in. But there is still difficulty, because relief comes from Allah.

When we become sick, it's Allah who gives us cure. When we are in difficulty, it is Allah who removes it from our lives. He says to him: no one can benefit you if Allah doesn't want it for you. So in order for you to benefit, turn back to Allah.

The Goal: Feeling Close to Allah

So the greatest objective of any worship that we commit ourselves to is the feeling of being close to Allah. The feeling of being connected. The feeling of knowing that Allah has my back.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)

Allah says in the hadith of Qudsi: whosoever harms and gives a hard time to My believers, I will make sure to protect them, I will take care of them. We will go through that difficulty, but at the end of the day that difficulty will lead to a more special sajda, it will lead to a more special du'a, it will lead to a more special connection that perhaps we never had before.

The Words of Iqbal on Sajda

Allama Iqbal says: nowadays our sajda — when we have our head on the floor — there is everything else circulating in my mind, and the only thing which is not coming into my mind and my heart is the greatness of Allah. He says: what type of forgiveness, what type of change and revolution do we expect from that type of sajda? A sajda is a sajda where everyone else is forgotten about and the only one that we are thinking about is Allah. That sajda where we feel that we are actually close to Allah.

The objective of this month that is dawning upon us — until the moon rises — is:

Let them know — and this ayah comes right after the ayah that speaks about the month of Ramadan. And Allah only mentions fasting in the month of Ramadan once in the entire Qur'an. And right after that He mentions this — that this is the goal.

So many of us may not be able to fast because we are sick, or we are traveling, or we can't fast, we are pregnant, we have children that are being breastfed — it's okay. The goal is not the fast itself, even though that is very important for those that can. The goal is feeling close to Allah. So whatever we are doing in the month of Ramadan as an ibadah — وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ — let's do it well. And after doing it well, let's feel a sense of contentment, a sense of fulfillment, a sense of closeness to Allah that we did not possess before.

The Sign of a Believer

The Prophet ﷺ was asked: what is a sign of a believer? And I'll end at this. What is a sign? Tell us, O Prophet of Allah, how do we know that we have iman? The Prophet ﷺ did not give them a very detailed response talking about theology and jurisprudence — but rather he gave them a very simple response that every single one of us has the ability to relate to. He said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22291)

He said: O my companions — when the good that you do makes you feel good, and when the bad that you do makes you feel bad, that is a sign that you are a believer.

So we should feel inspired. We should feel connected. And there should be no one around us that can make us feel like we're not connected. The only barrier that we have in feeling connected is ourself. It's us. We have to believe that Allah is close to us. And we have to know that Allah is there to support us.