Footprints in the Sand: Lessons from the Pious | Muftī Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/18

The Foundation: Building the Internal Core

When the core is built — when the internal love for Allah, love for Rasulullah, taqwa is built — then automatically all the actions will line up. All the actions will line up. And if the internal core is not built, then we have a problem.

Once again, like I always tell you — I just heard, half an hour ago, someone contacted me and said, "I have two sons who are hafidh, unfortunately have left Islam. What do I do? I heard some of your talks, what advice do you have for me? How do I get my ex-Muslim kid, in the month of Ramadan — murtad, subhanAllah — doesn't believe in Allah, doesn't believe in Rasulullah, doesn't believe in anything. Memorized Qur'an."

The mom and dad made effort, made them hafidh, and now, subhanAllah, imagine you're sitting here listening — you're not a hafidh, your sons are not hafidh. But someone — not just someone, many are out there — who memorized the entire Qur'an, and instead of leading tarawih, they say Allah doesn't exist. Where do we start from this? When the core is not built, externally you can even have memorized the whole Qur'an, but unfortunately it can't get you anywhere.

This is where we learn from these stories — that my core is not built at the level of where it needs to go. What we're faced with right now is something so strong of a fitnah, that if you are not internally super strong, you and I are not going to survive what's happening at the moment.

The Purpose of Fasting: Taqwa

So in this final, possibly final day of Ramadan, let us reflect and see: what was the purpose of the fasting? What was the big benefit I was supposed to get? I was supposed to get taqwa. Allah said fasting has been prescribed for the sake of taqwa:

Now, what does taqwa look like? Let's read and get an idea. The essence of all pillars of Islam is taqwa. This is possibly our last session from this book, so what a beautiful way to end — reading about the taqwa of our pious salaf. Because the purpose of fasting was also to gain taqwa.

The All-Encompassing Nature of Taqwa

The essence of all pillars of Islam is taqwa. Numerous ayahs of the Qur'an and hadith enjoin believers to acquire the taqwa of Allah. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri says that a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked for advice. The blessed Prophet ﷺ said: hold on to taqwa because it is inclusive of all good.

(Referenced in Shu'ab al-Iman of al-Bayhaqi; similar narrations in various hadith collections)

Milāku kulli khayr — all goodness and good is in taqwa. That's all you have to hold on to. In another narration, he said: "I advise you to have taqwa as it is the root of all things." In another hadith: "taqwa is obligatory on your outward and inward." So all goodness will come if we have taqwa.

In the Qur'an, Allah says: the most respected of you in the eyes of Allah is the one who fears Allah the most:

In the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ reached the area of Banu Salim and led Jumu'ah there. After the introductory sermon, he said: "I advise you to hold on to taqwa, because the best advice any Muslim can give to any Muslim is that he encourages him towards the hereafter and reminds him to hold on to taqwa."

From all the friends that you and I have, how many of them do exactly what the Prophet ﷺ said? Encouraging us towards the hereafter and reminding us to hold on to taqwa. This should be the standard. The standard thing — that when we meet each other and we go out to eat or do something together, the key thing is, before I leave, I have to remind you of taqwa and remind you of the hereafter. And you have to remind me of the same. This is called real brotherhood. This is called real friendship — that in every gathering we are speaking to each other about taqwa and the hereafter.

This is a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. That is what the best advice is that you can give. The best thing you can do is remind someone of taqwa and the hereafter. There is no better advice, nor any dhikr greater than that. The taqwa of Allah saves from the wrath of Allah, His punishment, and His displeasure. It illuminates the continents. It makes the face look bright. It invites the pleasure of Allah and elevates the status.

Likewise, when Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became khalifa, he said in his first sermon after glorifying Allah: "I have been appointed your ameer though I am not better than you. But it is true that the Qur'an and Sunnah say that the greatest equity is taqwa, and the greatest stupidity is transgression."

The number of ayahs and hadith on this topic are countless. And Shaykh Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi, who has written this book, says: "In this regard I have found no one — group or individual — that can vie and compete with my shuyukh, my elders, in the matter of taqwa. There are numerous stories from their lives, more than I can ever recount."

The Pious Elders: Figures of Light

And then whoever composed the following poems about his shuyukh and teachers — about this whole generation of scholars of the Subcontinent — has spoken the truth. He says about his elders and teachers:

To see them is a remembrance of the Rabb. If I look at them, I remember Allah. Those figures of light — when you look at them, you remember Allah. They who are the inheritors of prophethood and the shade of Ar-Rahman. Their sleep is more rewarding than our worship. Upon their taqwa, the submission in Islam is proud. The inheritance of prophethood most suited their status. Guarding the traditions of Islam was their job. Living in the world but detached from it — wading in the river, but never do their clothes get wet.

Watering Down the Deen

Before Asr, someone told me a certain sheikh gave a big piece of advice somewhere — that we need to make our tarawih shorter, and that you don't need to do Khatm al-Qur'an in every masjid. "Make things easy, brother. Make things easy." This is when 'Isha was at 7:30, then 7:45, now 8:45. Next year it's going to become earlier and earlier. If you want, you could start 'Isha at 6.

No one said this just six years ago. I didn't hear any fatwa like this moving around in America. We used to start 'Isha at what time? 10:45. Remember that? 10:45 — and the masjid used to be packed. More packed, honestly, than it is now. 10:45. And now as things get easier and easier, you have these fatwas showing up: "Why are we making things difficult? Make it easy." It's so strange how the chain of Islam — as it comes in hadith — how those chain links, one by one, are being broken. The Prophet ﷺ prophesied this could happen.

If on the 27th night, the 29th night, we cannot have 6,000, 5,000, 4,000 people standing up in the parking lot, standing on the roads, on the streets — just one night a year — and instead we have masajid that have empty spots, which is happening now, then we know we're in very big trouble. It used to be: make the best of the whole month. Then: make the best of the last ten days. Then: make the best of the odd nights. Then: make the best of the Khatm al-Qur'an night.

And we are very sad to say that if you were to leave the Khatm al-Qur'an tonight, in the middle of it, and drive around these streets, you'll see what's happening. There'll be no spots. People will be packed in. Every single shop filled with customers and people. We turn to Allah and complain about how weak we are — because of which we are going through this. Spiritually our core has broken. That is what Allah is showing us, what we are witnessing.

So my friends, this is why we have to keep the gold standard. Stop trying to water down the deen. No one's complaining. We have the capacity to do great things. In the matters of dunya, everyone says be ambitious. Why, in the matters of deen, are we saying cut it down?

The Standard of the Companions: Giving in the Path of Allah

Our deen teaches us to give and give in the name of Allah. How much? As much as you have. Once you finish everything you have, our Prophet ﷺ and the four khulafa have shown us that they actually would borrow money to give in the path of Allah. This is normal. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) died with hundreds of thousands in debt. Ja'far (may Allah be pleased with him) and so many companions died with debt — their heirs would inherit the debt. Borrowing money — for who? To give in Allah's path.

There is a faqeer here asking: "I don't have money. I have nothing on me. Can I borrow $100? I'll pay it back." And they racked up huge debts — never for themselves, but for the deen. A person would never even fathom this today. The best from amongst us is one who has not racked up debts for dunya, when most of us have — and pay interest on it and so forth. Allahu Akbar.

One brother told me he became passionate about participating in a Muslim graveyard — we have two of them now here. I said, what led to this? Among the things he said: he knew somebody whose relative passed away and he had no money to pay for the funeral service and the grave spot, so he had to put it on his credit card. And then, subhanAllah, he didn't have money to pay that off either — so he's paying interest for the janazah and the grave spot. He said, "When I saw that, I said this has got to stop. We have to provide an alternative for this."

So alhamdulillah, my point is — this is the standard we have to push ourselves and our kids to. Son, daughter: give, give, give. And when you don't have? You borrow and you give. And what about my own vacation, my own kitchen renovation, upgrading my home? No — that's what Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) chose to leave. His wife saved pennies from the small stipend he took from the bayt al-mal — because Abu Bakr was a wealthy businessman. But you can either have the cake or eat the cake; you can't do both.

The Story of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and the Saved Sweet

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I'm going to be the khalifa; I can't be outside in the marketplace. So I'm going to serve the ummah, but I'm going to reduce the stipend I receive from the bayt al-mal to a very little amount." His wife slowly, from this tiny stipend, saved pennies — a penny every week or so — and got enough to buy one sweet. She brought it to her husband and said, "Alhamdulillah, today we're going to eat a sweet together."

Abu Bakr looked at her and said, "Where did this come from? Who gave this to you as a gift?" She said, "I bought it. I've been saving — from the money that's coming into the home, a little bit every day." He said, "How much did you save each day?" He went back to the bayt al-mal and reduced that amount from his income. If she saved one or two cents per day, that meant one to two cents extra was being received which he did not need. That is our role model.

Am I there? Are you there? Maybe some of you are. But we are light years away from that. We have to recognize that is our role model. That is exactly how success will come — not through leading a life completely opposite to the lifestyle that they had. To the extent that if they were to come into our homes and meet you and I, they would think we are hypocrites. They wouldn't even recognize we're Muslims.

So here they are, being so tight on the budget at home — but when it comes to spending in the path of Allah: "I've given everything, and on top of that I'm going to borrow to give." This is a concept we don't even have. But our deen teaches us this. Because every single thing we are giving for our akhirah is going to come back.

The reason I'm sharing this with you is: we have to reconnect with our pious predecessors and reconnect with the Sahabah. Stop listening to people who are watering down the deen. Don't. Turn it off. Don't listen to someone who says, "Brother, just stick to the fard, leave out the sunnah." Don't listen to someone who says one haram a day is okay. Don't listen to someone who says everything you've been told is haram is not actually haram. All of this is toxic, toxic, toxic to our deen.

Any lecture you walk away from in which you feel, "Alhamdulillah, I don't feel that bad — the level of my faith is great, and actually I'm overdoing it" — that is a very harmful lecture for you. We are not top of the class, my friends. We're not even in the class, actually. So let us not listen to things that make us feel we're doing a lot.

Yes, we thank Allah for what we did. You compare it with what's happening outside — on the Khatm night, there are people who don't even know it's the last night. They have no idea. So there is a balance. You make tons and tons of shukr. I don't deserve to be sitting here in i'tikaf. I don't deserve to be listening to this talk. Wallahi al-'azim, I don't deserve to be speaking here. How many of my childhood friends are not even Muslim right now? How many have changed their genders? How many are actively trying to cover up the fact that they come from Muslim homes? And Allah allowed me to sit here? I don't deserve this.

So whatever we are doing — never take credit for it. Say: "Ya Allah, this is only You who, for some reason, favored me. I don't know why. I never deserved it. I just ask You to allow me to enjoy this favor until I crawl my way to Jannah." Alhamdulillah. Until then, I don't deserve this.

Number two: "Ya Allah, but this is not enough. I want to be that being such that if I'm sitting amongst a million people, I shine in front of You. I'm the source of Your pleasure." On the Day of Judgment, I want the Prophet ﷺ to be making everyone move out of the way — and then give me a big embrace. That's my goal for all of us.

So it's not going to come just by sitting here and thinking, "Mashallah, we're doing everything." We thank Allah for what we have achieved, but we say: "Ya Allah, whatever I did so far came from You. So why can't I ask You for more?" One brother messaged me and said he, his wife, and his kids read 15 khatms. He said, "I want to present this tonight at the fundraiser along with $10,000 — this is my donation to Darussalam." That's the way we do it. Come and say: "I'm donating 20 khatms." "I've donated, alhamdulillah, 4 rakats of tahajjud every night in which I cried and made du'a for Darussalam and all of you."

That's what we need — not just money. Money is a small portion of it. What we need is these a'mal and du'a. So this is the balance: do not discredit what you and I have achieved, but give the credit to Allah. And tell Allah: "If You allowed me to do that, why can't I ask You for ten times more?"

Stories of the Pious: Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain

This is why we read the stories of our pious, whose hallmark was taqwa. Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain — as Shaykh says in his book Aap Beti — the taqwa of Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain was exemplary.

Never Eating Curry in Delhi

During his years as a student, he never ate roti — bread — or curry in the city of Delhi. Why? Because at that time, when they used to prepare curry, salan, they used amchoor — dry mango powder. And when this amchoor was made, the mangoes that the wholesalers would buy from the mango farmers were purchased on speculation: they would buy the mangoes before they actually grew on the tree — locking in a price regardless of how the actual crop came in. This speculative buying and selling is haram. He said: "That is haram, and if the mango is used in the powder which is used in the curry — that's it. I'm not going to eat any curry as long as I'm in Delhi." He ate raw vegetables or whatever else, but not curry.

He Could Not Swallow Doubtful Food

It was also known about him that he could never keep down doubtful food — he would immediately vomit it. This is why people were scared of inviting him for food, to avoid humiliation. His household and relatives were also careful. Once he came to his relative Maulana Nurul Hasan's house. Maulana Nurul Hasan sent his son, Maulvi Ibrahim, to personally go and buy items from the market to avoid any such incident. He said, "Don't send anybody else — I want you to go."

Among the dishes was kheer — rice pudding. The second he ate the rice pudding, he vomited. Not from a reflex, not from overeating. Maulana Nurul Hasan was confused: "I sent my own son to get this — pure, authentic items. Why is he vomiting after eating this homemade halal rice pudding?"

He investigated and learned that the milk from which the rice pudding had been prepared had spilled. So the son went and bought some milk from the halwai — the one who makes sweets — on credit, because they had run out and had no cash at hand. That was it. The milk was purchased on credit. He vomited it out.

The Jalebis and the Dishonest Worker

In another incident, when Maulana Nurul Hasan himself was a tax collector in the district of Nakur, he prepped one of his workers beforehand: "Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain is coming. Make sure everything is 200% halal. I don't want us to be humiliated." He stuffed money into the worker's hands and said, "Go, buy items with this money only — don't use any other money, because this money is halal." He dispatched him to purchase jalebis and milk.

The worker, however, went to the sweet seller, purchased the milk and jalebis on credit in the name of the tax collector — and pocketed the money Maulana Nurul Hasan had given him. Not a good choice. The moment Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain put the milk and jalebis in his mouth, a commotion broke out. The worker could never have imagined he would be caught so quickly. The money came out from his pocket — he had told the store owner to put it on the account of the tax collector, and pocketed the cash himself.

Refusing the Nawab's Dinner Invitation

Once, Nawab Qutubuddin — the author of Mazahir al-Haqq, the famous commentary of Mishkat — invited a few notable people for dinner, among them Shah Ishaq, Maulana Muhammad Yaqub, and Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain. Shah Ishaq accepted the invitation, and so did the others — except Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain. This upset the Nawab, who took the matter up with Shah Ishaq.

Shah Ishaq is the teacher; Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain is the student. The Nawab said: "I sent an invitation to your student Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain, but he refused it."

This is also something to think about. Just because we get invited to someone's wedding, we don't need to show up. The people who hold weddings and gatherings in which there is haram — mixing, music, missed salah, all sorts of nonsense which has become the norm today — they invite you. And when you don't show up, they say, "Astaghfirullah, a Muslim is supposed to accept the invitation!" Ya akhi, you broke ten commands of Allah at that gathering. This is what Mufti Taqi Usmani calls kilabi taqwa — the taqwa of the dog. The dog puts his mouth into every filth, but when he wants to urinate, he lifts his leg as if he is so refined and so clean. You are involved in so much haram, and then you get upset at people who say, "Sorry, I'm going to take a pass."

So, my dear friends: if there is haram happening at an invitation, do not go. For every single haram wedding happening in our community, who is to blame? We are to blame for showing up. If we boycotted it — said, "That's it, we don't go" — give whatever gift you like, $1,000, whatever you want, but don't show up. "Why don't you want to show up?" "Because I love Allah and His Rasul. Are you going to come and answer Munkar and Nakir for me in the grave? Are you going to be my lawyer on the Day of Judgment? Why would I sin to keep you happy?"

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Referenced in Musnad Ahmad and related collections)

Whoever ruins his hereafter for someone else's dunya — he is called the biggest fool, the biggest loser. Do not try to appease people in the process of displeasing Allah.

For us to be present and to watch haram — to watch girls dancing, to watch boys and girls dancing, people in inappropriate clothing, a whole wedding floor turned into a dance floor — my friends, where is your iman? I'm telling you: you're doing i'tikaf; live up to it. If you benefited from this i'tikaf, your iman will never allow you to participate in something like that. It won't. And if we feel okay about it, then we didn't build the taqwa — straight up. Our fasting did not give us what it was supposed to give us.

SubhanAllah, I spoke to some caterers who say they are catering to events that have a full alcohol bar — at a Muslim event. I told that caterer: "In a matter of a few years, you'll be catering for an LGBTQ dinner too." We need to be honest about where this trajectory leads. And then there will still be some imam who shows up to perform the nikah saying, "What can we do, brother? There's a lot of pressure. We can't upset them." This is what's happening. People say these things to me all the time.

Islam teaches us akhlaq. Islam teaches us to be nice to people. But you cannot appease people at the cost of displeasing Allah. If you have taqwa, you don't need a scholar right now to issue a fatwa. Half of the questions we ask — you don't need a mufti to answer. Your own taqwa will answer that.

The Prophet ﷺ taught us: take the fatwa from the heart. And the Prophet ﷺ said — he repeated it three times:

(Sunan al-Darimi, Hadith 2533; also referenced in Musnad Ahmad)

Even if they give you the fatwa, even if they give you the fatwa, even if they give you the fatwa — if something is wrong, don't go for it. Ask your heart. Which heart? The heart that has been in i'tikaf and has fasted for 30 days, prayed tahajjud every night, prayed ishraq every day, prayed awabeen every day, made du'a every day, cried every day — that heart is refined. That heart will give you a proper fatwa. You understand that?

This is what we need so much right now: building that taqwa. I need it most. We all need it most. The era is going to become much more difficult. Eventually, just like all websites and apps will be compromised, a time will come when the majority of scholars will either be in jail or passed away. The ones you can ask will be sellouts — working for somebody else, duped into changing the deen, or intentionally changing it.

That's what many brothers from Syria have told me before — they said: "The ulama of truth, after 40-plus years of zulm, are either in jail or in their graves, inshallah in Jannah." Some are waiting to get to Jannah, some have already reached. That era is coming. The ones who speak the truth will be very few. So you need to get your own taqwa fatwa — especially when it comes to making haram into halal. Every year, something that was haram is becoming halal. "There's actually a leeway." And this is where the suhbah of the muttaqeen is so important.

Studying and reading is not sufficient. We have to sit with people like those we are reading about. When you sit with them, their goodness and taqwa rubs off onto you. And you start seeing things from a whole different angle.

Shah Ishaq Rebukes His Student

So Shah Ishaq rebuked Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain. "Oh Muzaffar Hussain! Have you eaten so much taqwa that now it's hurting your stomach?" The teacher scolding his student. Because it's true — sometimes you can go too far the other way and make halal into haram. The Prophet ﷺ addressed this directly. Three men came and said: "Ya Rasulullah, we are going to fast continuously and never break our fast. We are going to pray and never sleep at night. And we are never going to get married — just ibadah, hardcore." And the Prophet ﷺ said: "Listen, I fast and I break my fast. I pray and I rest. And I get married." And he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5063; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1401)

"I have the most taqwa and the most fear of Allah of all of you — so don't try to be more pious than the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ." He got married, he slept at night, he rested, he also fasted and also did not fast. So let's not try to overdo the sunnah. That happens also. There are some people who go to this extreme. There have been times when I had to scold students — and they cried, and I felt bad — but I had to tell them: "You're overdoing it."

So Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain replied to Shah Ishaq: "No, no, it's nothing like that. I would never question the credibility of Nawab Sahib's invitation. I would never question his personal taqwa or integrity." "So then why did you refuse?" He said: "Hazrat, Nawab Sahib invited yourself, Mawlana Yaqub, and many others. He will send transportation for you, which will add to the expense. And after all, being the son of a Nawab — a wealthy person — he will spend lavishly. The food, the setting. Now I have been informed by someone that he is in debt. And it is understood that the expense of this invitation exceeds his bare necessity. You are allowed to spend even when in debt for your bare necessity — for bread for your wife and children. But why does he not use this money to pay off his debt instead of hosting this grand invitation? In such a situation, eating his food will not be without some form of reprehensibility."

Shah Ishaq then realized his own responsibility in this and said to the Nawab Sahib: "Now I too will not attend your invitation."

How many of the weddings happening in our area and across the country — people have used all their cash, run out, and are now selling property, selling land to finance their weddings? Or the majority are putting it on the credit card: 50k, 30k, 20k. People come and tell me this themselves: "I put 30k on the credit card and I'm falling behind." For what? "My son's wedding."

Think about all the haram beyond the music and dancing and missing of salah. And then people say, "You think I'm serving haram food?" Brother, from top to bottom, you're doing haram. When I used to ask on airlines — I don't ask anymore — they say, "Would you like a Muslim meal with meat?" I say, "Nope. Asian vegetarian." And they get upset: "You think it's haram? We're a Muslim airline." I look at them and say, "Don't make me open my mouth. What part of this airline is halal? You've got seven years in a row the best liquor and wine in the sky award. Everything from the front to the back is haram, haram, haram. And then you're telling me I should believe your meat is halal?" All the Middle Eastern airlines are ranked number 1, 2, and 3 for serving alcohol. Check the ratings.

I am sharing this important point again because: if this group of people makes a commitment that inshallah we will not only avoid haram weddings and haram gatherings ourselves, but we will not participate in them — then automatically, some people will get the hint. Imagine 50 people saying, "No, we're not showing up — because of the way your setup is." Before you even accept an invitation, ask: "How is it going to be set up? What's going to be happening there?"

Knowing Your Value as a Ramadan Graduate

As we come out of Ramadan, you should have value for yourself. You're no longer just anyone. You're a Ramadan 30-day graduate. You're a Ramadan 29-night tarawih graduate. You have completed one or two khatms of the Qur'an — yourself, or by listening. So have some value; have some self-respect. A person who comes from a wealthy home won't sit by a gutter. He says, "Please, I can't sit by this stinky sewage." Similarly: "I cannot sit in a gathering of haram. I'm sorry. It's not a good feeling for me."

And this applies to ulama as well. A scholar once asked me for advice — he'd been asked to come and give a Q&A session at one of these festival events, to handle a dawah booth. He said, "If you say no, I won't do it." I said, "Brother, this is absolutely not befitting for a scholar to be there. For you to be sitting there answering questions — whatever questions they may be — your being there is giving approval for everyone else to be there. Absolutely not." If someone is doing dawah in rave clubs and in bars, let him take care of that. But why are you, as the imam of the masjid, being present there? The news will spread that "imam sahib was there" — and that's it. Everyone else will feel it's fine.

This is one of the reasons why I stopped. Ten to twelve years ago, I performed a nikah in a very fancy place — a mixed wedding. I performed the nikah and gave the speech. The brother said, "Please, please come. The type of people coming won't even come to the masjid." So I believed him — that what I was doing was good, that I was reaching people who would never come to the masjid. So I accepted. I spoke there. I remember to this day there was a red carpet from the door to the stage. It was impressive — 1,500 people maybe, a huge 25-foot ballroom with high ceilings. I walked in, gave my talk, turned around — didn't eat a single thing — walked out and left.

But then, a couple of months later, someone said, "Oh, but I saw you at that wedding — so I guess it's not that bad." It hurt me. Whatever reason that person said it, I said: "That's it." And this is why, when it comes to MSA events — some of you may ask. Yes, I do speak at MSA events. That's an ijtihadi matter — maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right. If someone doesn't, alhamdulillah, don't. But when I say an MSA event at a university — it's not a private event. It's a public university, a public place. Most of the time we can't control all conditions there. And I'm looking at thousands of beautiful college students who honestly have no other avenue besides this. So I give my example — and I could be wrong; I stand for correction; I share this with my teachers.

I tell my example as that of a firefighter: I've got to go in. A firefighter goes into a burning house because someone has to. But you don't sit there and sip coffee while the house is burning. You go in, you grab those in need, and you get out. That's what it feels like. Go in, give the talk, and always drop the fishing line: "There's a program happening at Darussalam tomorrow. There's a program happening at such-and-such masjid tomorrow night — come there. Sisters, program from 3 to 5. Brothers, program from 2 to 4." Do your thing and get out. Alhamdulillah, it's been very effective. Many of the young men sitting here — studying in this madrasa in their 4th, 5th, 6th year — are through the barakah of those expeditions.

This is an ijtihadi matter — make sure you sit with people who have taqwa and ask them. And inshallah, I'm going to be leaving very shortly to spend time with my shaykh as well. But this is something very, very important. We're here to serve you — but if I don't keep filling myself up, I won't have anything to give. That's why it's important for all of us to be connected with our mentors, with our mashayikh, and to focus on gaining that taqwa.

Closing Du'a: Asking Allah for Taqwa

We ask Allah that He allow us to conclude this month with taqwa. I know I don't have it, and I feel like I'm still very weak at the end of it. But Allah does not need you to fast 30 days to give it to you. Allah does not need anything. If Allah looks at you and says, "Through My command — kun — you are muttaqi" — done. Allah has to just fill our hearts with such fear of His disobedience and such love of His obedience, and it doesn't take a second. Kun fayakun. That's it.

So we are going to ask Allah for that — today and tomorrow. Ya Allah, just make us — decide for us — that we become muttaqeen. Make our children muttaqeen.

That every member of my household becomes among the muttaqeen.

Inshallah, let us all proceed downstairs for iftar.