Holding Grudges - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. All praise is due to Allah. And peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Allah, the Exalted, said in the Glorious Qur'an after the redemption of Allah from the accursed Satan, In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.

Indeed, We sent him down on the Night of Decree. And what do you know of the Night of Decree? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months.

And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, The burning of the Night of Decree is like the burning of the last ten days of Ramadan. Or as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said. Respected friends, dear brothers and sisters, and students, Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Indeed, we are blessed. Indeed, we are lucky to be enjoying the blessings of iman, to be enjoying the blessings of health, to be enjoying the blessings of peace, security, and on top of all of that, to be able to enjoy the blessed beautiful month of Ramadan. Not having to worry about things that people, Muslims throughout the world, in many other parts of the world are having to worry.

Having to worry about what they will be able to bring for their children at home for iftar, whether they'll have anything left for suhoor, whether they'll be able to make it safe to the masjid and back. These are common threats that the ummah is facing throughout the world. Alhamdulillah, these are not things that you and I have to think about for the safety of ourselves and our children, or for the food of ourselves and of our children.

Allah has provided immensely to all of us so much here in this dunya and in this country that we hope Allah continues to shower His blessings upon its dwellers. Ameen. Respected friends, this Ramadan, blessed month of Ramadan that you and I have been waiting and counting down, I can tell you for all of us, I'm sure for you and as well as for me, we've been waiting, it's coming, it's coming, it's gonna be in the summer, how are we gonna fast, how are we gonna handle it, etc.

And before you know it, it's already coming to an end. We are at the beginning of the last 10 days and 10 nights very soon. Tomorrow night will be the first odd night of Ramadan.

And so now, it is something for us, you and I, to get into full gear, into fifth gear, and to prepare ourselves as the Prophet, one month in advance, rather I should say two months in advance would start making du'a, openly in du'a. This is the du'a that everyone knew about. So he's obviously doing it in public.

Oh Allah, put barakah in our Rajab and Shaaban, in the months of Rajab and Shaaban, and allow us to reach the month of Ramadan. So two months in advance, the Prophet is publicly making du'a for Ramadan, and praying to Allah to make it easy for us to witness the month of Ramadan. And then the beginning of... before Ramadan would begin, the Prophet, on the first night would also give a khutbah, would tell people that شَهْرٌ عَظِيمٌ شَهْرُ الْمُبَارَكِ has come to you.

So it's there, he's already mentally preparing, physically preparing in the month of Shaaban, the first 15 days approximately, he'll be fasting excessively to spiritually and physically prepare for the month of Ramadan. All that being said wasn't enough. During the last 10 nights, the Prophet would push it to another whole level.

The Prophet, whose every moment is spent in remembrance of Allah, in being mindful of the creation of Allah around him. Yet the Prophet, in the month of Ramadan, he spent the first 10 nights and days in the month of... in the masjid. Sitting in the masjid, not going outside, just in the masjid.

You and I have a million distractions, so we can understand staying in the masjid would be very helpful. But the Prophet, you can obviously imagine, he was not distracted by technology, he wasn't distracted by thoughts of beings besides Allah, he wasn't distracted with the love of material things. His heart was totally focused towards Allah.

Yet we see that in the month of Ramadan, he took it to the next level. And that the first 10 days, he came and sat in the masjid. At the end of the 10 days, the Prophet then went on and stayed another 10 days in the masjid.

And then the Prophet mentioned it to his companions. He said, those of you who spent these 10 days with me in the masjid, I need you to spend the last 10 days as well. Because I was, something to the effect, I was spending these 10 days of Ramadan, precious time away from family, away from children, away from so many things he would be doing outside, secluded in the house of Allah.

Because I was here for a purpose. I was searching for Laylatul Qadr. It's worth my time.

To cut myself off from everything and just sit here. You know a person sometimes thinks that, you know, who's gonna do itikaf? You know that kid, he's got no work, he's got no school, you know, he's gonna come sit. Or that great-grandfather, grandfather who's retired, he's got no one to look after, I mean, he's got nothing to worry about, no business, this, that.

He'll come sit in the masjid. This is our mentality we have. But you are in the prime of your money-minting age, you're 45 years old, you're 50 years old, you're a manager, you're a business owner.

You expect me? That's only for the kids. You know, people wanna drop off their little kids at the masjid for itikaf. Or they wanna drop off their elderly fathers at the masjid.

That's great. But what about ourselves? What about the group that's in the middle? That you are earning a day, $300 a day, $400 a day, or more, or less. And you have that time now to make a decision about how you wanna invest your life.

There's no one more busy, there's no one who's more, who's every minute was more valuable than our Nabi. Every second, the most valuable. In 23 years, he changes the whole map of the world for eternity. Forever.

Forever. Changed it. Changed the whole course of the universe.

Not the world, the whole universe. Jinn stopped coming. Shayateen stopped eavesdropping.

What not happened, subhanAllah, through the coming of the Prophet. Every second is super valuable. Yet 10 days he locks himself up in the masjid. And then another 10 days.

And then he says, whoever spend these past 10 days with me, I need you to spend another 10 days with me. Because the reason I was here is I was searching for something called Laylatul Qadr. That beautiful, powerful night that Allah says is more valuable than a thousand months.

May Allah give you and I the reality of this ayah. Laylatul Qadr, khayru min alfi shahr. May Allah gives you and I the reality of this ayah, my friends.

Seriously. Our days and nights will be different if we start really believing in these verses of the Qur'an. So the Prophet said, I've been searching and Allah has showed me now, Allah has showed me now that this valuable night is actually in the last 10 nights.

It's actually in the last 10 nights. And the Prophet said, تَحَرَّوْا لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ To make it easy. If Allah said all 30, Alhamdulillah, it's better than telling us to choose any of the 12 months.

He made it easy. But then the Prophet, Allah reward him, he made the effort for us. He did all the hard work.

How a mother does all the hard work to give her the child the morsel of food sometimes. You know, she'll make the struggle. The Prophet struggled.

20 days he did the struggling and he said, I'm telling you, Allah has showed it to me. It's not in the first 20. It's in the last 10.

And then just in case you and I say, I can't do it but I got work, I got this and that, I got to go to work at 8 AM. Rasulullah said, تَحَرَّوْا لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ فِي الْوِتْرِ مِنَ الْعَشْرِ الْأَوَاخِرِ Search for Laylatul Qadr in the last odd nights. To make it easier for us.

You see got 21, 23, 25, 27, 29. 5 nights. 5 nights out of 365.

360 days, do whatever you have to. These just 5 nights. The Prophet saying, search for Laylatul Qadr.

If you and I just... I mean it's very simple math. You got 5 options, 5 nights. If you stay here all 5 nights, what are the chances of you hitting Laylatul Qadr? Can anyone answer? 100%.

5 out of 5 is 100%. It's a no-brainer. It's so obvious.

5 nights. At the very least I'm saying, 5 nights. You spend that 5 nights in ibadah, there is no doubt you got Laylatul Qadr.

And what does that mean? That one night you got ibadah, Allah has already written for you 83 years, 84 years of ibadah. 84 years, I don't even know if I'm gonna live up till then or you're gonna live up till 84 years. InshaAllah ta'ala the next 5 years as the summer is here and for the youth and whoever else, you do 5 times 5, 25 nights, you got 840 years.

Right? SubhanAllah. Or not 840, 400 years approximately. You get 10 nights, inshaAllah, why not? 10 nights, you got 800.

850 years. It's simple as that. But why does it become difficult? The belief in this ayah.

The belief that this promises are true. Really? 3 hours of ibadah is gonna give me 84 years? From by the time we finish taraweeh prayer, 12 o'clock, by the time suhoor is ending and fajr prayer is 3.30, 3 hours? You're telling me 3 hours of ibadah is gonna do that? My friends, I'm not at the cash register and you're not. You and I were too stingy, we wouldn't be able to do it.

But it's Allah, who's Kareem, who's Sakhi, who's Jawad, He gives as He wishes.

He expands His hands as in a matter that befits Him by day and by night and He gives and He gives and He gives. He's been giving since the day one and it has not decreased in His treasures in the least.

So this is something that you and I need to take real serious, real to our heart, that every single of these nights, not only are we going to be, if you're a mother or sister, of course, your masjid and mu'attakah is at home. Make ibadah at home. And the brothers, come to the masjid, to the house of Allah.

If you're not able to, no problem. After taraweeh or before, however the case may be, whatever works for your schedule and the best, in your bedroom, in your house, on your sofa, wherever, in your living room, may use these opportunities for du'a. How should we be spending this night? Definitely try to pray a few rak'ahs of salat, al-qiyam, al-layl, al-tahajjud.

Four rak'ah, preferably eight, if not at least four, the person should do that. Number two, make excessive tawbah. Istighfar and tawbah.

Istighfar is I seek forgiveness, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah. And tawbah is when I repent in my own words, in English, in Urdu, in Arabic, whatever. Ya Allah, I'm repenting from the life of sin that I have led, right? Third thing, one of the du'a, Aisha radiallahu anhu says, that the du'a Rasulullah has taught us to recite when we are in... if we get Laylatul Qadr,

O Allah, You are forgiving. تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ, you love to forgive. This is what you like to do. This is what you love to do.

So I'm asking you to do what you like, which is to forgive a sinner like me.

You know my respected friends, yesterday we were covering, last night in the tafsir here, an ayah of the Qur'an where Allah says,

O people, O humanity, you are in need of Allah, and Allah is the one, who is Al-Ghani, who is free of all want. And then he says, Al-Hamid, he is worthy of all praise.

Meaning usually in the world, what happens that when a person doesn't need you, he loses his humbleness and humility. He says, I don't need you, go. The attitude all of a sudden becomes arrogant, oppressive.

That's the system. When do we do, جِيهُ زُرِي؟ When you say, جِيه، جِيه، جِيه، yes, anything can I do for you? It's when you're in need of a person. They say, you know what I'm trying to say.

You gotta get your work done. Then they say, غَدَيْهِكُمْ بِبَابِ بَنَانَا بَرَيْهِ تَوَى بَنَالَيْهِ بَيْكَام نِكَلْوَانَاهِ You gotta get the work done, so do whatever you need to do. In the dunya, we see that.

In order to get our work done, we become humble. In front of people, we don't wanna become humble. So Allah does not need us.

He says, Al-Ghani, I am free of all need. I don't need you, your ibadah or anything. Instead, after that He said,

If I wish, I could get rid of all of you, I could remove all of you, and bring about a new creation.

So don't think I need your ibadah at Laylatul Qadr or your fasting in the month of Ramadan, because I could switch you out with a brand new people instantaneously. But yet, Allah is Al-Hameed. He's worthy of praise.

Meaning, He acts and treats us in such a nice manner that we're forced to say, Alhamdulillah. He doesn't say, I don't need you, go from here. Yet He says, I want you to love Me.

I want you to have a connection with Me. So I'm gonna treat you with such treats, like someone, like as many uncles, mashaAllah, in the masjid, they give the little kids candy. They like the kids coming to them.

They like the little kids saying, Oh, cha-cha is here. Allah blesses us with not just candies, with everything top to bottom. So that we say, mashaAllah, ya Allah, thank you, ya Allah.

Allah loves that. When we praise Him, we thank Him. So He's not saying, I don't need you, so that's it.

Al-Ghani, Al-Hameed. That's why the ulama say, Al-Hameed came after Al-Ghani. He's worthy of praise because He wants you to love Him.

And how does He get you to love Him? By showering His blessings upon us. So in these nights, make sure we seek forgiveness from Allah. Repent, say, Astaghfirullah.

And Rasulullah end with this, that the Prophet said, four people are not forgiven on this night. Any people who don't seek forgiveness from their sins. If four of these people I'm gonna mention, seek forgiveness from their sins, then their forgiveness will also, they will be granted forgiveness.

Number one, Mudbin-ul-Khamrin, someone who is a habitual drunkard, who is intoxicated always, and he doesn't make tawbah from that. Number two, A'aqun, liwalidehi, someone who is disobedient and disrespectful to his parents. So if a person is here the entire night, crying in the front soft, but he is not spoken to his mother, he's been disrespectful to his dad as he came here to the masjid, he's not gonna get forgiven.

Unless he seeks forgiveness from his parents. So this is a message to all of us, sons and daughters who are here. Whether you're a 20-year-old son, 10-year-old son, or a 60-year-old son or daughter, seek forgiveness from our parents.

And if your parents have passed away, make special dua for them on these nights, so that Allah forgives you for, and forgives me for what we may have done in the past. Number three, Qati-ur-Rahman, the one who cuts off his ties with his relatives, the one who severs his ties with his relatives. And lastly, Mushahid, the one who holds grudges and ill feelings against others.

What does that tell us? That our Islam and our deen cannot be cut off from the public. That we sit in the masjid, whole year we've oppressed people. We've got these things pent up inside us, anger, and hatred, and hasad.

And we sit here thinking all is gonna be figured out between us and Allah. No, my friends. Unless and until we don't sort out things between ourselves and others, nothing is gonna happen here.

Make tawbah. Seek forgiveness from others, and then seek forgiveness from Allah. I hope and I pray to Allah that He allows all of us to value this night, to get the ability to worship Allah on this night.

Remember, the Prophet did i'tikaf every single year, and especially the last 10 nights. This is the easiest, most simple way to ensure with 100% certainty that you got Laylatul Qadr. So please do not pass up this opportunity.

When is the first night starting? Tomorrow night. Tomorrow after Maghrib. The night does not begin at 12 o'clock.

It starts right after Maghrib. So right after Maghrib to Isha, if you say, I have to go to work more morning, well, don't waste your time between Maghrib and Isha. Eat suhoor one time.

Don't sit there on a lavish dinner at a party somewhere. This is not the time, my friends, for iftar parties. This is not time for any of these things.

This is serious business, serious work. It's crunch time. It's the last mile of the marathon.

And the winner here is the actual winner for the entire race. So ensure that we come to the house of Allah and make our schedule such that we are reciting a certain portion of the Qur'an. We're doing Qiyamul Layl.

We are seeking forgiveness from others, seeking forgiveness from Allah, and praying for the entire ummah. I pray to Almighty Allah that He makes all of us such people who will get the blessings of this night. And He'll make all of us, inshaAllah, those whose du'as are accepted on these blessed nights.

May Allah make it easy for us to repent from our major sins like intoxicants, like disobedience to parents, like harboring grudges and hatred against one each other, like cutting and severing our ties off with relatives, and all the other major sins that are out there. Ameen, ya Rabb al-'alameen, inshaAllah ta'ala.