Ramadan 2025 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/30

The Fear of Returning to Our Old Selves

SubhanAllah, the fear that is amongst all of us in the community about this happening, that happening. Now you see messages, people say, carry your passport with you wherever you're going. Allahu a'lam, I don't know — whatever people have been sharing, might be true, might not be, whatever it is. But there's this fear. In other places it is very obvious. Here it might be just fear-mongering — Allah knows best.

But now think about the Day of Judgment, where a man is to have the iman of 70 Prophets, but he'll be afraid that he might not be saved from Jahannam. And then there is a hadith that mentions: if a person were to hypothetically fall into sajdah since the time he was born — if a person were to be in a state of sajdah from the time he is born all the way till he died. Is that possible? Impossible. But just in the case that someone were to somehow do that, it says on the Day of Judgment:

He will regard this action also as insignificant.

What I'm trying to say is, it's not like I overdid my ibadah today, overfasted, over this. Whatever good we have done, my beloved brothers:

اگر اللہ قبول کر لے تو تھوڑا بھی زیادہ ہے۔ اگر اللہ قبول نہ کرے تو زیادہ بھی تھوڑا ہے۔

Meaning: if Allah accepts it, a little is a lot. And if Allah doesn't accept it, a lot is — what? A little. So this is the key thing that we need to be focusing on: how can we get our good deeds accepted?

And the sign of acceptance from Allah — what is that? That is that a person gets motivated to remain steadfast. The sign of qabuliyyah is that a person is motivated to continue on his journey. My dear friends, every one of us needs to be afraid now.

As Ramadan is coming to an end, if some of you who are in i'tikaf are worried to go home — that's exactly how it should be. Whether you're in i'tikaf or not, all of us should have this worry: Ya Allah, I do not want to go back to my old self after Ramadan. Ya Allah, I do not want to neglect the masjid till next year. Ya Allah, I do not want to be from amongst those sufuf that disappear as soon as the khatm al-Quran happens. I don't want to be like that. We've already been through that so many times.

The one who is going to insha'Allah not fall into that is the one who is afraid. The name of the game is fear. The more we are afraid of falling into ghafla and heedlessness, the higher the chance of our survival. Allah says:

Do you feel safe from the planning of Allah? Only the biggest losers are the ones who feel protected.

The Child Who Cried for the Quran

One of the brothers was mentioning to me that he was in a masjid a few years ago, and it was the last khatm al-Quran night, and the imam was reading the last surahs. He said there was some person behind him crying in salah. Alhamdulillah, masha'Allah, there are people who cry in salah. He said he heard someone crying, didn't think much of it. And then after a while, when there was some space in front, the person from behind moved in. He didn't pay much attention, because the third person who moved in was a kid. But then when salah started and they went back to the last four surahs, it was the kid who was crying.

And how young? Six or seven. That's it. Crying so much. He said, after salah I turned around to wonder — did he lose his parent? Is he lost? Is his mother sick in the hospital? There must be some serious issue. So he asked him, is everything okay? He said yes. He said, why are you crying? He said, I'm crying because I'm not going to get an opportunity like this to listen to the Quran. Quran is coming to an end, and I'm going to miss this so much.

SubhanAllah. So the brother said, I want to go meet your dad. Can you please point out your dad to me? He pointed out his father. He asked his father: what tarbiyah did you do? What did you feed him? How did he come out like this — a six, seven, or eight year old crying because the Quran is coming to an end? The father said: I didn't do anything. This is Allah's gift upon me, that he is like this, this kid.

So this is the genuine feeling I should have in my heart. Ya Allah, I'm not going to be able to have this beautiful, massive congregation every single day for Isha. And the ability to listen to the entire Quran in such a beautiful voice by, masha'Allah, Muhammad Farhan — when are you going to get that? You can get that for Fajr and Isha insha'Allah on some days, but we will all definitely miss it. Allah knows — when I go to the Haram, whenever I go for Umrah, I promise you, I miss it. I send him a message and say: I'm missing your tilawah. Even in the Haram, I don't enjoy the tilawah of the Haram as much as I enjoy it over here. Alhamdulillah. May Allah protect him, preserve him, fulfill all his needs of this world and the next, and reward his parents and his teachers immensely. Ameen.

So that is just a thing that should be heavy on our chest today. Ya Allah, I don't know how many more tarawis I'm ever going to get. I hope I make it out till next year. We should end on a sad note — that this ni'mah is being taken away from us. Where every reward is multiplied by thousands of times. Every nafl treated as a fard. The angels present in huge numbers. The major shayateen being tied up. It was easy for us to do the unthinkable — literally, two hours in a masjid every single day. It's remarkable how we pull it off as a Muslim community. For those who read so much Quran, those who give so much sadaqah — how do we do it? It's the barakah of Ramadan, masha'Allah. It's the tawfiq of Allah.

Making a Promise with Allah

Now let's make this 'ahd and promise with Allah. Ya Allah, I didn't do anything. Our footsteps — we don't take our footsteps on our own. Allah inspires us to take our footsteps. Allah is the one who holds our hand and allows us to take that footstep. So that Allah who allowed me to do so much ibadah in this month — why can I not ask that same Allah to allow me to continue to do this ibadah after Ramadan?

And that is not difficult for Allah. So let's ask Allah: Ya Allah, grant me istiqamah. Grant me istiqamah — that after Ramadan I continue to do the good things that I was doing.

My beloved friends, we need to now make some goals. Just like before Ramadan the talks were about making goals for Ramadan — we had the Ramadan checklist, we had a big push to come up with some bad habits we're going to get rid of and some good habits we're going to inculcate. Now we're going to have to talk about between now and Hajj.

Hajj is around the corner. Yes, you might not be going for Hajj this year, but the virtue of Hajj is still there. The days of Dhul-Hijjah are the most blessed ten days after these ten days. So we should have a goal between now and the Day of Eid al-Adha: what are the things I'm going to do? What am I going to achieve?

For example, those of us — adults or youngsters — trying to memorize Quran. Working adults trying to memorize Quran. Make a goal: I'm going to do three lines or two lines a day. Between now and Dhul-Hijjah, I'm going to memorize Surah al-Kahf. I'm going to memorize Surah Yaseen. I'm going to memorize Surah al-Mulk. I'm going to memorize Surah al-Sajdah. I'm going to memorize Surah al-Waqi'ah. Come up with a goal. Divide it up — three lines. Don't do more than that. On weekends you can do maybe five or six. But we have to make a goal, and: Ya Allah, I'm going to stick to this.

You can make a goal of your checklist on how many salahs you're going to be praying in the masjid. There are youngsters here who told me they're part of WhatsApp groups — small WhatsApp groups — where they challenge each other every single day to see how many salahs they can pray in the masjid. And there's this competition within them. We have to make sure the day doesn't come to an end without us having performed at least one, two, or three. This competition is extremely healthy and beneficial.

We can make a goal: how many juz or surahs of the Quran translation will I read? How much tafsir am I going to read or listen to? What am I going to do to help my sibling? What am I going to do to help my parents? What am I going to do to help my children? Start spending quality time with them. These are goals that a person must make.

Protecting the Home Environment

And really, my beloved brothers, let me say one thing. In the era of fitna that we're moving into, there is no safe space besides your own home. As soon as we go out of our house, we can't control the environment. What we all need to do is ensure the environment of our home is strong.

(Reported in various hadith collections — meaning: "How excellent is the believer's home as his monastery.")

How beautiful is the monastery of a believer, which is his house. A monastery — where a monk does ibadah. For a believer, his monastery is where? His house. The house is where it needs to be. We cannot say "I have to run away from the home because there's no good environment — let me go do X, Y, Z." A lot of times people come to the masjid because things are not going well at home. We should go to the masjid to pray salah. But we cannot leave the home because things are not going well. Instead, we need to bring change.

Let's make niyyah: I'm going to make the environment of my home super strong, conducive for practicing the deen. It is really difficult for us to expect the outside world to make the tarbiyah of our children. The tarbiyah of the children has to be made at home. And so, masha'Allah, as we leave Ramadan, we are insha'Allah leaving on definitely a stronger note than we entered it — both us and our spouses. Now is the time for us to come up with some serious goals for our home. What can I do to make the environment at home strong?

Goal One: A Daily Dhikr Routine at Home

For example, creating a daily dhikr routine at home. Doing dhikr out loud is great — لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — doing dhikr at home. If a person cannot do dhikr out loud, then do dhikr softly but do it in public — in your family room, living room — where the kids see it or the spouse sees it. Have a set time, let everyone know — depending on how old your children are — that insha'Allah we are going to be doing dhikr every day after Maghrib, after Asr, or after Isha, for ten minutes, five minutes. And insha'Allah ta'ala, that will be very effective in bringing unity within the home and bringing ruhaniyyah within the house.

Goal Two: Salah in the Masjid — and at Home with Adhan and Iqamah

Additionally, one goal we can make is that whatever salah — Allah forbid — we miss in the masjid: if we miss it in the masjid, we will perform that salah with adhan, with iqamah, and with salatul jama'ah. Do not miss the jama'ah in the masjid because we think we have to pray at home with our kids. Instead, bring the children to the masjid. Masha'Allah, we have many halls here and many different places where you can pray with your little kids if they're going to play around or walk around — the main hall, the side halls, the lobbies. So let's not stay back at home because we want to pray with our kids.

But if we do end up missing the prayer in the masjid, then with adhan, with iqamah, we should pray salah with jama'ah. Create an environment in which children are not praying alone in their rooms. Everyone needs to pray publicly. Because when we leave everyone to pray on their own, first of all, we're missing the reward of jama'ah, we're not being united. And then secondly, we don't know who's going to be praying and who isn't. As much as people may want to pray, their nafs and shaitan may make them lazy in their bedrooms, and the parents are thinking that the kids are praying — and then, subhanAllah, they're not.

Many of these cases in which we hear about children leaving Islam — when I ask them: did your child pray salah? They say, yeah, we thought he was. Sometimes they say, we thought he was — we'd see the prayer mat open in the bedroom. I say, but did you actually see them praying? No. So the prayer mat being open in the bedroom, unfortunately, doesn't really mean much.

And then one person said, yes, my daughter was praying. She's 21, 22 now, she's openly left Islam. But he said he found out from his wife, after investigation, that she had been performing salah without wudu for a whole year. If a person doesn't even believe in this, they're wasting it — and then eventually a person has the audacity to go out and openly say that they're no longer a Muslim. But there are steps that happen before that. In order to avoid all of this, we should say: we pray publicly. All boys and girls pray publicly in this area.

That is why we should have a musalla in our home — a designated area. It doesn't have to be fancy: just a few prayer mats, maybe some tasbihs, maybe some masahif. But there should be a prayer area, a musalla, as Rasulullah ﷺ would also establish a specific spot in the homes. Aisha radiallahu anha says: he would be performing salah and I would go to sleep. And when he would go into ruku', and then into sajdah, the Prophet ﷺ would not be able to go into sajdah because I was sleeping. There was not enough square footage in our house for my Prophet, my husband, to go into sajdah while I slept. He would tap my feet, and I would pull in my feet and change their direction so he could go into sujood. That's how much square footage he had in the house in which he eventually passed away, and in which he is buried — the house of Aisha radiallahu anha.

So we have to have a spot — our musalla — in our home. And insha'Allah this will bring lots of ruhaniyyah and benefit within the home: dhikr, salah in the masjid, and when we miss it, at home with adhan and iqamah.

Goal Three: Ta'leem — Countering the Narrative at Home

Number three: the environment in our home has to counter the narrative that our children are getting from elsewhere. The biggest influence today is not public school or Islamic school — as much as the influence is TikTok, Instagram and social media for our children.

Some of the brothers in our evening candlelight conversations made a comment: they said, the imam every single time always goes on a tirade against social media and cell phones. But from my vantage point, that is the number one biggest fitna we have. That is why ulama's children are going off track. That is why the father is reciting ten juz a day, but his kids are off track. The mother is an alima teaching in a madrasa, but her daughter is leaving Islam. Why are we seeing this? It all goes back to social media.

Every single instance of a child, a young man or woman leaving Islam — even though their parents are still practicing — it's what they watch, what they hear, what they see, that has more effect than any tarbiyah they're getting from their parents. So we have to be honest and acknowledge that we have a big competition: mom and dad and grandparents on one side, and social media on the other side. There's no other way around it. This is it.

Find me a case of irtidad, find me a case of LGBTQ, find me a case of apostasy — any of these things — where the person was not on his phone. You know how quick it happens? Like ten years ago, a young boy — fifteen years old — came, and right here by the door, he told me he was taking some classes here. He said, today is my last day. I said, what? What happened? The course just started. He said, no, I can't continue anymore. So I took him to the office and sat down with him. Long story short, he said: I'm no longer a Muslim.

And he used to sit right in front, with a notebook, taking notes on every single thing. Anything I said in Arabic, he would raise his hand and say, can you say this again? I want to write it down. So I said, why are you leaving class? Initially he said, I'm not interested anymore. I kept on prodding him. Eventually he said, I decided to leave Islam. I was shocked. I said, when did you decide to leave Islam? He said, last night. I said, what happened last night? He said: well, after dinner, I went to the bedroom, pulled out my phone, and watched a one-hour debate between an atheist and someone. And he said, the statements of the atheist made a lot of sense to me. So I won't be arrogant enough to call myself an atheist. I will just say I'm agnostic — I just don't know if God exists or not. I won't say He definitely doesn't exist. I'll say I don't know.

Just like that. The way this water bottle — if you pour it, the water will come out. Quicker than that, iman leaves the heart. Just like that. An innocent kid. And these are not isolated incidents. There are thousands and thousands. And the mom and dad are super active in the masjid — they're on the board, they're Sunday school teachers, masha'Allah. And the kid left Islam at fifteen. You think the parents knew about this? In a hundred years they won't know about it. Where does it come from? From what they watch.

So all of us dads and moms who think we're making a big deal about the phones and about the internet — please think again. And all of those kids who think we're making a big deal — think again. I challenge you to find someone who has completely left the deen where the phone was not involved. This morning, a brother — one of my students — told me about a young girl. The next day, she comes with her dad. And the dad says, yeah, she's Ron now. He said, what? He said, she decided to become a he. Thirteen years old.

When I was in South Africa, at one of the major Jummah masjids — it's called Mayfair Jummah, a big masjid where I gave khutbah — the imam told me that in the past year, within that same masjid, there were at least eight to ten janazahs in which the family member brought the body and told the imam: although this looks like a female, it's actually a male. Or although this looks like a male, it's actually a female. This is happening within South Africa, which people consider to be one of the most traditional environments. So I asked the imam: have you spoken about this topic? He said, no man, you can't speak about this. I said, what do you mean you can't speak about it? You're watching eight to ten people in one year?

We're not seeing the real numbers. There are many ER physicians here — as first responders, they'll tell me of the stuff they see in the ER. Those patients don't come to the masjid; they come straight to the ER. But their condition is very sad. Girls and boys — you can ask the ER doctors what they see, and any other physicians as well. They'll tell you what kind of patients we're getting within the Muslim community.

So where does it go back to? It goes back to our phone. Now how do we combat that? That's why the discussions that happen at home, dhikr, tilawah, salah with jama'ah at home — if we missed it in the masjid, with adhan and iqamah — and number three: there needs to be ta'leem. We have to read through a book. Like the stories of the Sahaba. Hayatus Sahabah of Sheikh Yusuf al-Kandhlawi, may Allah have mercy on him. Or even Fada'il al-A'mal — the stories of the Sahaba. There are some nice versions of it. I think we have it in our bookstore.

My beloved brothers, stories of awliya and stories of Sahaba are so important. They create the jazbah and the desire. Of course, seerah is number one. Listening to Rasulullah ﷺ's stories creates a jazbah and a desire within us to serve the deen. It creates within us this resilience. Fitnah is there, but Nabi ﷺ was also faced with a lot of difficulty. We are going to insha'Allah remain firm. This is something that will help us keep the environment in our home strong.

Finding Good Company and Accountability

Number two — once we've taken care of the house — is to make sure we attach our children, our wives, our husbands — ourselves — to good company. Just attach ourselves to those people who are going to keep us on the right path. And there's no other way around it. I hope you've been able to build some relationships in the month of Ramadan with some good masjid-going people. And I hope insha'Allah this connection that you have built, you will maintain after Ramadan as well. Text each other, call each other, try to meet up. It's very important that men and women alike have people to stay connected with.

Additionally, we need to have accountability. Accountability starts with salah with jama'ah — this is the number one thing. If a person is consistent with daily salah in the masjid, insha'Allah you and I may deviate, but not for long. Putting your head down in sajdah with the rest of the Muslims every single day forces you to remain strong. That Isha and Fajr jama'ah is the game changer. All of us — 100% of us — let's make niyyah: insha'Allah, wherever I am, I am going to be performing my salah with jama'ah. Say insha'Allah — this is something we are not going to be able to navigate without. We must remain steadfast with salah with jama'ah.

So for that, let's find one spiritual buddy. Alhamdulillah, people are nice — when I invite them, masha'Allah, they say they'll be there. But the reality is: if only each person had another couple of people they were connected with, how beautiful the relationship with the masjid would be.

One of the beloved students told me: one of the greatest gifts my dad has ever given me is ensuring that I pray salah in the masjid. And he said: while being away from home, I've been tempted to sin — tempted to do all sorts of things. But it's the salah with jama'ah that has simply become a habit of mine, and it protects me from falling into sin. When I know I have to meet Allah in the next three hours, when I know I have to put my head down in the next two hours — how can you sin? You sin, and then you think: oh man, I've got to show my face to Allah now in the next two hours.

So salah with jama'ah — this is it. All of us should try our best within our neighborhoods. Talk to your neighbors today. Talk to your neighbors tomorrow. Say: insha'Allah after Eid, let's go to Isha together. Let's go for Fajr together. All of us — let's do that.

Trust me, a lot of the masjid-going people would love to come pick you up. Because they've been coming to the masjid from your neighborhood alone for so many years. And they don't enjoy it when the masjid is not that full. So I'm sure any person who is regular at Fajr would be willing to drive an extra two minutes to pick up a brother. Don't be hesitant. Reach out. Say: I see you're always in the front row at taraweeh — what neighborhood do you live in? I want all of you brothers here to take the leadership role. Go check your own neighborhood and start a Fajr carpooling club. Start an Isha carpooling club. And insha'Allah bring your children with you.

Your children need to fall in love with the masjid. Some of the fathers were telling me: more than me, my son wants to do i'tikaf. I come for every taraweeh, and my son says, Baba, no — we want to sleep over here. For the kids it's fun, it's nice. But masha'Allah, isn't this amazing — that our children fall in love with the masjid? What's the worst thing he's going to do over here? Have an extra cup of chai? So having our children fall in love with the masjid is like a dream come true. Bring them here when they're young. Allow them to find friends. Have their get-togethers and meetups at the masjid. Are we going out to a restaurant? Let's pray Isha at the masjid first. Going out for breakfast? Let's pray Fajr in the masjid first. Want to do a biking club? Do a post-Fajr biking club — no problem. Anything you want to do, connect it back to the masjid, and you will see this one act will keep us steadfast.

Connecting to a Knowledge Circle

Last but not least: connect yourself to a knowledge circle. Becoming an official student somewhere is the best thing. When you are expected to be in class, when there are expectations — even not a lot of homework, but the fact that there is an ustadh teaching and you are expected to be present — alhamdulillah, this creates accountability. And my beloved brothers, when sitting in front of a teacher who sat in front of his teacher, who sat in front of his teacher, who sat in front of the Prophet ﷺ — there is a golden chain running. And alhamdulillah, by being an official student of a teacher who has sanad, this is really helpful to keep us grounded. So I encourage all of us to participate in an on-site class ideally, and this will help us remain steadfast by becoming a student of knowledge.

Here, all of you know — Darussalam — we have every day after Isha and every day after Fajr, a short reminder. After Isha, about seven to eight minutes. After Fajr, about three minutes, followed by our morning du'as. And on Tuesday nights we have our weekly tafsir between Maghrib and Isha in the summer, and after Isha in the winter. On Thursday nights we have a talk on the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ — a chronological series on seerah, taught in Urdu by Imam Abdul Basit. And on Saturday mornings we have something called Team Fajr, where we talk on spirituality, and our honorable staff take turns to teach and go over one or two of the beautiful names of Allah.

If Darussalam is not your local masjid, you can listen virtually online from the Masjid Diya's YouTube channel, and find out what local programs are happening in your own community. The imams are getting tired that no one shows up to their programs — and that's why they're cancelling them. He prepares, he comes to class, he teaches after Isha, and there are two or three people sitting. Big masjids — huge amounts of people come for salah, but when it comes to the actual dars, it's five or ten. We have to change that.

If you're from another state where your local imam has been running a program but you never attended — go say salam to him now when you go back after Eid. And say: insha'Allah from today I'm going to be sitting here and benefiting from what you have to teach.

The Test Ahead — Hold On to Your Deen

These are some small points I wanted to share. I hope I'm able to implement them, and I hope all of us can. Roll up your sleeves and get ready — the struggle is real. You will be attacked. I will be attacked. Laziness will come. Shaytan will try his best to dissuade you from staying connected. He will make us negligent and lazy. But we all have to fight back.

And take care of your children. The SalamGuard website that we've been speaking about — please go to it. To protect your children's devices and your own devices from being misused or overused. And insha'Allah ta'ala, if we take care of that, much good can come out of it, bi idhni Allah ta'ala.

Eid Announcement and the Moon Sighting Issue

I think the official announcement has now been made that Eid will be on Monday. And insha'Allah, Allah has blessed us with one more day. No verifiable crescent sighting reports were received from representatives around the country on Saturday, March 29th. And hence, the Chicago Hilal Center has declared the completion of thirty days of Ramadan. Alhamdulillah, Allah blessed us with one beautiful extra day. Eid will be Monday, March 31st.

Now — this is nothing but a massive blessing. Yes, there are some people you know, many people, whose own families might be celebrating on a different day. And yes, that definitely causes difficulty, and I'm sorry about that. But honestly, the ummah has a lot of problems right now. I don't want to undermine this issue — it is a real thing. But we have some serious issues of fragmentation within our community, and we really hope that if that gets fixed, this will get fixed too. And Allah — whichever day we are performing salah, wherever we are — this is not the time for wars and argumentations, what you call the "moon wars." We don't want to do moon wars. Learn the deen. Practice the deen. Connect yourself with people of knowledge and people of taqwa. And we hope Allah accepts everyone's Ramadan and allows us not to follow our nafs wherever we are.

Brothers, do not say: I like this Monday — it's not how we declare Eid. I'm not saying anyone else did so because of convenience. Of course not. But I'm saying we as people sometimes say things like that: SubhanAllah, it's easy for the family get-together on Sunday. Yeah, I know it's easier. And then I just heard someone say: you know, it's America — we need to plan things out in advance. We need to know.

Please don't say this. This hurts. From people who fasted twenty-nine days and did tarawih here — to say things like this. That's exactly why the Prophet ﷺ said that the ummah will follow the Christians and the Jews in every single thing — even if they go into a lizard hole, you're going to go into the lizard hole. Because you're looking for ease. If you're going to do something, do it because of a fiqh perspective — because of a fiqh decision made by genuine ulama who have decided something. That's fine. But do not bring your nafs into it and say this is easy. If we make easiness the criteria, then nothing is going to be easy. Jummah is obviously not easy to leave school for at two o'clock.

There is now a fatwa that came out of Europe that the time for Jummah is going to be from after Fajr all the way until just before Maghrib. They found one opinion for this, one opinion for that, and said: you can pray Jummah anytime, because you can't leave school. And another fatwa that's going to come out after Ramadan is that masajid and Islamic schools can use conventional interest-bearing loans to build masjids and Islamic schools all over America. Because people are not donating enough. It's a need. So now we can take riba-bearing loans and build it, and the community will pay it off once it's built. The example given to me: a five million dollar loan with two million dollars of riba — it's supposedly easier to eventually pay off that seven million than to raise the initial five million. Yeah. That's what you're going to get. More and more new fatwas like this. They're just going to come.

Now you have to ask your heart. I'm not a scholar, I never went to alim school for one day — but is this what we're doing? Is this where we're headed? That's why Nabi ﷺ's prophecy is coming true. We're going to follow the Christians and Jews in the name of making it easier for people, in the name of trying to be accommodating. But deen does not need to accommodate. You're either in the ship, or you jump the ship. But don't break the ship.

You know those "I Can Read" books? There was one — I think it was about a beaver, some animal — and it had a little boat and was rowing along. And then a bear comes and says: I want to jump in. And the animal says: there's no space. He says: no, there's space. And he jumps in. This little animal gets pushed to the side. Then the bear starts calling his friends. Come on, come through. He hijacked the boat. Then another bear comes. Then another. This miskeen little animal is stuck in the middle saying: there's no space! But they don't listen. A third bear comes in — and what happens? That whole boat cracks. The raft breaks in half. Those bears are having a great time, and this animal is about to drown. He barely survives.

That's what we're doing to Islam right now. You're trying to accommodate all the bears. You're trying to accommodate everyone who says: oh, I have work. I've got a Christian wife. I've got a Hindu daughter-in-law. I've got a Sikh son. So I've got to accommodate this and accommodate that. And in the process of that — what happened? That boat is the deen. You have no deen left, in the name of accommodation. And that's what the poet said:

You know what patching is? When you have a hole in clothing, you take another piece of old cloth and make a patch. So the poet says: we patch our dunya by cutting up our deen. And now, neither is our dunya left, nor that which we cut from. Everything is gone.

This is the time you're going to have to make big so-called concessions. Do you not see big institutions going down on their knees right now? Those four-hundred-and-fifty-year-old institutions are coming to their knees and making concessions. You have multi-billion dollar law firms making concessions. You think you're going to have to make a concession? Ask yourself: who are we fooling? Wake up, wake up, wake up. Ask Allah to wake us up. Ask Allah to allow us to connect the dots, to see where we are right now. This is not a joke. These are very difficult times. Fitna. And in this fitna, you don't want to break your deen in the process of trying to make it fit. If you take a key and force it into the wrong hole and keep doing it, eventually the key will break. And you're in big trouble. Don't do that. Don't break your deen.

That is the message we should take from this Ramadan: we have to hold on. Alhamdulillah, after twenty-nine days of Ramadan, why are we saying things like this — that "we're in America and we need to know the day in advance"? When it comes to the state or governor declaring a day for Eid — I think the effort to get Eid recognized is good. We can look at what is the most likely day based on visibility charts, like we have in the Darussalam calendar that's printed for the whole year. You could suggest a most-likely date and use that for public recognition purposes. That effort should continue — so that non-Muslims know we have an Eid. Even President Trump said Eid Mubarak to everyone. But if the actual day of Eid based on the moonsighting is different, no problem. It's not the end of the world. Let them recognize it. But when it comes to our own fast, we continue doing what we're doing.

So let's not get into any discussions and debates about this. Alhamdulillah — let's make the most of this final night that Allah has given us, in i'tikaf and in the masjid. Tonight being Saturday, those of us who are not in i'tikaf — please, I encourage you to join us. And we will have our candlelight conversation, insha'Allah — our final one. And insha'Allah, Mawlana Farhan and Mawlana Farhan Sayyid may be joining us. We request them to join us here at 1 AM. The rest of the time — make du'a, individual ibadah, or rest if you need to. And then we'll have our final session at 1 o'clock insha'Allah.

Dhikr, Muraqabah, and Closing Du'a

Let's come closer insha'Allah for some dhikr and du'a. Let us stay focused. When we're doing the dhikr of kalimah tayyibah — لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — we should imagine that لَا إِلَٰهَ is like a sword. We're striking at all the false idols, the false beliefs, the wrong desires — all those things not in accordance with the shari'ah that are in our hearts, we're hitting at them. And then إِلَّا اللَّهُ — only that which Allah loves is coming into our heart. Only that which Allah loves, and the ibadah that Allah loves, and the greatness of Allah is entering our heart.

And then, when we send salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ, we should imagine as though we're standing in front of the Rawdah Sharifah, facing the Prophet ﷺ's resting spot. As we're sending salawat upon him, Allah is sending ten salawat upon us. Allah is rewarding us with ten blessings. Allah is increasing our levels in Jannah by ten levels. And Allah is forgiving our ten sins. Our salawat is being presented via angels to him, and he is responding to us.

And then when we do istighfar, we seek forgiveness from Allah with remorse. Focus on our own mistakes and sins. Begging Allah to allow us to overcome those major and minor sins. And then the dhikr of the heart — when you focus on your heart saying اللَّهُ، اللَّهُ، اللَّهُ. We don't move our lips, we don't move our tongue, but you can keep your tongue pressed to the upper palate and just focus on your heart saying: Allah, Allah, Allah. This is really powerful. You can do this dhikr wherever you are, in whichever condition you may be. It is extremely beneficial for keeping our hearts connected with Allah in all situations.

My beloved brothers — one thing if we can insha'Allah take away: if you can force yourself and start practicing meditation, every single day a few minutes of muraqabah. There are many types of muraqabah. One we did on the 27th night, masha'Allah — which was so powerful, everyone felt it — muraqabatul mawt, the muraqabah of death. One is the muraqabah of the nur of Allah. One is the muraqabah of the mercy of Allah. There are many different types. This will bring calmness within us. This will allow us to be deliberate in the good we do. Insha'Allah it will give us a lot of spiritual energy. But you have to just train yourself for a few minutes to enjoy the seclusion, to not have racing thoughts, and to not fall asleep — though if you do fall asleep, alhamdulillah, don't worry. The ajar will continue to be written for him.

One powerful way to build concentration is to read Ayatul Kursi three times in your mind. For those of us who have a lot of waswasas and whispers, this is a great protection. Read Ayatul Kursi three times in your mind and make niyyah:

Ya Allah, through the barakah of this Ayatul Kursi, grant me Your protection. Allow the nur of Ayatul Kursi to surround me from top to bottom — all the way to Your Throne above and all the way to the depths below the earth. Allow the barakah of Ayatul Kursi like a wall around me, an aura surrounding me. Then close your eyes and focus: Allah is looking at us. And Allah has sent His choicest nur upon our hearts. Through that, the desire for sin is leaving us and the desire to please Allah is entering us.

O Allah, we ask You to accept our fast. O Allah, we ask You to accept our taraweeh. O Allah, You have given us the tawfiq to perform this final taraweeh. O Allah, we ask You to accept all the qiyam that everyone did. O Allah, we ask You to accept every ruku', every sajdah. O Allah, every verse of the Quran that was recited — O Allah, we ask You to grant us all qabuliyyah, qabuliyyah, qabuliyyah.

Whatever good we were able to accomplish in this month, it was only through Your will. It was only through Your power. O Allah, we ask You to grant us all qabuliyyah. O Allah, just like You inspired us to do these good deeds, we beg You to accept it. We beg You to accept it. We beg You to accept it.

O Allah, the sign of the acceptance of Ramadan is that a person's life changes for the better — a person begins to build good new habits and gives up all bad habits. O Allah, allow us to see the acceptance of our Ramadan in a form that we understand. Allow us to see the sign of Your happiness with us. Allow us to see the signs of complete transformation in our hearts and our minds.

O Allah, we ask You to grant us all Your special relationship. O Allah, grant us a relationship of muhabba and love with You. Grant us a relationship of trust in You, O Allah. O Allah, we ask You to make us amongst those who are able to perform our salah with jama'ah in the masjid every day. O Allah, and make us able to pray our tahajjud at home. O Allah, make us amongst those who are able to give up their beds for Your sake. O Allah, make us amongst those who are able to give up comforts for Your sake.

O Allah, we ask You to grant us all steadfastness. Please do not allow us to turn back to our old ways. O Allah, do not allow us to go back to our old ways. O Allah, do not allow us to go back to our old ways. O Allah, we ask You to grant us all a condition and state of always remembering You. Allow us to become a people of dhikr, O Allah. O Allah, make us amongst those who remember You.

O Allah, please grant us the ability to seek knowledge of the deen. And whatever knowledge we have gained in these past days and beyond — allow us to practice on it, O Allah. Allow us to practice, O Allah. O Allah, grant us all halal rizq and sustenance. O Allah, put muhabba and love between siblings and between parents and children, between spouses. O Allah, we ask You to save us from ever usurping anyone's rights. Allow us to be the people of the best akhlaq. Allow us to become the people of the best akhlaq.

O Allah, we ask You on this last remaining day of Ramadan — allow us to utilize this final day in a manner that's going to have the most benefit for us, whether it's dhikr, whether it's recitation of Quran, whether it's learning about the deen, whether it is asking proper questions. Whatever it may be, O Allah, allow us to spend this final day of Ramadan in the most productive manner.

O Allah, reward our parents and our teachers, our siblings, our spouses, for all that they have done for us. O Allah, make their life in this world and the next easy. O Allah, those of us who have lost our parents — grant them Jannah, and allow our good deeds to be presented to them. O Allah, we ask You to fulfill all the physical, spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs of our parents and their children.

O Allah, we ask You to protect our deen in this country and beyond. O Allah, please do not allow us to waver. Do not allow us to give up. Allow us to stay strong. O Allah, please make us amongst people of resolve. Make us amongst people who have strong iman, from all across, O Allah. O Allah, we ask You, in this era of fitna, do not allow us to be tested. Please do not bring a fitna in our deen. Please do not bring a fitna in our deen.

O Allah, we ask You to assist our brothers and sisters in Gaza, in Sudan, in Yemen, in Burma, and across the globe wherever our ummah is suffering. Ya Allah, we ask You to make it easy for them. We ask You to grant them shahadah — those who passed away, accept their shahadah. Those who are alive, Ya Allah, give them strength. Give them strength and heal them. Ya Allah, heal them. Allow their suffering to be a means of waking up the ummah. O Allah, unite the ummah upon al-haqq. Unite the ummah upon the truth.

O Allah, whatever khayr and good Rasulullah ﷺ had asked You of — grant us that good. Whatever evil the Prophet ﷺ sought refuge from — grant us refuge from all of those things.