Ramadan 2025 | The Power of Prophetic Prayers | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/24

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ. اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم على سيدنا محمد وعلى آل سيدنا محمد وبارك وسلِّم. رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي.

Amma ba'd.

The Importance of Being Present — Heart and Mind

InshAllah if we can move closer and sit together please, brothers who are participating in the majlis. Let's all come — from the brothers in the back, let's move forward and sit together.

The reminder always is that when a person is so unaware of the way our own nafs and shaytan works against me, against all of us — many times we find ourselves with one foot in, one foot out. And the purpose of it, possibly one of those purposes, is for shaytan and nafs to make us feel like we're actually receiving something when in reality we're not.

If a person is not present at all, then he feels bad. But making ourselves present by body and not by mind — what happens? Our nafs and shaytan win. Because they've deceived us into thinking we're benefiting when we actually are not. And that's actually sometimes worse than not being present. Because when a person is not present, then he at least says, "Oh, that day I wasn't able to make it. That day I didn't show up." So he feels that he needs to make up for it. But when you're actually marked present, but the heart and the mind is not focused, then that actually becomes a very big deception against us.

So this is why Allah says in Surah Qaf:

Indeed, there is a reminder in the Qur'an for the one who has a heart, or who gives ear while he is present and attentive. You have to have your heart there, you have to be listening — وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ — while you're present.

This ayah just came to my mind right now. What an amazing verse to reflect on. Being present with our heart and mind is so important. If someone is not physically present in a majlis but is listening online, they can get more benefit than the one who is present but whose heart and mind is not there.

That is why, anytime we go to any masjid, try your best to always move forward and sit in front. If we come to pray salah, we try to get to the front row, as far forward as possible. Similarly, any bayan, any majlis — try your best never to be in the back layer.

Think about it like this: if there is a whole caravan of springbok, or deer, or some other animals traveling, and predatory cats are waiting to attack for their next meal — the chance of them going and grabbing someone from the middle is very unlikely. They will always go after the one that is lagging in the back. The one lagging in the back gets caught the quickest.

So when you think about the shayateen — they are waiting around us to see how they can distract someone, how they can put waswasas in the mind of someone, how they can make someone think of something that they did not need to think about, and through that, make them lose focus. As it comes clearly in hadith, that when you start salah, shaytan comes and makes you start thinking about things that you were not thinking about before salah. Things that are not relevant, not important. But he will not allow you to concentrate on your salah.

And once you finish your salah, we're all supposed to do our tasbih. Where are people in i'tikaf running? After salah, what possibly have you got to do before your dhikr? But that's the shaytan that the Prophet ﷺ warned us about — he will come and make us remember things just so that we stand up. And as soon as you stand up, the chance of that dhikr is essentially finished.

We have to be strong. We have to know the deception. We can't be foolish. We have to say: if I don't pray my sunnah now, I will not pray it afterwards. That can wait. Let me pray my sunnah now. Let me do my dhikr now. Everything else can wait.

This is my message to our volunteers — whoever is in khidmah. Understand: volunteering can be a big deception of shaytan. In the process of volunteering, if you miss out your sunnah — I tell this to all our students who are passing out flyers: whatever you do, you better not miss your sunnah. No matter what you are inviting towards, if you miss your sunnah, the sin you are incurring is probably more than any benefit you gain by passing out any flyer. When you are traveling, don't miss your taraweeh. Don't miss your fardh with jama'ah.

Is khidmah important? 100% it's important. Is volunteering important? 100% it's important. But not at the cost of losing your own basic responsibilities.

Just as the Prophet ﷺ said:

(The wolf eats the sheep that strays far from the flock. — Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22386; also referenced in Sunan Abu Dawud)

When a wolf attacks, it attacks the sheep that is lagging behind. And so the Prophet ﷺ said: عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْجَمَاعَةِ — hold on to the jama'ah. Don't be lagging behind.

So this is a mindset we should have whenever we're sitting in a gathering: try your best to have people behind you. That means you have to come a little earlier, or simply move forward and sit in front. And you will see the benefit of what I'm saying. When you sit with people behind you and you're in the middle, your ability to focus and concentrate is far greater. So in any talk we attend, we'll find lots and lots of benefit from this.

The Etiquettes of the Child with the Parents

Yesterday, alhamdulillah, we covered the etiquettes with Allah. I ask Allah to grant me and all of us the ability to practice on what we discussed yesterday, and to make us people who have genuine adab with Allah in our dealings with Him — not once in a while, but every moment.

There are a few other etiquettes that remain. In the interest of time, let us focus on those things which are immediately most relevant. The next one is:

The etiquettes of the child with his parents. The text says: if you have parents who are still alive — وَإِن كَانَ لَكَ وَالِدَانِ — then the manners of the child with the parents are:

• أَنْ يَسْمَعَ كَلَامَهُمَا — To listen to what they say.
• وَيَقُومَ لِقِيَامِهِمَا — To stand up when they stand, out of respect.
• وَيَمْتَثِلَ أَمْرَهُمَا — To submit to doing what they say.
• وَلَا يَمْشِيَ أَمَامَهُمَا — Not to walk ahead of them.
• وَلَا يَرْفَعَ صَوْتَهُ فَوْقَ صَوْتِهِمَا — Not to raise your voice over theirs.
• وَيُلَبِّيَ دَعْوَتَهُمَا — To answer them when they call you.
• وَيَحْرِصَ عَلَى طَلَبِ مَرْضَاتِهِمَا — To be intent upon seeking their good pleasure.
• وَيَخْفِضَ لَهُمَا الجَنَاحَ — To lower to them the wing of humility.
• وَلَا يَمُنَّ عَلَيْهِمَا بِالْبِرِّ لَهُمَا — Never to remind them of your goodness towards them.
• وَلَا بِالْقِيَامِ بِأَمْرِهِمَا — Nor of the fact that you are taking care of their affairs.
• وَلَا يَنظُرَ إِلَيْهِمَا شَزْرًا — Nor look at them harshly.
• وَلَا يُقَطِّبَ وَجْهَهُ فِي وَجُوهِهِمَا — Not to frown in their faces.
• وَلَا يُسَافِرَ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِمَا — Not to travel except with their consent.

You Will Always Be a Child to Your Parents

The text says walad — child. Let's not think of this as referring only to someone below the age of 10 or 12. Because a child of a parent will always remain a child, even when that child becomes 70. That is why the Prophet ﷺ — in the well-known incident — when a lady came and said, "Ya Rasulallah, I need a conveyance, a camel for transportation," and he instructed that she be given a young camel. She said, "Ya Rasulallah, what am I going to do with a baby camel?" He said to her: isn't every single camel a child of its mother? He was using walad to simply mean offspring — in that case, a fully grown adult camel. So all of us are the walad of our parents. You never come out of being a walad. You will always be a walad.

I remember reading about one of the ulama — he would visit his ustad and serve him. After his ustad passed away, the elder wife of his ustad was still alive. So whenever he would go to that city, he would knock on the door and say, "So-and-so is here — your husband's student. Is there any khidmah I can do for the house?" He would buy groceries and leave them at the home. And he writes in his book — this was a very well-known, influential scholar of the entire subcontinent — that after my parents passed away, and after my ustad passed away, everyone uses honorific titles to address me: Shaykh fulan, Mufti fulan. He said: I am yearning for someone to call me by my first name. No one calls me simply by my name anymore. And who does that? It's your parents. That relationship they have with their children is so unique. You could become the biggest surgeon, the biggest politician, the biggest scholar — but at the end of the day, you are a son or a daughter to your parents. And once they are gone, no one will ever treat you like that again in your life.

He said: I come back here, I do khidmah, and I get my ustad's wife — an elderly lady — to at least call me by my first name and say, "Hey, go do this." SubhanAllah. That's the depth of this relationship.

True Obedience: When It Goes Against Your Nafs

Now notice: many people may say, "I listen to my parents." But a lot of times, we listen to our parents only when those things make sense to us — when they happen to align with the desire of our inner self, our nafs. Doing what you like is nafs. Our scholars have written at a remarkable level about this. They say: if you have a desire to sit somewhere comfortable, break that and go sit on the other side. Whip your nafs. Tell it: I will not do what you want. You want me to sit in the back — I'll sit in the front. Let me sit under the fan — no, I'll sit over there. The way you train a horse, the way you train a person — you have to break old habits and create new ones.

When we are listening to our parents, we are not supposed to listen only when it makes sense to us. Because there is no reward in that. You are not listening to them because of them — you are listening because it happens to align with what you already wanted. The real test is: do you listen to your parents when it goes against your nafs? That is the test. Whether you are 45, 50, or 60 years old — if you have a mom and dad, you are extremely, extremely blessed. And who should we ask? We should ask someone who has lost their parents.

I've heard from people — when we console those who have lost their mothers and fathers, the son might be 65 or 70 years old. But they say: even if you're 65 or 70, you lose your mother or father, and it feels like you're 6 or 7. Because there is no replacement to that. That door of Jannah that opens through mom and dad — there is no replacement.

That is why when the Rasul of Allah ﷺ passed away, it was not just the emotional loss of someone you dearly love, but the fact that there is no more revelation. The door of wahi has been closed for eternity. Jibreel Ameen might come on Laylatul Qadr, him and his trillions of angels, traveling around and saying salam to people — but there is no revelation happening. That door closed. Similarly, by the passing away of the parents, that door of Jannah which was opened through them can never be opened again.

So when we listen to our parents, my beloved brothers and sisters, we should listen with the intention that: although this makes no sense to me, and although it hurts me and upsets me, just like someone has to take bitter medicine or painful chemotherapy for treatment — we do so and pay for it, because we genuinely believe that Allah will put shifa through this. It hurts, it's painful, it has countless side effects, but it is more important for me in the long run.

A son or daughter needs to listen to their parents with this intention: Ya Allah, it hurts, but I am going to listen to what my mother or father is saying, with this firm yaqeen that You, O Allah, will put more khair in this than whatever I was planning. Even though it doesn't seem like it to me.

Who asked us to obey our parents? Allah did. And the one who controls all the formulas of your life is saying: listen to her, listen to him. He knows exactly what you were planning, what your mother is saying, what your father is saying. Who knows the future? No one besides Allah. Who can make the impossible possible? No one besides Allah. So when we listen to our mother and father — even when we don't want to — we should have this conviction and be making this du'a: Ya Allah, because You told me to listen to my mother and father, I am giving this up and listening to them. I have full expectation that the end result will be better than anything I ever imagined.

Don't grudgingly listen to your parents. There is no khair in that. What does the Qur'an say?

Do not even say "uff" to them. And grunting is far worse than an "uff." A person should not even show emotion. Be emotionless in the moment. You can smile — at least never, ever show displeasure. May Allah give me and all of us the tawfiq. We are far away from this. Allah is watching.

Ibadah Alone Is Not Enough Without Good Character

I want to say clearly: so many people are doing khatmul Qur'an and tahajjud and qiyamul layl, but they have the worst relationship with their parents. And listen — you are not going anywhere. I don't care how many khatms you do. I don't care how much khidmah you do. If you're not changing your relationship with your parents, with your spouse, with your kids — your salah, your ibadah, and your khatm upon khatm is not going to get you anywhere.

The most important thing after our relationship with Allah and His Rasul ﷺ is our relationship with our parents. But we have this idea that we just need to keep running. That is also a deception of shaytan: let me not listen to what I need to hear and bring change. Let me enjoy what I'm doing.

And this is tough to hear — but sometimes qiyamul layl is actually nafs. Sometimes reading Qur'an is actually nafs. Shaykh Zakariyya's son, I mean — Shaykh Zakariyya himself says: his father, after maghrib, when the time for mutala (review) had come in the madrasa, he would start his awwabin. Performing extra nafl salah. And his father would say: stop. You are not allowed to pray awwabin. You need to go to your class. This is a misplacement. Once your class is over, you can do ibadah. But right now your ibadah is to attend class. Right now your ibadah is to review your lesson. The desire for nawafil, the desire for reading Qur'an — there has to be a proper place for that.

When our mother is calling us and we are reading Qur'an — does that make sense? The Prophet ﷺ instructed us: when a mother calls you, you should even break your salah. We have youth — the majority, I would say — who cannot stop their video game, cannot stop their cell phone chit-chat when the mother calls them. That's the majority of the world. I hear from moms and dads about this every single day.

And I tell the parents: for Allah's sake, please don't curse your son. Don't make baddua against them. Because when it falls upon them, you will be the one who comes back crying. The curse of the parents is accepted so quickly. So all those moms and dads who are hurt by their kids — use that anger to make du'a for the hidayah of your child.

Anger is a very powerful element — we spoke about it a couple of days ago:

To drink down your anger will get you to paradise. The best drink is to swallow your anger. When you are angry at your kids and you channel that energy towards du'a, and you say: Ya Allah, I am so angry at my daughter and son for doing this. But not only do I forgive them for Your sake, but I am presenting this as a wasilah in Your court — if You are happy with me for forgiving my son whom I am so angry at right now, then through the barakah of this good deed, give hidayah to my son. Give hidayah to my daughter. Give hidayah to me. Give hidayah to my siblings. Give hidayah to my spouse.

Anger is a very powerful energy. Use that energy and channel it in the right direction. And through the barakah of that patience, you can actually get a great deal done from Allah.

The Boombox Lesson — A Personal Example

Wallahi, I don't want to share all my secrets. It's awkward for me to do that. But I wish I could for you to understand that I am in the same boat. There are points where I listened to my parents, and points as a little kid where I did not. And Allah immediately showed me that was not a smart move.

I can give a small example. I remember we had a boombox — those days with the CD players? And I had this nice boombox for listening to nasheeds and Qur'an. My parents told me to keep it at home. Don't take it to South Africa. Something simple. I said, I want to keep it with me — what am I going to do leaving it at home? I'm studying in South Africa, I want to take it to my room. My friends will enjoy it too, and we can listen to Qur'an or nasheeds while cleaning on the weekend.

My parents kept saying: just leave it here, don't take it. I said no, I want to take it, argued with them, and took it. I was 14 or 15 years old.

The boombox cost maybe $150. But it became a big heartache. Because people always wanted to borrow it. When I told them no, they got upset at me, didn't want to talk to me. Eventually, fights and arguments happened. Then it broke. Now I had to fix it — sitting in South Africa with no car, no Uber, no taxi, a strict one-and-a-half-hour lunch break which I needed for sleep. I lost multiple hours of sleep trying to go to town to get it fixed. Multiple trips, spent a lot of our limited cash — because we had no ATM, no credit card, only the cash our parents gave us at the beginning of the year to last the whole year.

Eventually it got fixed. And I sat there and said: was this worth it? Absolutely not. If only I had listened to my parents.

It's a small and perhaps cute example from childhood. But the point is: there are ten examples like this each of us can think of — moments where we did not listen to our parents and Allah showed us in this world that we did not do well. And if it doesn't seem like it came out poorly even 30 years later — then I promise you, if you listened to them for the sake of Allah, on the Day of Judgment you will see that Allah rewarded you for the fact that you listened to your parents, even if things did not visibly turn out right. Does that make sense?

The Importance of Islah — Rectification of the Self

Dear sons and daughters of the ummah: if our parents are alive and we are in the month of Ramadan, then this is the most important ibadah we have to work on right now. Rarely do I have a father who comes and says: alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed me with kids and every single one of them is respectful and listens. Almost all the time, the ones who come to me carry heartache and heartburn.

It is remarkable — I have dads who come and complain: "My son studies too much. He doesn't have time to relax." Another dad will come and say: "He spends too much time doing ibadah." Another will say: "I want my son to give the adhan, I want him to lead salah." And I say — make sure you don't want that for your nafs. Make sure you want it for their benefit and the benefit of the deen, not for yourself. Because if you simply want to say to people: "Did you hear that adhan, bro? That was my son" — where is the ikhlas in any of this?

Our children are an extension of our own body. If I start praising my hand in an audience, would you not feel awkward? When we praise our kids in front of people excessively, it is the same principle. Unless there is a specific need — a rishtah situation and so on — there is generally no point. These are subtleties. How often do we dads and moms think about this? We just move on, saying some things. Make sure we do not say anything that may lead to kibr and ujub, or that may lead to insincerity.

None of us — except those upon whom Allah has mercy — can truly say we have done our job in being the parent we need to be, or the son or daughter we need to be. But these are important things we are not going to learn just by reading Qur'an. I am serious. Just by reading Qur'an again and again, and praying your taraweeh — the islah I am speaking about, the realization that "I am actually not being a good mom, a good dad, a good son, a good daughter" — it is not going to happen just like that. You need to sit and study these books. You need to sit and listen to these talks. And then you need to internalize it. Not just let it go from one ear to the other. It has to come from the heart.

You have to say: Ya Allah, guide me and allow me to see my flaws and faults.

Someone who has a big boil filled with pus — by sitting in i'tikaf, it does not just disappear. Someone with cancer — it does not just disappear. You have to treat it. So it is important to meet your mentors and ulama, and be open with them. Say: these are my issues. How do I rectify myself? I want to make sure that when I come out of i'tikaf, I don't just say I read three khatms or prayed more salah than ever before. Most importantly, I want to be a changed, transformed person — not only in my relationship with Allah, but in my relationship with fellow human beings. Allah may forgive us, but if the humans don't forgive us, we are going to be in big trouble.

And by the way — does old age help you improve by itself? Absolutely not. Even if you are senior or older, don't think that just by being old, your islah is happening automatically. Every one of us — young and old — needs to have the concern and fikr of islah. The one who is speaking is most in need.

That is why the ulama of tazkiyah — the mentors in our silsila — whenever a sheikh passes away, they will take bay'ah and connect themselves to another sheikh. And many times that sheikh may be junior to them. A 70-year-old sheikh going to a 50-year-old and saying: "Can you please be my mentor?" He says: "My sheikh has passed away, and I am not going to live without having someone above me — even if that person is 20 years my junior." It is these people who are so concerned about their islah that Allah allows them to reach levels we cannot even imagine.

Du'as and Closing Supplications

May Allah make my islah. Ameen. May Allah make all of our islah. Ameen. May Allah make islah of our children, our parents, our siblings, our spouses. And may Allah always keep us with our heads down, focused on our flaws and faults. May Allah make us extremely aware of our flaws. May Allah allow us to find the means, the methods, and the people required to bring rectification to ourselves. May Allah allow us to always enjoy the company of scholars, righteous elders, and pious people who can help us become what we need to be. May Allah never allow us to pass away except in a state in which we have been cured from our spiritual diseases, and that our leaving from this world be the very best day of our life — pure, innocent, welcomed in the court of Allah. Ameen.

We will now read one istighfar — this is du'a number ten from the book Prayers of Forgiveness (Salat al-Maghfira), which contains 70 prayers of istighfar. This particular one is from Hasan al-Basri. We are also reading from Bidayatul Hidayah (Beginning of Guidance), page 133. Please say ameen in your heart — we are making du'a here.

O Allah, I seek Your forgiveness for every sin that:

1. Breeds rancor — يورِثُ الضِّغنَ — it makes people hate us. We wonder why people don't love us — this du'a teaches us that the evil effect of sins is that Allah puts dislike for us in the hearts of people.
2. Causes calamity to strike — يُحِلُّ البَلاءَ — flat tire, broken engine, illness, business loss, natural disasters. Many times these come as a response to our sins.
3. Causes enemies to rejoice at my misfortune — يُشمِتُ الأعداءَ — you are suffering, and people are laughing inside their hearts. This too is an evil effect of our sins.
4. Removes the coverings of my faults — يَكشِفُ الغِطاءَ — our sins are exposed, or the faults of our family members are exposed. Many times it is because of our own sins that our sons, daughters, and spouses are being spoken ill of. SubhanAllah.
5. Holds back rain from the heavens — يَحبِسُ القَطرَ مِنَ السَّماءِ — droughts happen because of sin.

We ask Allah to grant us protection not only from sin, but also from all the evil effects of the previous sins we have committed.

Let us now make our way downstairs quietly, engaging in dhikr and du'a as we walk — not using this time for speaking.