Team Fajr - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

أَمَّا بَعْد — respected elders and brothers and dear listeners, السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ — الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, we are blessed to be back in the house of Allah with our weekly program. Our Team Fajr — this time we have just the spiritual breakfast, not the breakfast for the stomach, because we know many are fasting still. So inshallah that will resume next week, inshallah next Saturday.

The Meaning of Takbeer on Eid

Allah has highlighted the reason why in this past Eid, and in every Eid, we have extra Takbeers. On this Eid al-Fitr we read, we did extra Takbeer in Salah, and we're doing Takbeer in the morning as well. Allah says in Surah Al-Baqarah:

You do a lot of Takbeer and you glorify Allah over the fact that He guided you, وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ — and so that you may become grateful. So the reason we're saying اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلِلَّهِ الْحَمْد — Allah is clearly saying that the fact that we're so excited and happy for the guidance that Allah has given us — you know when someone takes a Shahada there's this huge resounding Allahu Akbar in the crowd — but this isn't Allahu Akbar for ourselves. This isn't Allahu Akbar, Alhamdulillah I was able to fast, I was able to pray Salatul Taraweeh, I was able to pray my Salah in the Masjid, I was able to give Sadaqah, I was able to stay so many hours in the Masjid, I was able to do so many things that otherwise I may not be able to do.

So this Takbeer that happens in Eid al-Fitr and then in Eid al-Adha as well is to thank Allah for Hidayah and to become grateful, because this is how we show our gratitude to Allah for whatever we do. How do we show thanks? Not by sinning, but rather by doing Takbeer. Other cultures — their day of Ibadah is the day of the gravest of sins. The more sin they do on the day of worship than on any other day of the year — more drinking, more partying, more everything else. And this is supposed to be the day of worship, the day of celebration. So we believe naturally that a person cannot celebrate and thank his Lord for all the blessings by disobeying Him — that will only bring about the wrath of Allah. The way you thank Allah for your blessings is to increase whatever you do. That's why the Salatul Eid — those two Raka'ah — is not found on any other day of the year. We actually have extra two Raka'ah Salah on the day of Eid, and along with that extra Takbeer in that Salah, and along with that Takbeer before that, and so forth.

Don't Unravel What You've Built — The Warning After Ramadan

So now that Ramadan has come to an end and we've done our Takbeer, we've done our Eid, we have to remember the verse of the Quran where Allah says in Surah An-Nahl:

Allah says in Surah An-Nahl: do not become like that lady — وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّتِي نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا — who used to take yarn and go ahead and make some sort of dress or sweater that she would knit together, and then after that, Allah says don't be like her — she would create something with her yarn and then after it's all done, نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا — she would untie it, completely ruin the whole thing. That's what she would do every day. Some say she was a lady in Makkah who was mentally ill. She used to do this every single day, which is obviously a complete waste of time.

So Allah is giving this as an example of a person who makes a promise with Allah and then breaks the promise — makes a promise, breaks a promise — makes a commitment, breaks a commitment. Allahu Akbar. Makes a commitment — one step forward, two steps back. One step forward, two steps back. This is not the smart way to lead your life. Instead, every single time we take one step — we don't have to take another new step every day — but at least don't go back. Because when we go back, we are losing all the land that we gained, the momentum we created — we are losing that.

It is mentioned:

The example of a hypocrite fasting is like a camel that the owners keep tied. The camel does not know why it's been tied, and the camel does not know why it's been released. It is ajami — it can't speak and it can't comprehend properly. For some reason it's got this rope around its neck and it's tied down. After some hours the owners have decided to let it go — no idea what's going on. It recognizes the fact that it's tied up and can't run, and recognizes that it's been allowed to run, but only in the corral.

So this is the example of a hypocrite in fasting — he has no idea, or she has no idea: I don't know why I couldn't eat, drink, couldn't do stuff for 14, 16 hours. I did it — why I did it, I'm not sure. Everyone else was doing it, that's why I did it. Now that fasting has ended, how are we supposed to act after it? I don't know — everyone seems to be doing anything that comes to their mind. They seem to be worshipping themselves — do whatever you want. This is what this guy does too. Meaning, just like the camel doesn't recognize the wisdom of being tied and being untied, nor is it learning any lessons, nor is it trying to tie in with some bigger picture — similarly the hypocrite has no real take-home lesson from fasting. Nor is he trying to implement lessons learned from Ramadan. Nor is he trying to change his habits. None of that stuff. It's simply: this is how Ramadan was spent, and after Ramadan, this is how we go back to our old ways.

A person should be reflecting: how did I push myself and exert myself in Ramadan to do 10 things that I wasn't doing before? How about I end up doing at least 2 after Ramadan is completed?

So what are those things that we need to be working on, now that Ramadan has left us? It's already been three days and the old self is slowly coming back.

Six Things to Keep After Ramadan

1. Salatul Fajr and Isha in Jama'ah

Number one is what we've talked about in Ramadan repeatedly — beginning the day on the right note and ending the day on the right note — which is Salatul Subh and Salatul Isha in Jama'ah. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 657)

Whoever performs Salatul Fajr, he is under the protection of Allah — he is under the insurance of Allah. It should not happen that you mess around with someone who prayed Fajr Salah, otherwise Allah will come after you, and Allah will obviously catch up to you, and then Allah will drag this person face-first into the hellfire — the one who messes with someone who performs Salatul Fajr — because the one who prays Salatul Fajr is under the protection of Allah. So now, part of that insurance, part of that assurance package is — anyone who tries to harm him will trigger the alarm, and who is going to come to his defense? Allah.

Uthman ibn Affan رضي الله عنه says — hadith related by Imam Muslim — that the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 656)

Whoever performs Isha in Jama'ah, he is as though he stood up half of the night in Ibadah. And whoever performs Salatul Fajr in Jama'ah, he is as though he stayed awake the entire night in Ibadah.

And it is mentioned in one athar:

O son of Adam, do not become incapacitated from performing two Raka'ah before sunrise, and two Raka'ah before sunset. I will suffice for you between these two times. Meaning, a person who is performing Fajr and Asr — Allah will take care of the rest of the time between these two prayers. Between Fajr and Asr, between Asr and Fajr — these are Salats that people usually become neglectful of: Fajr because they're sleepy and tired, and Asr because they're very busy with their business in the middle of the day.

The amount of possibilities of things going wrong in our life are endless. We could have tripped coming to the Masjid — Allah forbid. We could have had our fingers jammed in the car door, our car could have hit a curb, we could have had a flat tire, something much worse. A person could have slipped while walking in — you don't need ice and snow to slip. You could slip coming down a flight of stairs at home. There are so many things that can go wrong in our life.

The Du'a for Removing Grief and Worry

The Prophet ﷺ said: no person gets afflicted by any type of worry or sadness and then says the following du'a, except that Allah will remove his pain and replace it with an opening:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 3712; classified as sahih by Ibn Hibban and others)

O Allah, I am Your servant, the son of Your servant, the son of Your female servant. My forelock is in Your hands. Your decision will come to pass in me. All of Your decisions about me are based on justice. I ask You in the name of every name You have — which You have given Yourself, or taught to anyone of Your creation, or revealed in any of Your books, or kept in Your knowledge of the unseen by Yourself and have not shared with anyone else — to make the Qur'an the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the remover of my sadness, and a means of all my stress and worries going away.

رَبِيع means spring — the season we're in now. Oh Allah, make it the spring of my heart. The heart has gone through its winter season — it's dead, completely: no shrubs, no greenery, no flowers. The Qur'an has the ability to irrigate, fertilize, and give water to this dead heart. جِلَاء — you know how you remove rust? Similarly, this is like a sadness remover. Oh Allah, make the Qur'an a means of removing sadness from my heart.

This du'a is found in Hisnul A'zam and in Munajat Maqbul and the other du'a books we've been referring to. Whoever recites this du'a while going through any difficulty or pain:

Allah will remove your pain, Allah will remove your grief, and Allah will replace this pain and worry with an opening — a new opening in your life that you needed. Who is sitting here who doesn't need this du'a? Which person sitting here came 100% stress-free for Fajr? Right — obviously, Alhamdulillah, Fajr is still way better than other times of the day. We're still in a much better state. But still — as the day starts, you're already thinking: in the next couple of hours I've got this problem, that problem, I gotta take care of this, take care of that — endless, endless things.

He says, whoever recites this du'a invoking Allah by all of His names and asking Allah to put the Qur'an as a solution to all of his problems — Allah will remove his pain, and Allah will replace that pain with an opening. They said, Ya Rasulullah, shall we not memorize this? Shall we learn this du'a? He said: بَلَى، يَنْبَغِي لِمَنْ سَمِعَهَا أَنْ يَتَعَلَّمَهَا — of course. Whoever hears it should memorize it. This is what Rasulullah ﷺ said. So make a niyyah — inshallah by next Saturday we'll memorize it. Bit by bit. Why don't you all read it with me:

May Allah accept it on behalf of all of us. So the Prophet ﷺ said this will replace his fear, his pain and worry with an opening. And he encouraged the Sahaba to memorize it.

The Du'a of Seeking Refuge in Allah's Nur

Another du'a that we learn when going through difficulty and problems:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1544; classified as sahih)

Oh Allah, I seek refuge in the Nur of Your Honorable Countenance — the Nur of Your Countenance which has lit up the heavens and the earth — and even the darkness has become lit up. الظُّلُمَات is the plural of darkness. Even the darknesses have become lit up. أَشْرَقَ — we will pray Salatul Ishraq. What does إِشْرَاق mean? Being lit up when the sun rises high — it's lit up, it's called Ishraq. So أَشْرَقَتْ لَهُ الظُّلُمَاتُ is when the darkness gets all lit up. And all the affairs of dunya and akhirah come right because of the Nur of Allah's Countenance. I seek refuge in You from two things: أَنْ تُحِلَّ عَلَيَّ غَضَبَكَ أَوْ تُنْزِلَ عَلَيَّ سَخَطَكَ — غَضَب and سَخَط are similar in meaning. Oh Allah, I seek refuge from Your anger befalling me and me becoming worthy of Your punishment.

This is the biggest problem. The biggest problem for any one of us is not that we're finding roadblocks in our life. So many people find roadblocks in marriage. So many people find roadblocks in jobs, in having children, in getting a promotion, in getting cured from a certain disease. These are all problems. But there's no bigger problem than the problem of becoming a target of Allah's anger.

So many times when we're going through difficulty, what we don't realize is — do you think Allah is angry at you? How do you know that? If you're involved in sin and you don't feel like coming to the Masjid, and you don't feel like turning towards Allah — that's not a good sign. But if a person has been coming to the Masjid, Alhamdulillah, even after Ramadan — and a person is still motivated to make long du'a even after Ramadan — and a person, Alhamdulillah, even after Ramadan has not fallen into haram — and even after Ramadan, a person is consistent on his basics — that's a very good sign. So the fact that we're still having difficulty should not be conflated or misunderstood as a sign of Allah's anger. This is simply the difficulty that prophets, awliya, and pious people have gone through.

I remember one person told me: I've been making du'a for something for two years and I still haven't gotten it. What should I do? Is it still worth asking? I told him, SubhanAllah — whatever you're asking for, you have already received something far greater than that. The fact that Allah has allowed you to keep knocking His door consistently for the past two years, and that you did not decide to leave His doorstep — what else could you ever ask? This is the sign of Allah's attention towards you and His love for you — that He has inspired you to keep knocking His door. That itself is mission accomplished. And everything else that comes after that is extra.

So this is what we're seeking refuge in Allah from. The key thing is — Ya Allah, don't be angry. Who said this? The Prophet ﷺ said a similar du'a in the time of Ta'if. After all that he suffered, he just kept asking:

Ya Allah, if You are not angry, I don't mind. But well-being is something I would prefer. So this is another du'a that we learn — seeking refuge in Allah's Nur from Allah's anger.

Think about all the types of problems — from a stroke, to a broken bone, to something else that can happen. A person simply choking on a morsel of food. Simple, small things that can go wrong in any single moment of our life and we're gone. Allahu Akbar. So we are constantly, constantly in need of Allah's Lutf — His mercy, His kindness. And one way to become more worthy of this is by performing our Salah every single day, especially our Fajr Salah. That gives us the insurance of Allah.

So this is one thing inshallah we're going to take away and hopefully remain very consistent on. We ask Allah to grant all of us istiqamah — and our loved ones, our children, our siblings, our spouses, our parents, our friends — the ability to remain firm with our Fajr and Isha in the Masjid.

2. Qiyamul Layl — Keeping Up the Night Prayer

We had outstanding stamina in Ramadan for a couple hours of Qiyamul Layl — I mean generally speaking, including Taraweeh and Tahajjud. It was so normal for people. I was inspired — I met a physician recently after Eid, on Eid day. We were talking about Khatmul Quran. He is not a Hafiz of Quran. He told me that five years ago it would take him about 20 minutes to read maybe four pages of the Quran. But he said he never gave up — five pages consistently, 20 minutes a day, every single day. 20 minutes, 20 minutes, 20 minutes. Five years sounds like a lot, but time flies. Five pages a day he read.

Now before Ramadan came in Shawwal, he started reading Quran, Quran, Quran, but he would leave the last section — the last 10 surahs or so — and he said: I'm gonna do the Khatm of this in Ramadan. So he started piling up these Khatms. In the month of Ramadan he said: I become a monster, I become a beast. Ramadan beast. He told me, mashallah, in Ramadan he did 19 Khatmul Quran — not being a Hafiz of Quran. And I said: okay, wait, how many did you do outside of Ramadan where you just read the last few pages in Ramadan? He said: five. I said: how many did you do in Ramadan cover to cover? Thirteen.

He told me he would read one while driving to work — one of the benefits of having a Tesla, I guess. He said it's not full self-driving, just the medium one. Number two, in between patients — he would go into his office and read. Alhamdulillah, now he's at a level where he can read a Juz in about 15 minutes — one Juz in 15 minutes — but just by consistently reading. So he did the simple math: 8 hours it takes to do Khatmul Quran — four hours one day, four hours the next day. He said, I was doing every two days a Khatm, the entire month. His teacher told him: if you did 19 this year, you have to move up a notch next year. He said: I'm preparing — instead of doing four hours every day, try to just add in, make it six hours.

The point is, honestly, it's not about how much you read, it's about how much time you give to it. If all of us gave six hours or four hours a day, we could have done way more than we did this year. So don't sit there and think, oh, he's doing 19, 13 — that sounds crazy. It's not about that. It's about how much time we give. That's all. Focus on that.

And the second beautiful lesson you learn from here is: slow and steady wins the race. Maybe starting to memorize or do a Khatm at the age of 40 or 50 is not easy — but it's possible. What is much more possible, and much more important, is just continuous, continuous recitation. And if you do it — he said — now it's such a situation that I don't have to flip the page, I know the rest of the ayah. Because I've read it so many times, I know the endings of the verses. You know how each page ends, because you move on to the next page in your mind. And so this is what you call the barakah of Ramadan — where you do these outstanding things.

But now that Ramadan is over, many youth and many adults are trying to figure out: what is the amount I can do on a regular basis? Should it be a Hizb? Seven Juz? Should it be three Juz? Should it be one Juz? Should it be daily Surah al-Kahf and Surah al-Baqarah, and on top of that one Juz? Just look at your situation. More than how many Juz you're reading, focus on duration of time — how much time can we give to reading the Quran?

So we are speaking about Qiyamul Layl. We exerted ourselves in Qiyamul Layl so much. Now that Ramadan has come to an end, we need to ensure that we don't go back to Qiyamul Layl only in another 11 or 12 months. But rather we keep up with it. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 758)

Allah waits until a third of the night has come to an end. And then Allah descends in a manner that befits Him to the closest heaven from amongst all the heavens. And then He calls out: Is there anyone seeking forgiveness? Is there anyone who would like to repent? Is there anyone who has an ask? Is there anyone who is calling out? Allah keeps on repeating these four things until dawn breaks, until Fajr time starts. So all these hours Allah is waiting for you and I to sit there and ask whatever we need.

Dr. Amjad Rahmatullahi Alay, the founder of Madrasa Ibn Abbas — who recently passed away, who was a very leading and famous doctor in Karachi, and the son of the previous Pakistani president, who became a scholar at an older age and then went out and established one of the revolutionary madrasas in Karachi, Madrasa Ibn Abbas for the boys and Madrasa Aisha for the girls — he was a revolutionary individual. He came here a few years ago, Alhamdulillah, and spoke to our audience and students.

He had one amal — he said: anything you really want to get done in life, this is something I have found to be effective. If you have a goal in your life, in order to get that goal fulfilled, perform one thousand Raka'ah. A thousand Raka'ah for that goal. And he said: you will see, by the end of that thousand Raka'ah, whatever you need will get fulfilled. SubhanAllah — I met people here who have actually done that. We heard that and said: that's it, we're going to roll up our sleeves and get to it. You don't have to do it in one day, you don't have to do it in a week — you can take your time. But it's a thousand Raka'ah of nafil where you have this big goal.

That's what the ummah needs right now. The ummah needs people who say: you know what, I've got all these goals and ambitions in life. I want to help the Palestinians. Things are happening all over the world. Europe — I was just reading this right before Fajr — there was literally a pro-Palestinian conference happening and the police stormed in, took away all the mics, ended the whole meeting, right now in Germany. In England, the anti-Islamic fever — it reminds me of post-9/11. It's ajeeb, it's brewing all over the world.

We need a force — a dhakirin force. The dhakirin force will say: you know what, I'm going to, in the next six weeks, or the next two months, between now and Dhul Hijjah, perform a thousand Raka'ah for victory of the ummah. That's what we need. A whole group of men and women, young and old. A thousand Raka'ah — not just for my marriage or my job. That's certainly a great thing to do. But we need people who sit there and dedicate this amount of time, this amount of effort, for the ummah. And then we'll start seeing big changes happening across the globe.

May Allah create all of us from amongst that dhakirin jama'ah who is ready to roll their sleeves up and do an abundance of dhikr, tilawat, and du'a in order to bring about Allah's help.

What is that Qiyamul Layl practically? You can do eight Raka'ah of small surahs. If you memorize Surah al-Mulk, Surah al-Sajdah — these are surahs we should all memorize anyway — Surah al-Waqia, and we can read these every day. You can divide them up in your eight Raka'ah of Tahajjud. And to make it easy for you, if you're feeling tired, you can pray four and four — four with one salam, and four with another salam — you can combine them two and two, like you pray Dhuhr and Isha.

And if you cannot wake up in the morning, or you're not sure if you're going to wake up, then wake up and perform this Salah before you go to bed. The fuqaha have written in their books that Tahajjud Salah — it is permissible for a person to perform it before he goes to bed as well. Naturally, it is more rewarding to wake up in the morning. Even more rewarding than that is what is called As-Salah bayn an-nawmayn — performing Salah between two bouts of sleep. When you wake up at three o'clock, perform your Tahajjud, go back to sleep, and then wake up for Fajr and come to the Masjid. That is the most difficult, and hence the most rewarding. But if you can't do that, the next step is to wake up half an hour before Fajr time starts. If that doesn't work, then the third option is to perform it before you go to bed. If eight Raka'ah doesn't work, we can start off with four, we can start off with two.

And for those of us who — Alhamdulillah — all perform Isha in the Masjid, the best is to perform our Tahajjud before we leave the Masjid. Because you don't know what happens when you go home. I know we all have grand plans — I want to do this and do that — then we go home and something else happens. So it's best to perform it here. Sometimes people say: you're supposed to perform your Witr at the end. In this day and age, I don't think that's a good idea. It's not sinful by any means to pray your Witr first. But it is definitely sinful to miss your Witr. That's why it's best to pray your Sunnah, or whatever you want to pray, in the Masjid, and then pray your Witr. And whenever you get tawfiq to pray at home, go ahead and pray your Tahajjud or pray before you go to sleep — but you do not need to repeat your Witr.

3. Consistency with Tilawat of the Quran

Number three is coming up with a set schedule of how much Quran we're going to recite. Focus on duration of time, not just number of Juz. We need to get this out of our minds: "I don't have time." This is such a lie. One thing is we make mistakes, and then number two is we come up with false excuses for them. Let's not give false excuses for ourselves. We should not say: I don't have time to read Quran. That's completely false. Instead say: I'm lazy, I don't have my life organized, I need to really work on that.

One of the best things, dear brothers and sisters and listeners, we can do is to have an online Quran teacher. This is one of the huge blessings nowadays that is so readily available. It is well worth those few dollars you pay per hour. Not only are you supporting a scholar in a country where they get paid very little and they're trying to support themselves — but along with that, you have someone who ensures you get your work done. Like people hire personal trainers, nutritionists. People at the gym, even if they don't hire someone, have a friend who spots for them when they're weight lifting. Similarly, we need to have someone who gives us encouragement to sit and read Quran.

Nowadays I heard people hiring people in China to literally sit there — you turn on your phone, have your camera on, and this guy from China sits there and says: Hey, come on, get to work. It's time for you to eat your cereal. It's time for you to get up. It's time for you to hit the treadmill. You can hire an assistant from China who watches you on video and barks orders at you. If it works, why not? Someone says: this is what your wife is for! Maybe this is for people who are not married. But seriously, this is something like having an exercise coach — people pay $50 or $100 a session for boot camp. And they scream at you. You're paying $100 for someone to motivate you hard. So we have to make a schedule in which tilawat of the Quran is going to happen.

One of the best times, honestly, is before or after Fajr. I've heard from one of our senior ulema of the world — he said that the best time to gain the nur of the Quran in your heart is to recite Quran while looking in the mushaf at the time of Tahajjud. That relationship with the Quran is going to bring in the nur of the Quran the quickest. Like memorization — huffaz know that the best time to memorize is to do your qacha at night, prepare your sabaq, and before Fajr wake up and read it tens of times until you know it. The morning time when the mind is fresh is amazing. Similarly, when we want to take effect from the Quran, reading at the time of Tahajjud is very powerful in bringing about immediate spiritual change.

So we should make niyyah of at least — if not before Fajr — after Fajr we sit down, the way our parents' generation would do. Make it a habit: 20 minutes. Let's just stick with 20 minutes. Don't start something you can't keep up with. Do 20 minutes after Fajr, and maybe before you go to bed, 10 minutes. Within half an hour, if a person stays consistent — a Hafidh of Quran can easily read two Juz, and a non-Hafidh can read however much.

4. Guarding the Gaze

Number four — a very important commitment for us outside of Ramadan — is to ensure that we guard our gaze. It is mentioned in hadith:

(Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat of al-Tabarani; also referenced in Hilyat al-Awliya of Abu Nu'aym)

Whoever lowers his gaze from that which Allah has prohibited, Allah will create sweetness in his heart that he will taste until the day he meets Allah Himself. Whoever fills his eyes with looking at haram, Allah will fill both of those eyes with the charcoal of hellfire. And the evil, haram glance is a poisoned arrow from the quiver of Iblis. Meaning, once an arrow hits a person — if it is poisoned — then even after the arrow is pulled out, the poisonous effect of that arrow remains within the bloodstream. So casting a haram glance is so dangerous that even after a person looks elsewhere or moves away physically, the evil effect of that haram glance still remains within the person's spiritual body. And he has to pay the price for that — he doesn't feel like getting up for Salah, he doesn't feel like extending his hands in du'a, he doesn't feel like crying in his du'a, he doesn't enjoy his sajda anymore — because of the evil effects of the haram glance in his spiritual bloodstream.

The ulema have said that one of the greatest benefits you'll get by guarding your gaze is to have mahabba and love between you and your spouse. That spousal love and understanding — which is a big, big problem today, a massive epidemic of husbands and wives not getting along — one way to treat that is to ensure both husband and wife guard their gaze. We don't even realize it. Today guarding the gaze is something almost no one speaks about. And when they do speak about it, they're thinking about something else, not realizing that left and right — not even outside, just on our phones — anytime from a YouTube channel, or checking the news, there's non-stop haram happening. I don't think there's anyone sitting here who's safe from that. Every single person, without even realizing it — even if you just want to check the news, there's going to be someone's shin, someone's legs, someone's back, someone's chest, someone's hair, exposed — haram.

This is why having one of those blockers in which all pictures are blocked is something good to have — a pop-up blocker, a picture blocker, and one that puts everything into grayscale. Those are for someone who is really working on guarding their gaze. It's not what happens outside — that's secondary. It's about what happens on our phones without us even realizing it.

Our Prophet ﷺ spoke about how a time will come where a person will not be able to stay away from riba. He said: even if you stay away from riba, you will get affected by its smoke. That's how it is right now — this is an era where you can hardly stay away from gazing at haram. If not that, then at least the smoke of haram, because of what we're continuously surrounded by. But you don't just give up and say forget it. We start making an effort.

Imam Sha'rani says:

Imam Sha'rani says: I come to know about my status with Allah based on the character of my spouse with me. As long as the husband is genuinely worshipping Allah and lowering his gaze, Allah will bless him with the love of his wife. And the same goes for the wife — as long as the wife is doing what she needs to do, worshipping Allah properly and following the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ in her relationships, inshallah Allah will place her love into the heart of the husband and he will be a very loving and caring person.

How often do we think that the problem is possibly in me? That it is my relationship with Allah which is weak? One of the Tabi'een mentions that sometimes I recognize that I've angered Allah by coming out of my home and seeing how my animal acts — when I'm trying to get my horse, the horse acts stubborn. Camel acts stubborn. Or my son or my spouse becomes disobedient and disrespectful to me — immediately I realize: this is the taste of my own medicine. I have become ungrateful and disobedient to Allah, and so now He has made my subordinates disobey me. What goes around comes around.

This is how the salaf were — whenever things went wrong in their homes, they did self-reflection. Where is the ummah like that right now? No one does self-reflection. No one is thinking: the reason why this is happening in my home or my business is because I've done XYZ sin, and this is payback time. I will take it, but I will be regretful and apologetic to Allah for what I've done, because of which I am suffering.

It is mentioned in one hadith that the Prophet ﷺ said:

Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed me with the love of Aisha. My dear brothers and sisters — loving one's spouse, and a spouse loving them back — is actually a huge blessing. Huge blessing. The relationships have become extremely hollow, and care is not there between spouses. Part of caring for one's spouse is being worried about their deen.

The husband whose wife doesn't cover up properly and doesn't wear hijab — he may be sitting right here in Team Fajr, he may be doing eight Raka'ah of Tahajjud — but you don't love your wife if you don't make an effort on her hijab. That wife who fasts Mondays and Thursdays, and recites one Khatm a week — but she doesn't push her husband to perform Salah in the Masjid, nor does she push her husband to at least pray on time — she doesn't love her husband. She's doing all her things, but this is not called love. If you love your spouse, you will definitely try your level best to ensure that they follow their deen — more than you try for anyone else. And you have to use all the means possible.

Imagine the husband loves the wife, but he doesn't practice. He says: my dear, I want to take you out for Eid today, and I bought you this beautiful $500 dress for Eid and this beautiful $200, $300 or $1000 purse. A loving wife will say: you know what, SubhanAllah, I'm floored. I'm so touched by your show of love. But I'm sorry, I can't accept this gift. Because you're thinking that you're making me happy by giving me these gifts.

Think about it — if the husband was extremely disrespectful to his mother-in-law and father-in-law and continues to do so, and then he goes and buys his wife all these gifts — is she going to be happy? She'll say: keep it to yourself, I don't want this. For what? So the wife has the ability to bring about change in the husband. She says: you have not been performing your Fajr and Isha, or you haven't been fasting in Ramadan. I'm sorry, you are deluding yourself thinking that you're making me happy with these material gifts — when in reality you are hurting me in an unimaginable manner by missing your Fard. Because you are digging your hole deeper in hell. And I don't want my husband to go to Jahannam. So until you decide to start fixing up your act, I don't want any gifts. She can do that, depending on the relationship. And the husband can do the same to the wife.

So you think I'm happy and excited by this amazing outstanding seven-star Eid meal? I don't want this. We'll just order Uber Eats and have a burger and some cold fries. It's fine. If you are not going to have the basics of deen, I don't want to sit there thinking you're spending time and money on all this — when you don't have your Salah in line, your Hijab in line, your fasting in line, no tilawat of the Quran in line. What's the point of a vacation? What's the point of an Eid break? None of that. It's completely useless if our basics are not there.

So the husband and wife who love each other need to be able to mold one another — use that love as a bargaining chip — and say: in the name of the love you have for me, I'm asking you that you get rid of this habit, or you start this good habit. This can happen when you have gained your spouse's love. If from the very beginning a person has an antagonistic relationship with their spouse, well then that's not going to work.

Like Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas رضي الله عنه's mother — she told him: my dear son, you love me, right? He said: of course mom, I love you dearly. She said: well, why did you accept this Islam? I will not eat any food — she went on a hunger strike — until you repent from Islam. So he loved his mother. She used that bargaining chip because she knew he loves her. And she literally went on a hunger strike. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas رضي الله عنه went to Rasulullah ﷺ and said: Ya Rasulullah, what should I do? Well obviously I can't leave my Islam for this. The Prophet ﷺ made an earnest du'a for her. He went back home, and SubhanAllah — she got ready to come right back with him to the Prophet ﷺ and took the shahada. Allah placed the love of Islam in her heart.

So we need to go back to the idea that our own personal sins cause, many times, a fracture in the relationship with our spouse. Keep repenting from these personal sins — especially the misuse of the eye. Number two, work on building this mahabba and love between the spouses. Number three, use that love and your relationship with each other to push one another towards goodness, towards good habits.

Nabi ﷺ made du'a:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1308; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1336)

May Allah have mercy on that man who wakes up at night, makes wudu, performs his Tahajjud Salah, and wakes up his wife. If she refuses to wake up, he sprinkles water on her face. Nabi ﷺ made du'a, mercy for him. May Allah have mercy on that lady who wakes up at night, does wudu, performs her Tahajjud Salah, and wakes up her husband. If he refuses to wake up, she sprinkles water on his face.

I've given so many marriage talks, and I include this hadith in all of them. I've literally had people say to my face: well, outstanding talk about the rights of the wife, except for a few things we have to leave out. Honestly, your relationship is not a good relationship if you cannot practice on this hadith. Who else can you have this relationship with? Obviously, before you start sprinkling water on anyone else, you've got to start sprinkling it on yourself. Or how about this: one of us gives the other permission — I'm giving you permission to sprinkle water on me. Wake me up. That's how it should be. This is called true muhabba and true love.

We hope and we pray that every couple here is blessed to have this type of relationship with their spouse. That our children who get married — and our siblings who are getting married — may Allah bless them with this relationship. This is what you call an outstanding, strong relationship between husband and wife, where you push each other. If we can bring this one thing into our homes, we will have changed the map of this entire region. Imagine 100 couples — just 100 couples — signing up to this. We could have one sign-up sheet on the ladies' side and one on the brothers' side. Who's going to do this? Work on it. It will be completely different. Because you know why? A husband and wife that wake each other up for Tahajjud — you think they're going to sit there and bicker at each other about other stuff? They can't. They're above and beyond that. They're on a whole different level. That's where we all need to work towards — building this relationship based on deen, having ikhlas in our love.

5. Guarding the Tongue

The fifth thing after Ramadan that we've got to keep control of is: ضَبَطُوا اللِّسَانَ بَعْدَ رَمَضَانَ — to control our tongue. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4855; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 9687)

There is not a group of people that stand up from any gathering in which they don't remember Allah, except it's as though they were sitting around the carcass of a donkey — sick, smelly, filled with all sorts of disease. What are you going to get out of sitting for an hour around the carcass of a dead donkey? And this gathering will be a means of sadness and regret for them on the Day of Judgment.

The Prophet ﷺ, on the flip side, said regarding a gathering like this Fajr gathering we are sitting in:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699)

Any group of people that sit in any of the houses from amongst the houses of Allah — as you are all sitting in right now — who are reading the Book of Allah and discussing the Book of Allah — Sakina is descending upon them, the mercy of Allah surrounds that gathering, angels surround that gathering, and Allah remembers them in front of those who are with Him.

By the way — falling asleep during the bayan is not Sakina. This is not Sakina. There is a hadith mentioning seven things that come from Shaytan, one of which is:

To start falling asleep during the bayan — وَعْظ means advice. To fall asleep while a bayan is going on comes from Shaytan. Sakina is when you're so worried about a debt you owe, so worried about a relationship issue at home, so worried about a car that broke down and how much it's going to cost — you have tension in your mind — and you come sit in a bayan, and your tension is gone. You just feel: whatever, I'll sort it out later, it's okay, Alhamdulillah, it's not the end of the world. I feel content. That's Sakina.

So what are we getting from sitting in this gathering? Number one: Sakina. Number two: the mercy of Allah. Number three: angels — we are sitting with angels. And number four: Allah is remembering us, taking our names in the company of the angels.

My dear brothers — controlling the tongue means not only staying away from backbiting, lying, cheating, deception, and carrying tales, but also keeping this tongue busy in the remembrance of Allah. It is mentioned:

(Al-Mu'jam al-Kabir of al-Tabarani; referenced in Hilyat al-Awliya of Abu Nu'aym)

Whoever remembers Allah consistently, constantly, and excessively will be pure and saved from hypocrisy. That's what we're getting by sitting here. So we have to make this commitment, inshallah — that not only will we control our tongue from haram, but we're going to try to keep our tongue busy in the remembrance of Allah.

6. Consistent Sadaqah and Seeking Closeness to Allah

May Allah allow all of us to keep these things in mind. And last but not least — number seven, ending on an odd number — is to focus on how you can earn Allah's closeness. This is through your own personal du'a, through sadaqah, through khidmah — service. And the list goes on: kind words to your parents, spending quality time with relatives, kind words with your children, charity in various different causes. These are all different ways we get closeness to Allah, and of course du'a.

Summary — Things to Keep After Ramadan

Let's wrap up our reminder for today. Things that we're going to, inshallah, stay strong on after Ramadan:

Number one: Our Salatul Fajr and Isha with Jama'ah in the Masjid.

Number two: Trying to have a wird for our Qiyamul Layl — or an amount dedicated for Qiyamul Layl. If we have qada Salat to make up, then that's what we should be doing — making up our missed prayers in the night.

Number three: Consistency with tilawat of the Quran. Focus not on the amount of how much you're reading, but rather the amount of time you're reading.

Number four: Guarding the gaze — and building the relationship with one's spouse based on deen.

Number five: Guarding the tongue — not only staying away from haram, but keeping the tongue engaged in the remembrance of Allah.

Number six: Consistently giving sadaqah, even if it's a small amount every day.

Number seven: Making sure we are continuing our journey to be close to Allah — through individual du'a, through khidmah, through attending gatherings of knowledge and dhikr.

Consistency and Community

And how about this — was this recharging, coming here? MashAllah, I'm so proud of our students. They drove all the way from University of Chicago, from Hyde Park. Think about that — they had to have left at 4:30 a.m. to get here for Salatul Fajr. But where there's a will, there's a way. Because when you feel there's a need being fulfilled, you'll drive an hour to come. They don't have anything like this where they are. They don't even have halal restaurants there — we found that out yesterday. At least half an hour away they have to travel. They have nothing going on in terms of programs which you have here — literally two or three minutes from your Masjid. They value it. That's why they're driving 50 minutes to come here for Salatul Fajr.

May Allah give them istiqamah. And may Allah make them a means of reviving Islam across the campus and bringing tons and tons of people towards deen — both Muslim and non-Muslim. Ameen, Rabbul Alameen.

So one hour a week — you don't have to come for every program in the Masjid. We only have three main programs: one after Fajr on Saturdays, one after Maghrib on Tuesdays where we're going to be starting a new surah — Surah al-Mumtahanah from the 28th Juz — and one is a shorter program on Thursday nights after Isha on Salawat — a 10-minute ta'leem on the Seerah of the Prophet ﷺ and the Durood Majlis. Three programs only that we have on a regular basis. Choose one. Just choose one that you can come to consistently. But the key thing is: never miss it. No matter what happens. Your tire breaks — get an Uber and come. You don't have a ride? Ask someone to come pick you up. That's what you call consistency. And that's where barakah will come.

Barakah will come when you're consistent. Even when you take a Z-Pack — if you take it for one day and stop because you're feeling better, what will the doctor tell you? No, no, no — you have to finish the course. Similarly, if you just come for two weeks and then don't show up for two weeks, it doesn't work like that. You have to be consistent. So whatever amal you're going to start after Ramadan — please make niyyah to be super, super consistent. Have a buddy to wake you up or make sure you're there regardless of your engagements.

Upcoming Programs

Next weekend we have Sheikh Tamim Ahmadi from California coming — from Nur Publications. He's going to be doing this amazing spiritual retreat. We're honored to be hosting him. Friday Jumu'ah, the program will start. We'll have a Friday night session and Saturday evening sessions — not too long, approximately three hours on Friday and three hours on Sunday — with Jumu'ah. And of course he'll give the Team Fajr talk too. Those of you who know him, I don't need to say much. If you don't know him, come and see him. You can check out Nur Publications — his weekly majlis, Majlis al-Huda in Union City, California. He's doing great work.

We studied at the same time — first in South Africa and then he went on to Karachi. Alhamdulillah. He was in the suhbah of Hakim Akhtar Rahimahullah and got ijazah from him. He's doing amazing work in terms of helping people get onto their spiritual journey. So those students who are looking for a spiritual mentor — Alhamdulillah — he's a no-nonsense guy. That's what I like about him. Real no-nonsense. Straight up. Tells you as you need to hear it. You can meet him next week and consult with him on different spiritual issues. Kindly spread the word — the program is free but there is registration. It's open to men, women, and children.

Lastly, our annual retreat is less than a month away. I encourage everyone who is hearing me to spread the word and get people to book their tickets and flights. May 10th weekend is the program — Friday Maghrib till Sunday Asr. All of you, I'm sure, have relatives across the country. Take a moment today to call them, text message them, and say: you have to come here with your entire family for this life-changing experience. Inshallah.

Last night, one of the ulema told me — graduates — he said: my younger brother did nafil i'tikaf here during Ramadan, for three nights or five nights. And I said, what happened? How was it? He said: literally, within five days, he got five years of maturity. I said: what do you mean? He said: complete perspective changed on life. We came home — mom, dad, siblings, everyone said: whoa, what happened to you? Even though he's a full-time Hifz student. But the barakah of the talks that took place here in Ramadan i'tikaf, and the whole environment — was life-changing. And I expect the same for this annual retreat. So I encourage you to please get your cousins, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, from across the country, inshallah, to come and attend this program.

Closing Du'a

Ya Allah, accept all those who sat and listened, and those who were listening online. O Allah, all those who participated and wanted to participate — Ya Allah, reward them in full. O Allah, do not allow us to leave this gathering except in the state that all our sins have been forgiven and replaced with good deeds. O Allah, allow us to witness the acceptance of our Ramadan in the form of us remaining consistent after Ramadan.

O Allah, allow us to be consistent with our Fajr and Isha in the Masjid. Allow us to be consistent with praying our Salah on time. O Allah, allow us to be consistent with reading Quran and doing dhikr on a daily basis. Allow us to be consistent with making long individual du'as. Allow us to be consistent, Ya Allah, with guarding our gaze, guarding our tongue. Allow us to be consistent, Ya Allah, with giving daily sadaqah. Allow us to be consistent with finding different ways to get close to You, O Allah. O Allah, allow us to be consistent in attending gatherings of knowledge and dhikr.

O Allah, pave the paths towards righteousness and goodness for all of us. O Allah, give all of us — those who are married — outstanding relationships between ourselves and our spouses. O Allah, those who are not married, give them amazing spouses. O Allah, all those who are looking for spouses for themselves, or for their siblings, or for their children — make it easy for them to find the very best of spouses, O Allah. O Allah, protect all the masajid, madaris, deen institutions, and the Muslim ummah across the globe. O Allah, invigorate them with iman, protect their masajid, madaris, and institutions.

O Allah, allow the next weekend's program to become extremely successful and beneficial for thousands and thousands of people. And O Allah, allow lives to be changed. O Allah, we ask You to fulfill our needs of this world and the next. Whoever is going through any type of spiritual, emotional, physical, or mental illness or difficulty — them or their loved one — O Allah, allow them to find a solution to that in the deen, O Allah.

Inshallah we can perform our Salatul Ishraq — two Raka'ah. You can recite any surah in it and make your personal du'a. Inshallah you'll get the reward of an accepted Hajj and Umrah and your deeds will be fulfilled.

I pray you have a very wonderful Eid weekend, inshallah, with your family — after having started off on such a good note. Inshallah.

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ