Showing Gratitude Towards Allah(SWT) - Mufti Azeemuddin Islamic Reminder | Jummah Khutbah

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillahi wa kafa wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillah

Amma ba'd, respected elders and brothers, mothers and sisters, Salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Indeed we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we praise Him in a manner that befits Him.

Our praise belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ, equivalent to the amount of His creations. وَرِضَا نَفْسِهِ, equivalent to the pleasure and that which pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. وَزِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ, including to the amount of the weight of His throne, which is the greatest creation in size and width and volume and weight and everything else. وَزِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ, and equivalent to the ink that would be required to write His greatness, which is endless, endless. That is how we're supposed to praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, equivalent to that amount.

Once Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam left his house to go for salah, salatul fajr. Came back home after some time. He saw one of our mothers, one of his wives sitting there. And he asked her, how long you've been here? She said, since you left, you went, you prayed, and after many hours he came back and his wife was still sitting in the same spot. So he told her, I know a dhikr, that if you were to recite this three times, it would be more virtuous and more valuable than whatever you've done so far. And this was the dhikr. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ وَرِضَا نَفْسِهِ وَزِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ.

Praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and thanking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for His countless blessings, and giving it a number that is beyond our understanding. That's how much we have to praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for.

Gratitude for Life and Health

Brothers and sisters, we praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for ni'mah of Islam, the ni'mah of iman, the ni'mah of worshipping Him, the ni'mah of understanding Him, recognizing Him, the ni'mah of health and wealth. Even on this day, today, I've just received a message between Eid khutbah Dallal ad-Din over here now, of a good friend of mine, whose relative passed away this morning. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ. Today there's janazahs taking place in Chicago.

So we have to be thankful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on this hayaa. We don't think about that. You know, how often do we think that Malik ul Maut is not off today? How often do we think that Malik ul Maut is not taking the day off? There are people right now as we speak, who are passing away around the world, from various causes. The rotation, the world is moving at its constant pace, whether it's Eid, whether it's Jumaa, whether it's your birthday, whether it's anniversary. Things are moving. And when he strikes, he strikes.

The fact that we're alive and we're healthy, and we're able to participate in a'mal and ibadah and come to the masjid, is something we ought to be extremely grateful and thankful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for.

The more grateful we are, the more appreciative Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be to us and will grant us even more.

The True Day of Celebration

Dear brothers and sisters, as we celebrate the Eid today, Eid al-Fitr, as well as the Jumaa, let us understand and realize and remind ourselves that the true day of celebration is yet to come. And that is inshaAllah ta'ala the day of judgment. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

There will be some faces that will be bright and lit up, إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ and they will be looking at their Lord. Those are the amazing faces that will be blessed with the opportunity to see Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And there will be those faces that will be blackened and that will be scared of what awaits them.

That they are those whose faces will be blackened.

And those whose faces will be lit up. فَفِي رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ Those that will be lit up will be the ones in the mercy, in the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Reflection on the Day of Judgment

Allah azawajal tells us in the Quran, many places, so many places is repeated. For example, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

Remember that day with the ultimate, the ultimate defending powerful sound and the coming of the hour. طامة which will just destroy everything. That طامة, that huge incident will take place. What will happen on that day when everything will be flattened?

That is the day when the human will think, every man will begin to think, he'll start realizing and thinking, مَا سَعَىٰ, what did I do? What have I done in life?

Reflecting on Ramadan

Today as we reflect and we should be reflecting, how did I spend this past 29 days? Was it different than how I spent the previous year and the previous year and the previous year? Was it different when I was in 11th and 12th grade, first year of college, second year of college, now that I'm a married man, married woman, father and mother of so many children? Have I gone up or have I gone down? If I used to read one Qur'an before, how much did I read now? If I used to read two Qur'an before, how much did I read now?

It is definitely a moment of reflection because it's worth it. Although Ramadan is over, we're in Shawwal, but it's completely worth it because we still have an opportunity to say, Ya Allah, I made a mistake. Ya Allah, if you give me one more opportunity, I will improve. I will definitely make my next Ramadan better. It is an opportunity for us to reflect and to see where we did wrong.

My brothers and sisters, that day is coming where Allah says, يَوْمَ يَتَذَكَّرُ الْإِنسَانُ مَا سَعَىٰ A person will ponder and think over what efforts he did.

And the hellfire will be unveiled for all those who can see.

The one who oppressed himself and surpassed and went beyond all limits of Islam. And he went over those limits, went over those boundaries. وَآثَرَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا And gave preference to this worldly life.

Then indeed the hellfire will be his abode.

Controlling the Nafs

And the one who every time he got tempted or she got tempted to cross the line. Every time they got tempted, invited to go and participate in something impermissible. خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ They remembered that one day I have to stand in front of Allah. Today, no one knows where I'm going. This weekend, this summer vacation. So many temptations from Muslim, non-Muslim friends, so forth. We're getting invited, people get invited. And the person says, وَخَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ He says, but one day I have to stand in front of Allah. You don't believe in that, that's your problem. I know I have to stand in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And the simple fear of standing in front of Allah.

Allah forced him to hold on to his nafs and to say, No, I will not allow you to do this. وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ He prohibited his nafs. He held his soul down, his ego, his base desires. And said, I will not cave in.

The Lesson of Ramadan

How are we able to control our nafs, my brothers? That was the lesson of Ramadan. That's what you and I hope to have gained. And inshaAllah to a certain degree we did gain. And that is by through fasting. Through fasting and not breaking our fast when no one is around. And then you ask yourself, why?

Our dear custodian over here, subhanAllah, was not a Muslim. May Allah grant him hidayah. One. You know, mashaAllah, he fasted three days this past Ramadan. And I was told that subhanAllah, he got so fatigued, he even fell down in one of those instances. Because he got up late. And he didn't do suhoor. Right? So he didn't say, oh, 15 degree, 18 degree, let me do a little bit later. He said, I'll go with the time table. Whatever degree this is. Okay, it's too late. I didn't drink my water, so khalas.

Now, what makes a man fast? And no one is looking at him, what he's doing. He's not mukallaf. The aspects of the sharia are not applicable to him yet. The first thing is the kalima. But there's a concept that, hey, no one is here but it doesn't make a difference whether someone is here or not. It's a concept that he believes in God. Others believe in God as well. That I'm doing this for my God. I'm not doing it for the Muslim community here. I'm doing it for my God. And if I started off something, I have to finish it properly. And that means I can't drink. No matter whether I got up in the morning or not. Whatever the case may be. That's taqwa right there. That is taqwa.

The taqwa where a person says, that I will not cave in, no matter how thirsty, no matter how hungry I am, because Allah is watching. That 29 days of that practice, my brothers and sisters, were supposed to bring us at a level, where now when I am allowed to drink, and eat whatever I want, but still I will say, if I was able to stay away from pure crystal clear zamzam water during the day, definitely I'll stay away from anything haram to drink.

And if I was not allowed to eat a date from Medina while fasting, then definitely I'm not going to consume any haram food, when I'm not fasting. If I was not able to eat, you know, subhanAllah, from a halal hard earned money that was earned by selling tasbihs and topis, okay, and not yet allowed to use that to buy a burger and eat, then definitely I'm not, the rest of the year, going to use haram earnings to buy something.

That's the key thing, that we fasted from halal and haram during Ramadan, Allah is saying, for the rest of the 11 months, all I'm asking you is to fast from haram. Eat halal as much as you want, but just don't indulge in haram earnings, haram drink, haram food.

That nafs needs, inshaAllah, hopefully we feel energized today, and previous days as well, and an energy that has come from suppressing the nafs. It's such a beautiful feeling, when you know you're in control. It's not a nice feeling to get pulled around, nagged around, you lose authority in your own home, lose authority in your own office, and random every time Tom, Dick and Harry is barking orders at you. It doesn't feel nice.

But imagine, subhanAllah, that same nafs, that's what he's doing to us. He says, you're going to eat this now, and you're going to eat this, and you're going to look there, and you're going to listen to this, and you're going to say this to that person. What happens? That means the nafs is ruling us. We can't tell the nafs that, sorry, I'm in control, and you're not. You're in the back seat, I'm the driver. Hopefully Ramadan brought us to that level, where we could say that. That we can address our nafs and say, Alhamdulillah, I have suppressed you.

And I've reached that level where Allah says:

The one who fears standing in front of Allah, and is able to control his desires, فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَىٰ Then indeed, Paradise is his abode.

The Hour and Our Preparation

They're asking you, they're begging, they're coming to Rasul saying, bring it on, when is the Day of Judgment? When is the Day of Judgment?

Allah says, tell them, فِيمَ أَنتَ مِن ذِكْرَاهَا إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ مُنتَهَاهَا No one knows, no one knows the real hour, the amount of time. But one thing that is common, what is known is that at the end of this journey, you will find Allah waiting for you. Are you ready to meet Him? إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ مُنتَهَاهَا At the end of the road, it's not gonna be a dead end, you're gonna be faced with Allah.

O Muhammad, your job is only to do one thing, to warn and forewarn those who have any sensibility of being afraid of that day.

The Test After Ramadan

But those who don't care and who have no fear of the reckoning and fear of facing Allah, the Prophet's words also fell on deaf ears. Brothers and sisters, Ramadan gave us that opportunity to control those desires within ourselves. And that is why Allah made it very clear, we've heard this many times:

Fasting has been prescribed upon you the way it's been prescribed upon generations prior to you. لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ So that you may gain that taqwa, again that taqwa, controlling the nafs, controlling the desires.

Brothers and sisters, Ramadan as it ended, now shaitan will come in full force. And we'll see that anger will come in, ability to speak to our spouse and our children and the parents will change. And haram opportunities will be presented to us for earning business, what not. This is again the system of the dunya. This is the system of dunya.

A Question About Destiny

This morning someone from New York, young brother said, you know, I have aqeedah question, I wanna ask you. He left me a voice message. What is that? If Allah said, this is the youth are asking, this is a very legitimate question. If Allah already knows where we're headed, what's the point? What is the point of our creation? Many people ask this question. Many people have this in the back of their mind, they don't ask, but they're thinking about this.

It's true, Allah definitely knows where we're headed. And Allah most definitely could have decided not to create us and definitely could have decided not to create the world from the very get go. It could have been very very possible that there would be no such thing called the universe. And there would be only Allah. Because the only one whose existence is necessary is Allah. That's called wajibul wujud. It's only Allah whose existence is necessary. Beyond that, every single thing is coincidental. Allah or incidental, Allah willed it, but it doesn't have to be.

If Allah did not want Mars or Venus or the earth or anything in between to exist and not to exist, it could have been completely as Allah willed. But the fact that Allah created us, we have to live with it now. Now we got no choice. You and I are speaking and listening right now. So we're here. We have to simply follow the rules. Allah says:

And:

I am going to distinguish and allow you to come to know who is a truthful and who is a liar. Who is the pure and who is the evil. Meaning, when every person will be headed towards Jannah or Jahannam on the day of judgment, each person will know, why am I headed here? No one will be able to say, how come this doesn't add up? Why am I going to hell? Or why am I going to Jannah? Well, you have a track record of 70 years. You have a track record of 80 years. It's all documented to every single second, millisecond of your life.

The Book of Deeds

So this, Allah knows already where we're going. But we don't know where we're going. And we don't know why we deserve what we are going to get tomorrow. So pretty much this entire world here is a proof of where we're headed. Presented to us on the day of judgment.

The Book of Deeds will not leave behind a single good or bad deed. A person will see.

Whatever he or she had done, will be present in front of them. And that book, Allah, He mentions it in multiple places.

This book that is hanging around your neck, your destiny, your Book of Deeds, will be presented to each one on the day of judgment. And Allah will say, اقْرَأْ كِتَابَكَ, read your book. You don't need to say, where am I headed? How did I do? You have to look no further than look down and open your book. كَفَىٰ بِنَفْسِكَ الْيَوْمَ عَلَيْكَ حَسِيبًا You yourself are sufficient of an accounter today.

Every man and every woman, by the end of the day of judgment, will know exactly where they're headed. It's there, looking. Based on the books, yes, there will be people whose Book of Deeds will be filled with sins, but there's one good deed of theirs, because of which Allah, out of His infinite mercy, will forgive all the evil that they had done, and will allow them to enter Jannah. But no one will be able to go to Jahannam saying, Ya Allah, this is not fair.

No oppression of any sort on the Day of Judgment. Each person who is, Allah forbid, Allah protect us and our generations, our family members, our elders, our juniors, from ever facing the Hellfire. Say Ameen. But anyone who's heading there would never question Allah's Judgment. Would never question Allah's Decision.

Every Step Matters

So in essence, my brothers and sisters, our presence here, every single day, is definitely part of the process of the final day. That is why the ulema say that every step you take, every single step and every breath that we take in our life, it is either one step towards Hellfire or one step towards Paradise. There's no such thing as I'm gonna walk right in the middle. There's no such thing like that. There's no neutral steps. We're either walking towards the right or walking towards the left. Each and every single breath takes us closer to Jannah or closer to Hellfire. Closer to Allah's pleasure, closer to Allah's Displeasure.

So when we see that we're tested after Ramadan, a person says that this opportunity that just came to me where I can earn so much more than I am currently. However, small little, in the fine print, there's something which I think is not right. But just wanted to ask you. So we know that this is an imtihan from Allah. This is an imtihan of our taqwa. Are we willing to give up or not? Are we willing to give in? Are we gonna cave into this الدنيا حلوة خضراء Pure, or rather I should say attractive, green, sweet dunya which is attracting us towards it or are we gonna say I give this up for the sake of Allah?

How many opportunities there will be to look at haram. How many opportunities will come now to listen to haram. How many opportunities will come to express our anger, to backbite. But we have to control ourselves and say this is a test from Allah and Allah is watching me every single moment, every single second.

The Speed Camera Analogy

I've mentioned this example before. When the state police usually are sitting on the highways trying to give tickets to people at the end of the month or whatever the case may be. They usually sit where? In ambush, they sit in places right across after a bend. Or they'll go to a place where most cars will be accelerating a lot. They'll go to a place where there's a huge change in the speed limit from a non-school zone. You're driving through cornfields and a random city limits comes in and drops by 30 miles an hour, the speed limit. That's where usually they're hiding.

Why? Because they know that's where people usually are not aware. If you're watching the road, you won't make a mistake. If you're watching the signs, you won't make a mistake. But if you just listen to your nasheeds, talking to someone on the phone and have no idea what's happening, they're gonna get you. That's what's gonna happen. Because that's called ghafla. That's called heedlessness. Why is your eyes not fixed on the road, on the speed limit? Why is your mind somewhere else? And you and I have to pay a penalty for what? For ghafla, heedlessness.

So these tests come from Allah in the same manner.

Allah is waiting in ambush. There are all sorts of corners in our life, tight bends, where we are used to zooming by at haram speeds, in that sense, in our life. And Allah is saying, if the person who is leading a life of heedlessness, he won't even think about it. And he will continue on his path towards haram. But the one who is focused on in his maqam or maqam of Rabbi, Allah, he's afraid about Allah, he will slow down. He'll put his brakes.

How many times you and I, when we have this speed camera set up all over Chicago, we learned the hard way over there, now we're, alhamdulillah, learning in suburbs as well to control speed lights. What happens? A person is driving, and even in the middle, when you see that red, and you see that, you know, red, what you call, speed trap in front, people slam on their brakes. Slam on their brakes, no matter what happens, if someone hits me in the back, we'll think about it later on, we'll figure that out. Right now, I don't want this $150 ticket.

How does that make us stop? Even in the midst of the night, a person sees that red light, stops. That is the taqwa, from that $100, $150. Ghafla, that I am... I wasn't ghafla, I was speeding, I see that, immediately let me stop. That same level of taqwa has to come into my life. That I may... I was looking, and all of a sudden, my eyes were about to fall in haram. Immediately, I have to look down.

I was in a conversation, everything was going well, but before I know it, people started backbiting someone. They started backbiting a board member, an imam, a scholar, the ummah, a country, people of certain countries, wholesale backbiting. Well, immediately, I have to stop this conversation. Take my cup of tea and go somewhere else, if they don't want to stop. Those speed breakers, I have to be able to put into my life, every single day. And this is the test of whether how awake we are, and the realization that Allah is with you or not.

The Story of the Shepherd

Umar ibn Khattab's famous incident, where he went to a shepherd, who had his flock of sheep, and then he asked one of them, why don't you just sell this one to me? Give this to me. And the shepherd said, this is not mine, this is the owner's, the master's, he's gonna ask me in the night. He said, well, tell him he got eaten by a wolf, he ran away. Ameer al-Mumineen is testing, his ra'ayah, he's testing his people.

And then the simple shepherd, who you know, was a straight up simple person, he says, فَأَيْنَ اللَّهِ? So then what am I gonna do about Allah? Yeah, I can definitely deceive my owner, the owner of these animals. فَأَيْنَ اللَّهِ? What about Allah? How am I supposed to deceive him? I cannot deceive him. He's not with me, watching exactly this discussion. How can I, even if I go deceive the owner in the night and say, one of the goats ran away, or was eaten up by a wolf, and he actually may believe in it. But what am I gonna do? One day I have to face Allah.

Where is Allah?

My brothers and sisters, this simple question, فَأَيْنَ اللَّهِ? If the reality of this can come into my heart and your heart, genuinely we have had this amazing most successful Ramadan ever. The realization that Allah is with me, I can achieve people in business, I can achieve my relatives, I can achieve my spouse, I can achieve anyone. Because Allah:

He knows the misuse of the eyes, He knows the secrets that are hidden in the bosom. Allah is completely aware of that. And that is what Ramadan has taught me. I'm not worried about impressing people. My worry has to be about is Allah happy with me or not.

This issue, if we can insha Allah ta'ala hold on to this after Ramadan, then we'll see my brothers, this istihdara, this realization that Allah is with me will help us get through the most difficult moments. We talked about last night after Asr, that mistakes do happen. From the people of taqwa also mistakes happen.

Maintaining Faith After Ramadan

And Allah says:

The mutaqeen, the true people of taqwa are those when they commit an act of lewdness or they oppress themselves. ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ They remember Allah. And then they say, وَمَن يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ Allah says that. Who can forgive sins besides Allah?

That tells us that mistakes will happen even after Ramadan. How do mistakes happen? When you get your eyes off the road. But as soon as you hit the curb, or you hit the side roads, or what you call the shoulder, and you start hearing the sound on your tires as it hits the rough spots, we wake up. That's all we have to do. We will make mistakes. It's bound to happen. But as soon as we end up making a mistake, we have to do self-correction. We cannot allow these mistakes to go so far away that we end up in the ditch. And that maybe next Ramadan we're alive, we're not someone to pull us out. We have to ensure that we never fall in the ditch. We fall asleep, we get dozy, start dozing off while driving. But as long as we don't completely close our eyes and get into the ditch, we're okay.

The Importance of Remembering Allah

This ayah tells us that the reason why sins happen is because a person forgets Allah. ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ As soon as a person remembers Allah, He'll come back right on path. Brothers and sisters, how are we gonna remember Allah? Through majalis of dhikr. Through the gatherings of the remembrance of Allah. That's how we're gonna remember Allah.

Allah, amazing ayah. We every single day quote it and say:

Remind for the... Indeed the reminder is beneficial for the believers. What does that mean? Who do you remind? You remind someone who already knew about it before. And then he just forgot. We all know what's right. We know what's right. We know what's wrong. But we forget. I forget. You forget. We all forget. It's okay. Allah is saying, it's expected that you will forget. You're from Nisyan, you forget. You're insan, you come from Nisyan, you forget. All we have to simply do is continue to remind each other. But if we don't attend the gatherings where someone's gonna remind us, how are we gonna get reminding ourselves? How are we gonna remind ourselves?

Staying Connected to the House of Allah

That is why ensure that we continue our commitment to the houses of Allah. This is the gathering of dhikr. The house of Allah is the best place to get synced in. That charger for three hours, we don't have a charger, we lose our mind. What's gonna happen? I have a phone, I don't have a charger. How much dhikr I have. How much concern I have that I left my charger in the plane, left my charger at home. So much worried. But what about that iman within my heart? If I don't come for an entire week to the house of Allah, show me a phone, a smartphone that you can use for a week without getting charged. And all it does is speaks to humans. And our heart speaks to who? Allah. If I don't charge that for a week, what's gonna happen to that heart? That heart is supposed to speak to Allah. I'm supposed to pour out and cry my tears in front of Allah. But if I don't get charged up in the masjid for an entire week, my brothers, my sisters, it's gonna be difficult.

Making Daily Commitments

So make this commitment, inshallah, that once a day, once a day after Ramadan, Isha or Fajr or Maghrib, choose one that works with your schedule and make a commitment at all situations, no matter what it is, I will pray that salah with jamaah in the masjid. You're traveling, pray it in a local masjid, what not. And I mentioned this yesterday as well. The one way to correct our nafs is to make it pay a price. Just like the tickets make us slow down on the road. It makes us more cognizant of stoplights. Similarly, we have to give ourselves a fine. That if I make this commitment that I'm gonna pray, Fajr or Isha in the masjid, that day, from starting from tonight, if I don't pray here for Isha, choose a budget that works for you. $5 budget, $10 budget, $1 budget, any deed that works for you. And see, I'm gonna write that down. Jurmana. I'm gonna tax myself. That from today, Friday, Allah forbid, if I missed my Isha, X amount. Write it down there. At the end of the week, calculate that and give it out in sadaqah. Give it out in sadaqah. So that hopefully, if we're not stopping, that means your amount of your ticket is too less. Then you need to increase that.

But my brothers, it's called self-restraint, it's called self-control. No one can help us besides ourselves. We have to make this commitment that I love this feeling I have today, of Jummah and Eid, and I wanna keep it going. I wanna be able to inspire my kids, my spouse. I don't wanna go back down. I hate a life of sin. I make a commitment today that I do not wanna go to that lifestyle. Ya Allah, you help me. Ya Allah, you help me. I am ready to take the steps that needed to be taken.

Three Essential Steps Forward

First step, stay connected to the house of Allah. If you fall behind, punish yourself for that. Through extra dhikr, through extra amal, through a payment.

Number two, choose a time of the week where they have a longer halaqah, tafsir or hadith class. And ensure that at least once a week with the family, we're attending a longer halaqah somewhere in the city of Chicago. There's a reason we call it Chicago Sharif. We're blessed, we're blessed, we're blessed from so many ways. Always programs are taking place in the Chicagoland area. Attend one of those with your family, boys, girls, and the whole family inshallah once a week.

And then inshallah, try ourselves to sign up to a class, whether it's a Quranic Arabic class, whether it's an Islamic studies class, a Sirah class. Somewhere or another, stay connected, bonded, binded with a group of people who will check up on you when you're not present, and that we can continue seeking knowledge because from the cradle to the grave, we have to do that.

We ask Allah to grant all of us steadfastness, and grant us the ability to not fall behind, but to continue to move forward in our path, in our journey to Allah.

The Six Days of Shawwal

We know, مَن صَامَ رَمَضَان, whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it up with six days of Shawwal, he or she, according to Abu Ayub Ansari, when I read this hadith from Rasulullah ﷺ, will get the reward of fasting the entire year.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 13, Hadith 2614)

29 or 30 days of fast, plus six days of Shawwal, 36 days times 10, minimum 10 times the reward, مَن جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا, 360 days of the lunar year, we'll get the reward, simply by fasting another six days. You don't have to do it from the beginning now, you can, of course, it's not allowed to, you need to take some time off. Today, of course, we're not fasting. So you can start it on, you know, a couple of days later. But in the month of Shawwal, ensure that we try to fast our six days. And we ask Allah that afterwards, that we feel so energized, that He grants us the ability to fast Mondays and Thursdays. Say ameen. As it was a habit of Rasulullah ﷺ. And if not that, then the 13th, 14th and 15th, the lunar, the three lunar, full moon days of the year, of the month, the 13th night, 14th night and 15th night, those three nights and days, we should make a habit as Rasulullah ﷺ would never leave those fasts.

Final Prayers and Reflection

We ask Allah to grant us all to stay away from haram the rest of the year, just like we stayed away from halal and haram in this month. Accept our fast, accept our qiyam, accept our sadaqatul fitr that we gave. And allow us to also enjoy the rest of this weekend with our family members. And in sharing love and muhabba with them, with our spouses, with our children, and expressing our love to them. And remembering our deceased parents and deceased grandparents and deceased teachers. Whether we make dua for them, whether we do sadaqah jariah for them, or visit them if they are buried nearby with their family members. This is a great opportunity. We didn't say it's sunnah, but everyone's at home. And if we don't remember our elders now, when are we gonna remember them? Especially if they're buried nearby. So this is an opportunity for us to take the kids, go visit and remind them of the blessings that we had and we enjoyed from our elders who've gone away.

We ask Allah to accept these words, allow myself and all of us here to put into practice. Kindly inshallah stand up, fill up the rows for sunnah. Fill up the rows fully before you begin your sunnah salah.