Planning for After Ramadan - Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatu -llāhi wa barakātuh. Allāh, through His fadhl and karam, has allowed us to pass through the month of Ramadan, the month of forgiveness and blessings. And now, after celebrating Eid al-Fitr, we are now in the month of Shawwāl.

It is Allāh who brings these different months and different seasons upon us. And this is all part of the grand plan of Allāh to test us in various different conditions. One thing we can never forget and lose sight of is that at every single moment, whether we are enjoying good conditions or bad conditions, we are all in a test and a trial in this life.

And this test and trial will last until we return back to Allāh. It does not end with the passing of Ramadan. We are still engaged in the test, we are still in the examination hall, until the final moments of death come upon us, not before that.

And remaining steadfast and firm on the dīn in all conditions, this is known as istiqāmah. This is the most difficult of all the obligations upon us, is istiqāmah, remaining steadfast. It is easy when the season of goodness and righteousness is there, when the environment is there, to protect oneself from sin, to be engaged in good works, when the avenues of sin are closed, when a person is fasting, when a person's shahawāt are under control.

But to continue with that, after the month of Ramadan has passed, and all the doors of eyes open once again, to remain firm on the dīn of Allāh, no matter how the tides are flowing, where the wind is blowing, this is the greatest test for all of us. On one occasion, the sahābah, they noticed some gray hair in the beard and hair of Rasūlullāh. They asked him, "Yā Rasūlullāh, it seems like you are getting old. What happened?" Then Rasūlullāh said, "It is Sūrah Hūd, the sūrah in the Qur'ān, the injunctions in this sūrah which have made me old."

What was he referring to? ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās, the great mufassir of the Qur'ān, he says that Rasūlullāh was referring to the most difficult āyah in the entire Qur'ān. In the Eid khutbah, those who were here, we talked about aʿẓamu āyah fī -l-qur'ān, the greatest āyah in the Qur'ān is āyatu -l-kursī, Allāhu lā ilāha illā huwa -l-ḥayyu -l-qayyūm.

And arja āyah fī -l-qur'ān, the āyah that grants us the greatest hope, is the āyah from Sūrah al-Zumar, wherein Allāh says:

"Say, O My slaves, those who have transgressed against themselves, do not lose hope in the mercy of Allāh. Verily, Allāh forgives all sins."

And the āyah that is aktharu tafwīdan, that inculcates the greatest amount of tawakkul and reliance on Allāh, is the āyah from Sūrah al-Talāq:

"Whoever adopts taqwā of Allāh, then Allāh will make for him an opening in every difficulty, and will provide for him from such means which he can never even imagine."

So in the same series, which is the most difficult āyah in the whole Qur'ān? If this question is asked, then we have the answer from the sahābah and the scholars of the Qur'ān from among the sahābah. They have identified the most difficult āyah in the entire Qur'ān as well. And they say the most difficult āyah in the entire Qur'ān is this āyah, where Allāh says in Sūrah Hūd, right at the ending before Sūrah Yūsuf starts:

"Remain firm and steadfast on the straight path, not as much as easy for you how much you can do, but rather kamā umirta, just like I have commanded you. Just like you have been commanded. And those who have repented along with you, the order is extended to them as well. wa man tāba maʿak And do not cross the limits in transgression. He is fully aware of all that you do."

"wa lā tarkanu ilā -lladhīna dhālamū And do not even incline towards those who are the oppressors. What is, don't do dhlm yourself, that is not the command, but rather, wa lā tarkanu ilā -lladhīna dhālamū Don't even incline towards them. fa tamassatakum -l-nār Then you will be afflicted by the fire. wa mā lakum min awliyāʾ And then you will have no one to support you from Allāh. humma lā tunsarūn So this is considered the most difficult āyah, to remain steadfast."

And this is the trial that I am facing, you are facing, we are all facing. In Ramadan it was easy for us, we were fasting, there was qiyām al-layl, our hours were engaged in the ʿibādah of Allāh at night and in day, the environment was there. But now, when the shayāṭīn have been released, and our shahawāt are now unchecked, to continue with that, to build upon that, this is the biggest test.

How long is this test going to last?

"Continue to engage in the ʿibādah of your Lord, until death comes upon you. Until the final moment, until death itself. And thereafter, there is rest. Then there is good news in bish ārah."

"Verily, those who say, 'Our Rabb is Allāh,' thumma -staqāmū. Then they remain steadfast on the dīn. Thumma -staqāmū. They say, they made the claim, with their tongue, 'Rabbunā Allāh,' qālū rabbunā Allāh. They say that our Rabb is Allāh. But it was not mere lip service, it wasn't just a statement from their tongue. But rather, they proved it through their actions."

When it was Ramadan, when it was Shawwāl, when it was good times and bad times, when it was health and prosperity, they remembered Allāh. When it was difficulty and sickness, they remembered Allāh. They remembered Allāh, in times of peace, in times of war. In every condition, they fulfilled the order of Allāh. They did not divert from the way of the sunnah of Rasūlullāh. This is all included in the meaning, thumma -staqāmū. Then Allāh says, such great people,

The angels will descend upon them at the time of their death. And they will tell them, "You have now completed your exam, you have now fulfilled the test, and it is now over, al-hamdu li-llāh. Tatanazzalu alayhimul malaika, do not have any fear over the future stages, do not have any grief and sadness over the past. Now you can take the glad tidings of Jannah, the one that you had been promised in your worldly life, the one you had been working so hard throughout your entire life for. We are your supporters and we are with you, we were with you in your worldly life, we will be with you in the hereafter."

"For you in the hereafter will be whatever your heart will desire. You will have whatever you ask for. This is a gift for you from your forgiving and most merciful Allāh, who has prepared this Jannah for you."

And this is what we find in the life of Rasūlullāh, we find in the life of the companions and our pious predecessors, that they only continue to increase in their ʿibādah, continue to increase in their taqwā, they do not slack off after the month of Ramadan passed. Right to the last moment.

Even as we find in the example of Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, that he was a great muḥaddith, a great scholar of hadith, a great faqīh, a great scholar of fiqh, and he underwent a very big test and trial in his time when the khalīfah had adopted a wrong ideology of the muʿtazilah and was forcing this ideology down upon the scholars. And whoever did not agree with him, the king, was being imprisoned and tortured. But Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal projected the correct ʿaqīdah of the Ahlu -s-sunnah wa -l-jamāʿah and he stood firm and he did not waver, whereas many great people slipped and fell in this test and trial.

And for this he was imprisoned, he was tortured extensively for long periods of time, but he underwent all of this for the sake of Allāh. And finally when he was on his deathbed, when he was nearing his death, in fact he was becoming unconscious and fainting and then regaining his consciousness for a short period of time, then fainting again, back and forth. He was going back and forth from state of consciousness and unconsciousness.

And at that moment he asked his son, "Oh my son, bring me a glass of water." So his son went and brought a glass of water for him, presented it to his father Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and when he brought the glass of water to his father as he requested, he looked at his son and he said, "Not yet, not yet, not yet." And he turned around to the other side.

So then Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal's son was very surprised that he just asked for water and then he said not yet, what does that mean? He came around to the other side of the bed and presented it again, and then his father started shaking his head and said, "Not yet, not yet, not yet. Turn around to the other side." So he went around to the third side and the third time the same thing repeated. He said, "Not yet, not yet, not yet." And he was very shocked by this behavior, but he waited and he said maybe he's feeling bad, he's feeling sick and he's not in his senses, that's why he's saying these things that don't make sense. And he waited.

After some time he presented the water for the fourth time, and then his father took the water, the glass, and he drank the water. And after he drank the water and he was feeling better, only then the son finally inquired from him, "Can you please explain that three times prior to this I presented the water to you, and he kept on repeating 'not yet, not yet.' What did you mean by that?"

He said, "Oh, did you hear me?" He said, "Yes, I heard you, you were saying that." He said, "Oh actually, Iblīs, Shayṭān, had come to me. And he said, 'Oh Aḥmad, many people I was able to misguide and many people I got them in my grasp, but you have escaped me and you are now safe and you will now enter Jannah.' So I said, 'I am still not safe from you, not yet, not yet.'"

"I turned around, and he said, 'No, you persevered on the straight path. You did not fall for the traps. You did not want to carry the favor of the king nor were you afraid of the punishment of the king, and you remained steadfast. You have escaped me. You are beyond my whisperings now and my attacks. You are safe.' Then he said, 'Not yet, I am not yet safe from you.' Turned around three times."

So that means that no matter how much ʿibādah we did in the month of Ramadan, no matter how happy we are with our ʿibādah, which we should be thankful to Allāh for the tawfīq He granted us, we can still never feel secure 100% from Shayṭān, from our nafs. We have to be ever watchful until the last moment. This is the test we are in. This is the test that we are all engaged in. Until death overtakes us.

So may Allāh give us this correct understanding. What can we do at a practical level is that we have to make certain commitments to Allāh, certain plan.

When it comes to, for example, the month of Ramadan, we have repeatedly heard, "This is the month of Ramadan. This is the month of Qur'ān." Many of us, or most of us, al-hamdu li-llāh, listen to the entire Qur'ān in the Tarāwīḥ Salāh. So now we have to sit down and do some homework and make a plan, chart out an action plan. What are we going to do now moving forward with respect to our relationship with the Qur'ān?

At whatever level we are, we have to make an effort to increase that level. If we do not know how to recite the Qur'ān properly, we have to make an active plan. It's not going to happen by itself. We have to make some plans and some arrangements to learn how to recite the Qur'ān in the proper manner. This is the first right of the Qur'ān.

"Those that we have granted the book, they recite the Qur'ān and fulfill the ḥaq of the tilāwah of the Qur'ān."

Allāh's command is to recite the Qur'ān with tartīl, with tajwīd. We have to make a plan to recite the Qur'ān with tartīl, with tajwīd. Learn how to recite it the way Rasūlullāh recited it. Rasūlullāh himself had a daily routine of how much tilāwah he would make.

On one occasion he got delayed and some people were waiting for him. When he came out he excused himself and he said, "That I was completing my ḥizb. Meaning my daily appointed portion of recitation of the Qur'ān." Upon whom the Qur'ān was revealed. He also had a ḥizb, an appointed portion every day.

Allāh, what he loves is that action which is continuous. It does not have to be a lot. "The most beloved action in the eyes of Allāh is the one which is continuous, even if it is less in number, in less in quantity."

So even if it is a few pages, but we have to have that commitment and continuously recite that much of Qur'ān every day. And try to focus on the meanings of the Qur'ān. Learn the meanings of the Qur'ān. If you can, learn the Arabic language. Make some program to learn the Arabic language, or at least read the translation of the Qur'ān.

Become acquainted with the sīrah of our beloved Rasūlullāh. We can make this a family activity so it is not by ourselves. With our wives, with our children. If you take out some moments every day and make taʿālīm at home, go through the sīrah of Rasūlullāh, go through the sīrah of the Sahābah, the lives of the noble companions of the Prophet.

Our children, they know so much about their favorite stars and athletes and all the details of their lives, of these people who have no concern for us and are out there fulfilling their passions. The level of love and admiration that our youth have for these athletes is so great. Just for an example, in our iʿtikāf program, we used to have a question and answer session after fajr. So one of the questions that some of the youth asked and wrote it down is, "Is it permissible for us to make duʿāʾ for the worldly success of our favorite athletes?"

Not even for their hidāyah. "If you love this athlete and you want him to be guided towards Islam, so that inshāʾ Allāh he can become a means of inspiration for other fans. No. We love this athlete so much. Can we make duʿāʾ? Is it permissible to make duʿāʾ for their worldly success?" And they could care less about us. This is the level of infatuation.

But what about the sīrah of Rasūlullāh? What about the one who actually loved us more than any mother can love their child? "You are running towards the fire, and I'm trying to grasp you by your waist and pull you out of the fire." The one who desires good for you, it is very difficult for the Prophet to see you in any pain. He wants good for you and he is full of love and mercy for the believers.

We do not know anything about him. We have to make a plan to learn about our beloved Rasūlullāh. We have to make a plan of some type of daily dhikr and remembrance of Allāh. And stick to that, even if it's a hundred times,

100 times Salāh on Rasūl, 100 times Istighfār, mornings and evenings.

Allāh says, "Praise Allāh, say subḥān Allāh wa -l-ḥamdu li-llāh, before the rising of the sun, after Fajr Salāh, wa qabla ghurubiha, and before the setting of the sun.

In the mornings and evenings, after Fajr and after Asr. And continue with the dhikr until we meet Allāh. That is the key thing, istiqāmah.

ʿAlī, one time he was narrating the hadith, which is very well known to all of us. We might have heard of it, the name of it is called the Tasbīḥu -l-Fāṭimī, it's named after his wife, Fāṭimah. The Tasbīḥu -l-Fāṭimī is what, 33 times subḥān Allāh, 33 times al-hamdu li-llāh, and 34 times Allāhu Akbar.

And why is it called Tasbīḥu -l-Fāṭimī? He was narrating the story that my wife, Fāṭimah, the beloved daughter of Rasūlullāh, queen of the women of Jannah, she was undergoing great hardship in taking care of the chores at home and work at home, carrying the water on her back from the well, going and bringing the firewood and lighting the fire, and then grinding the wheat and making the flour and making the bread, and it was very difficult for her, and she was getting physically exhausted.

So then Rasūlullāh, the news came that he was distributing different servants and slaves that had come to help out in household work for the dwellers of Medina. So since he was distributing to everyone, she went out to request one for herself as well, but she saw there was such a crowd there, so she did not want to come close to Rasūlullāh in the crowd. She waited for a while, and then she went back home.

Rasūlullāh came to visit ʿAlī and Fāṭimah, his daughter and son-in-law, in the evening, and said, "I saw you today. You did not ask anything. You came, stood for a while, and left. Can I help you? What did you come for?"

So she mentioned what her intention was. Then Rasūlullāh said, "O ʿAlī and O Fāṭimah, before you go to sleep, I will give you something better, he said. I will give you something better than a slave. I will give you something that will help you more than a servant, what you are asking for. And what is that? Before you lay down in bed, recite 33 times Subḥān Allāh, 33 times Al-hamdu li-llāh, 34 times Allāhu Akbar."

Then Allāh will give you such barakah in your sleep, you will wake up and you will be refreshed. In the madrasa during the exam time when we would be studying and cramming for the tests and we would sleep very little, few hours, 1-2 hours, and stay up all the time studying for the exams, this was something that all the students used to be punctual. And we would sleep for 1 hour, 2 hours, and we would wake up fresh, al-hamdu li-llāh. So effective.

This is the shaʾnu -n-nuzūl or the shaʾnu -l-ghurūd, the condition that led to this story. The context is the exhaustion of Fāṭimah and the prescription given by her father Rasūlullāh. And he said that recite this every night before you go to sleep.

So when ʿAlī was narrating this story, his own personal story, this was during his khilāfah. Unfortunately, this was a very difficult political time when the ummah was divided and there were civil wars going on, and there were people from opposite camps. And there was a party that was against ʿAlī, who he believed as Ahlu -s-sunnah, that he was a khalīfah on ḥaq.

So there was somebody from Syria, from the Shāmī party, from the Banū Umayyah side, who was against him. And he just noticed an opportunity to interject, and he raised his hand and he asked the question, "Can you repeat that what you just said? You said the Prophet said, 'Make this tasbīḥ every night before you go to sleep.' Did you recite this every night?" He wanted to catch him that you didn't probably fulfill his order.

He said, "No, al-hamdu li-llāh, I did recite this every night." He said, "From the moment Rasūlullāh told you till today, are you sure positively you can declare with full confidence you did not sleep a single night?" This person is arguing against ʿAlī publicly in front of everyone. "There is not a single night that you missed it."

He said, "I'm telling you, I assure you, there is not a single night. Even though in the story, if you look at it, the whole story is about how tired she was and how she wanted a servant and then how instead of a servant she got the zikr. And just by the way, the wording does include the word of Rasūlullāh, 'Make sure you recite this every night.' But he caught on to that one point."

He said, "Yes, I assure you, I have recited it every single night before I went to sleep. Then he didn't stop there. He said, 'Wa law laylatu Siffīn, fa ajaba wa law laylatu Siffīn.' He said, 'What about on the night of the battle of Siffīn?'"

So this was one of the most horrific battles that took place amongst the Muslims, in which there was a great civil war, and it was a moment when ʿAlī, his anxiety was at its greatest peak, and he was so perturbed because the Muslims were killing Muslims, and they were in the battlefield, and they were sleeping at night, and they were attacked, and the whole night passed in the battle.

So he says, "What about that night? I'm sure you missed the tasbīḥu -l-Fāṭimī, the 33 times subḥān Allāh, in the middle of the battle, in the heat of the battle." He said, "No, no, no, even the night of Siffīn I did not miss it. I'm telling you, I did not miss the zikr, the tasbīḥ that Prophet said prescribed for me, even on that night."

So this is called istiqāmah. So we have to hold on to our aʿmāl strongly and be consistent. Be consistent, whatever we are doing, make sure we do not miss it. Even if it is a few aʿmāl, but the consistency is what will grant us the barakah in our aʿmāl, inshāʾ Allāh.

May Allāh allow us that whatever good we are doing in the month of Ramadan,