Ensuring Genuine Spiritual Progress During Ramadan

The Gym Analogy: Are We Really Making Progress in Ramadan?

He mentions it's been about a month. Okay, cool, how are you feeling? What's your experience? He's like, I don't feel any change. You'd be shocked.

What do you mean? No change? Like nothing? He's like, yeah, the weights I've been lifting, I've been lifting the same amount of weight. The stamina I have, I still get tired the same amount of time. My speed is the same. My weight hasn't changed. My body fat percentage is the same.

You hear this, you automatically understand there's something wrong going on. Someone's hitting the gym four weeks straight and from beginning to end, absolutely no change. Like a complete waste of time. You're going there, you're coming with no benefit and your opportunities are gone. You understand that there's some factor that's causing detriment, that's cutting all of his progress. Whether it's external, whether it's internal, there's something wrong.

This is what we understand about Ramadan. You have an entire month dedicated for ibadah. If you come out of that month with absolutely nothing, no progress, Nabi ﷺ talks about this.

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 1690)

You get some people, some fasting people, who find nothing in their fast except hunger. What does that mean? What else am I supposed to get from my fast? I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, that's the point of the fast, isn't it? You get some people standing up at night, fasting in the day, but they get nothing out of it except that they're tired, they lost some sleep.

Was there something else? We learn this in the masnoon duas as well. What's the masnoon dua for opening the fast?

The dua mentions that the hunger and thirst, they're gone. وَابْتَلَّتِ الْعُرُوقُ — the nourishment is back in the body. So if everything is leaving, the hunger is leaving, the tiredness is gone, what's meant to stay? وَثَبَتَ الْأَجْرُ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ — the rewards are meant to stay. The progress is meant to be measurable. There's supposed to be something you come out of Ramadan with.

The Two Main Goals of Ramadan

There are two main goals with Ramadan that we learn from the Quran and hadith. From the Quran we learn:

We learn the importance of taqwa. And from the hadith we learn:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 38; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 760)

We learn the importance of finding forgiveness in Ramadan. Both of these two goals are things you have to actively work for. I say actively — key word. It's not something that's going to happen on its own. The actions that you do will not in and of themselves provide that for you. You can't say, I fasted and I stood and so I'm good. Don't deceive yourself. This is what Nabi ﷺ is warning us of — there will be people fasting but they didn't get it. There will be people standing during the night, not sleeping, but they also didn't get it.

And so coming back to the example: if a person is working out and they're trying to lose weight, but they're going home and they're stuffing their face with carbs, with fats and oils, we understand that that's going to be detrimental, you're not going to make your progress. So what are the detriments of our fast?

Detriments to Our Fast

1. Sin

Beyond anything else, this is what's going to hold back the nur, the light, the spirituality that you're trying to capture in Ramadan — more than anything else — is going to be the sin. The sin is a shackle. You're coming for nur, for light, for brilliance, but that sin is marking it all down with blackness in your heart.

It is mentioned in one hadith:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1972)

When a person lies, the angels would go a mile away from him from the stench that comes from his mouth. What's interesting about this is that it's the exact contrary effect of ibadah. Many of you have heard the hadith — what is the stench of the liar compared to the odor coming from the mouth of a fasting person:

The odor that comes from the mouth of the fasting person is more pleasing to Allah. Allah is more pleased by that odor than we would be at the fragrance of something like musk. They are opposite effects — the sin and the ibadah — they go in opposite directions. From one the angels run; from the other you get the happiness of Allah. So sin is number one. Every sin needs to be cut out. Just like the person doing his cardio doesn't go home and break open a box of donuts — you come to the masjid, you open your iftar, you take part in the dua, you stand with the imam — that doesn't give you the right to go home and start everything else. To go home and start opening up the apps. We ask Allah to forgive us.

2. Overindulgence in the Dunya

Overindulgence in the dunya will kill a person's heart, just like overwatering a plant. If you're overwatering a plant, the plant's not going to survive. If you overwater the heart with the dunya, the heart's not going to survive. The heart is not meant to be so engrossed. Allah says:

Don't stretch your gaze at all of the luxuries Allah has provided to others. Don't stretch your gaze — because you do need to, at some level, to some small extent, be involved in the dunya a little bit. You need the dunya at least a little bit. You can't drive the road and close your eyes. To some extent, you need to be aware of what's going on. But don't stretch your gaze, don't sit there and stare at the dunya. You do need to be involved in the dunya, but you need to minimize it.

Compare that to the other ayah where Allah says:

Lower your gazes and protect your privates. Lowering your gaze is telling you — don't even accidentally look at immodesty. You can look at the dunya a little bit, don't stretch your gaze. But immodesty — not even for a moment, not even accidentally — lower the gaze. No one's allowed to look at that. And the object of the sentence, the مفعول, of what to lower your gaze from is not mentioned — which shows that anything that falls under that category of immodesty is not to be looked at.

Internal Factors: Doing Your Ibadah Correctly

Then there are the internal factors. A person goes to the gym but he's not using his time properly. He's there, he's checking himself out in the mirror, but there's no effort, there's no progressive overload. He's not doing the technique correctly, his form's off. So of course he's not going to make progress. You do your ibadat — do them correctly. There's so much to talk about when we talk about doing your ibadat correctly: the ikhlas, the sincerity, and on and on.

Cognizance — Being Aware You Are in Ibadah

One is the cognizance. Being aware, being aware that I am in an ibadah. I am actively praying to Allah. My ustad would literally tell us — when you pray your salah, think about the fact: this is not just a ritual. I am actively worshipping Allah. I am actively involved in prayer. This is salah to Allah. Think about that fact.

In the hadith where Nabi ﷺ promises forgiveness for the person who partakes in Ramadan, there are two conditions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 38; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 760)

Condition number one: you have to have iman — but every amal has that condition. Condition number two: ihtisab. Ihtisab is what we often translate as an expectation of reward. But it's an expression of your trust — an expression of your trust in the promise of Allah. That you are aware and cognizant: when you go into sajdah and you feel the blood rushing back into your heels, you know Allah wrote that down. You know Allah was making every record. When you open your iftar, you're thinking about the fact that this is something Allah promised a reward for. I have completed an ibadah.

Being cognizant is important. Nabi ﷺ mentions this. If you want to catch that forgiveness, you have to have iman, and you have to be cognizant that there is a reward in what you're doing — that you are actively involved in ibadah. That's one aspect.

Shukr — Gratitude for the Ibadah You Have

The other aspect is the shukr. Shukr is really important here, because not everyone has the ideal Ramadan. The ideal Ramadan is a full-time job — to be involved in dua all the time, to finish a khatam every single day, to do all of the ibadah that we would love to do. Not everyone gets that opportunity. But don't let the depression that comes from a lack of quantity lead to a lack of quality. Don't let the pain of not being able to do as much as you want ruin what you have in front of you.

You have some ability. You have some opportunity. You have to go to class. You have to prepare for work. You have to make sure there's food on the table. You have to take care of the family. You have so many other things that you have to do. You have some time that you can give to the Quran. You have some time that you can give to the salah. So make shukr for what you have.

If you appreciate that, Allah will increase you. If you get 10 minutes in the masjid, if you can make it to the masjid 10 minutes before the time for iftar, you have that time to make dua — make shukr for that. Make shukr for that time. If someone gave you a car, you would make shukr for that. The ibadah that we get an opportunity for — that's something that we need shukr for.

And this helps especially with istiqamah. We talk often about a person in Ramadan — you don't want to burn out and peter out of all of the actions that you're doing. You want istiqamah in Ramadan and after Ramadan. Shukr is a beautiful way to ensure that istiqamah. You appreciate Allah. You recognize Allah. "O Allah, I've been here, I've been taking part. Whatever amount of concentration I've had, O Allah, this is from You." Consciousness — being aware you're in ibadah, being aware that ibadah is a gift from Allah. This is what we ask for. This is the shukr, this is the ihtisab. You have those things, Allah will increase you.

Ask Allah — The Hadith Qudsi

One of the goals we mentioned of Ramadan is to actually find the forgiveness, to get the forgiveness. Allah talks about this as well. In a hadith Qudsi, Allah says — look, I give you everything, but you need to ask for it:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2577)

Every single one of you is misguided, except for the ones that I guide — we know this, we know Allah guides us. But Allah says: ask for it. فَاسْتَهْدُونِي — ask me for the guidance, I'll guide you. O my slaves, you're all hungry — all hungry except for the ones that I feed. And so ask me to feed you, I'll feed you. Allah tells us to ask. Our ibadat are active.

Closing Du'a

These are some of the guidances that we learn from our Nabi ﷺ, from Allah. We ask Allah to give us the tawfiq to practice on what has been said. May Allah accept this Ramadan. May Allah allow us to be involved in ibadah, to be active, and to benefit from this Ramadan.

We ask for du'as continuously for Palestine, for Lebanon, for Syria, for Muslims around the world. And for Abdul Razzaq Mutlani, who passed away — please make du'a for his maghfirah as well.