Ramadan: The Month of Hope (with British Sign Language) - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Ramadan: The Month of Hope

Today is the 27th of Sha'ban. As we quickly approach the blessed month of Ramadan, we ask Allah on this blessed day, by His most beautiful names and His lofty attributes, that Allah gives us all the tawfiq and the ni'mah, the blessing of being able to witness Ramadan. That Allah makes it a month that is blessed for us, a month in which we take full grasp of its opportunities and its rewards.

As I was reflecting — inshallah ta'ala for all of us — on the coming month of Ramadan, and I was thinking about what to speak about this afternoon, two thoughts came into my mind, two reflections. The first of them is how quickly time passes by. It seems like it was only a few days ago, a few weeks ago that we just finished Ramadan, and now another Ramadan is coming upon us.

The Passing of Time

And no doubt that it is from the signs of Yawm al-Qiyamah, as the Prophet told us, صلى الله عليه وسلم, what we call taqarub al-zaman, that time will pass by quickly, time will come closer together. The Prophet told us, صلى الله عليه وسلم, in the hadith of al-Tirmidhi, on the authority of Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2332)

He said that the Day of Judgment will not be established until time gets closer together, so much so that it seems that a year is like a month, and a month feels like a week, and a week feels like a day, and a day feels like an hour, and an hour feels like the striking of a match.

Time comes closer upon us, but despite how close time seems, there are many events that take place within that year. There are many of us today that are going through many different challenges — some of them to do with our health, some of them to do with our finances, some of them to do with our families. And then we have the challenges that we as an Ummah are facing. May Allah bring to us relief. This is something that we're all going through.

Ramadan: A Month of Hope

And that then led me on to the second point that I wanted to make. And that is that if there is one thing that the month of Ramadan symbolizes, if there is one thing that the month of Ramadan shows to us or brings for us, it is that the month of Ramadan is a time of hope. There is hope in the month of Ramadan.

Hope because, as the Prophet ﷺ told us, this hadith by itself is sufficient to show to you the great opportunity of hope and reward that Allah brings for us in this month of Ramadan:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1899; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1079)

When the month of Ramadan enters, the gates of Jannah are opened wide, and the gates of the fire are locked and sealed tight, and the devils are chained. This is a month of hope for those who wish to earn Allah's pleasure, for those who wish to earn Allah's reward, for those who wish to come closer to Allah. This month, despite all of the challenges that you may be going through, despite everything that you see and hear that's going on in the world with our fellow brothers and sisters — this month, it is a month of hope for those people who seek that hope.

And that is why the Prophet ﷺ said in another hadith that on the first day of Ramadan, the caller calls out and he says:

O the seeker of good, O the seeker of reward, O the one who wants to take benefit of the opportunities of Ramadan — this is your time, this is your opportunity.

Why We Need Ramadan

And we need Ramadan. We need Ramadan because throughout the year, our iman becomes weak. We need Ramadan because throughout the year, we become distanced from our Lord and Creator. We need Ramadan because we need an excuse and an opportunity to do extra deeds of goodness, to worship Allah. And that is why Allah legislated for us Ramadan.

Fasting is prescribed upon you just as it was prescribed for those who came before you, that you may increase in taqwa — that mindfulness of Allah that me and you should have every single day. That awareness that our Lord and our Creator Allah, His promises are true and His words are true and His speech in the Quran is true. So if you trust in Allah and you believe in His promises and you worship Him and you spend your life dedicated to the obedience of Allah, then there is no challenge that you cannot overcome, no difficulty that you can't overcome, no problem that doesn't have a solution — by Allah's permission and through His mercy. That is what the month of Ramadan brings.

Because from the greatest of Allah's blessings — no matter how difficult things are, no matter what you see and what you hear and what you yourself may be experiencing — the greatest sign that Allah wants to give to you hope, the greatest sign that Allah wants good for you, that Allah loves you, is that you have the greatest blessing that Allah could ever bestow upon any individual. And that is the blessing of Iman, the blessing of this religion.

And that is what Allah said in the verses in which He mentioned the verses of fasting in Surah Al-Baqarah:

That you may glorify your Lord for the guidance that He gave to you and that you may show gratitude. You glorify Allah and you show Him gratitude by using this month of Ramadan to worship Him, to come closer to Him, to do as many good deeds as you can get in within that limited space of what are أَيَّامٌ مَّعْدُودَاتٌ — limited days, 29 or 30 days. You use that time to come closer to Allah.

The Opportunities of Ramadan

We need Ramadan because for most of us throughout the year the dunya takes us over. The dunya makes us heedless. The dunya comes with all of its problems, and even though inshallah we're doing the basics, we're fulfilling our wajibat, our opportunity to do more — to do the nawafil, to do the optional deeds, to increase in closeness to Allah — that is something which very many of us find very difficult to find.

But the month of Ramadan brings the opportunity. It brings the opportunity for you to connect to the book of Allah, the Quran.

This is the month of the Quran. The month for you to read and increase in the recitation of the Quran. The month for you to start to learn and to understand and to take some of those lessons and principles of the Quran that we all need and are in dire need of — so that we can understand how to navigate through the challenges that we are facing.

This month of Ramadan is a month of sadaqah. It is a month of generosity. It is a month of dua. There is no good deed, no major good deed, except that you will find that it is connected in one way or another to the month of Ramadan. It is the month of dua. This is the month that you ask Allah for everything that you need. That you turn to Allah. You show to Him your need and your poverty — not only for yourself and the challenges that me and you are going through, but for our brothers and sisters across the world, for the Ummah at large.

And that is why Allah also said in those verses, in the passage of fasting in Surah al-Baqarah:

If they ask you concerning Me, Allah said, then tell them that I am close. Tell them that I am close. I respond to the supplication when it is made.

The Limitless Rewards of Ramadan

This month of Ramadan — we need it. Because it is a month of amazing rewards. Most of us throughout the year struggle with the good deeds that we do. But this month of Ramadan opens up the whole spectrum of good deeds for you, and its rewards are limitless.

As the Prophet told us, صلى الله عليه وسلم, in the hadith al-Qudsi, that Allah says:

All of the actions of the children of Adam are for them — your prayer, your Quran, your sadaqa, your dua — it is for you, meaning that its reward is known. Except for fasting. Allah said: that is for Me, and I will reward it accordingly.

It is a month of amazing rewards. And that is why the person who turns to Allah in this month with those two things that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم impressed upon us in that famous hadith in al-Bukhari:

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

Whosoever fasts the month of Ramadan with that level of iman — seeking and wanting to draw closer to Allah, knowing that you need to trust in Allah, turn to Allah, increase in your taqwa of Allah — knowing that Allah alone is the one who can shower His mercy upon you, forgive your sins, meet your needs, answer your supplications. And then you do it with that hope in your heart — that hope for the reward of Allah, that hope for Allah's forgiveness, for His limitless reward — Allah will forgive you for all of your past sins.

And it's not just the fasting of Ramadan, but it's the qiyam of Ramadan, that night prayer — that again is one of those acts of worship that most of us struggle with throughout the year. This is an opportunity for you to spend a part of your night in worship, and especially this year, as a lot of the month of Ramadan falls in the earlier part of the year when the time for Isha is earlier. That is an opportunity for me and you to worship Allah during the night.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 37; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 759)

Whosoever stands the month of Ramadan in prayer, with iman, hoping in Allah's reward — that Allah will forgive him for all of their past sins.

And as is mentioned in the hadith of Abu Sa'id رضي الله عنه, to show to you the amazing reward that is on offer in this month — collected in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad — that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 7450; also referenced in Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 682)

Allah, in every single night and every single day of Ramadan, emancipates and frees people from the fire. A single act of worship, a single deed — and you don't know which one of those deeds is most pleasing to Allah — but it may be enough to take your name out of that scroll of the people of the fire and to enter you into Jannah.

The Night Prayer and Its Reward

The Prophet said, صلى الله عليه وسلم:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 806; Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1375)

Whoever prays with the Imam the night prayer — Taraweeh — until he leaves, until the Imam finishes, then it is as if you prayed the whole night. You only spent an hour, an hour and a half, two hours in the Masjid, but you get the reward of the whole night. There are amazing opportunities for reward.

Being Ambitious Yet Realistic

This month is an amazing month. It is a month of hope. It is a month of reward. It is a month when we come closer to Allah — not least because we need it more than anything else. We need Allah to forgive our sins. We need Allah to lessen the loads and the burdens that we bear upon our shoulders — the many times that we are neglectful of our duty to Allah. And that is what the month of Ramadan does. It helps you to realign your priorities. Helps you to focus. Helps you to remember that it doesn't matter about anything else — whatever else may be taking place — your greatest objective in life, the purpose of your creation, the reason why Allah created me and you, is for His worship alone. To worship Him. To find His pleasure. To obey Him. To attain His reward and His Jannah by His mercy.

But this month is an opportunity that Allah gives only to a few people. And I'm not just speaking about those people that have passed away — that were with us last year but are no longer with us this year. There are many people who are alive and healthy, Muslims, but they don't fast in Ramadan. They won't take those opportunities of Ramadan. They'll eat and they'll drink even though other people around them are fasting. In the month of Ramadan, they'll cheat and they'll lie and they'll steal, even though it's the month of Ramadan. They won't pray and they won't give sadaqah. They won't do any of those good deeds, even though it is the month of Ramadan.

So if Allah has given you the opportunity to witness the month of Ramadan, and Allah has given you the further blessing of being able to understand the importance and the value and the preciousness of Ramadan — and then Allah gives you the ability to do something about that in terms of your deeds and your actions, and being able to come closer to Him — those are things that you should not take for granted. Rather, it is something that we should thank Allah for and praise Him. That Allah opens our eyes and gives us the ability to understand how precious and valuable something is. And Allah knows best that what we do in this month of Ramadan is enough to save us from His punishment and to enter us into His mercy and to give us forgiveness for our sins. May Allah grant us all of that.

The Approach of the Salaf

If you were to look and analyze the lives of the companions رضي الله عنهم جميعاً and those scholars and those generations of Muslims that followed them — from the early generations of the Muslims, the Tabi'een and those early blessed generations — you would see how much they understood the importance of Ramadan through their actions and through their deeds, and through the way that they would try their utmost in this month. Not only to take opportunity of the rewards that are available, but to withhold and suppress anything that may diminish that reward.

But the point that I want to stress to you today is that it is also important for me and you to make sure that Ramadan is something which is manageable. Yes, you should be ambitious in Ramadan. You should strive for the rewards that are on offer. You should do what you can, and to tire yourself out in the month of Ramadan is from the Sunnah. To tire yourself out in worship — if you have to manage your situation because most people are still working and most of our youngsters are still studying — you have to do extra. That it makes you tired. That it brings fatigue. That it stresses you to a certain level. That is something which is from the Sunnah, so long as it doesn't go to an extreme.

You have to balance between being ambitious and being realistic. You have to balance between wanting to attain that reward of Allah and take those opportunities of reward, but at the same time doing it in a measured way — so that you have enough for the whole of the month of Ramadan. That is something which is extremely important.

Find those acts of worship that are great in reward but that are also easier for you to do. Reading the Quran as much as you can whenever you have a spare moment. Turning to Allah and making dua. Giving sadaqah. Coming to the Masjid and praying Taraweeh and Qiyamul Layl.

Make This Your Best Ramadan

There are amazing opportunities for reward. But as ever, it is the time when you also have to show discipline. Show perseverance. Show to Allah your desire to seek that reward. And if you ask Allah for His help and you approach this month of Ramadan with that sense of hope — wanting to take benefit of the rewards and opportunities that are available — then Allah will make things easy for you.

This Ramadan — it doesn't matter what you did last Ramadan. It doesn't matter about the Ramadans of the past; they're gone. May Allah accept them from us. May Allah forgive our shortcomings therein. But this Ramadan is another opportunity. Make this the best Ramadan that you've ever had. Make it a Ramadan in which you aspire to reach the highest of goals. And take inspiration, at the very least, from the way that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the companions approached this month.

Closing Du'a

Ask Allah that He allows us to witness the month of Ramadan. That Allah makes us from amongst those who excel in it. That Allah makes it a means of our emancipation from the fire and forgiveness for our sins and elevation of our status and ranks in the highest levels of Jannah. May Allah make it a time of ease for our brothers and sisters. May Allah bring them relief. May Allah protect them in terms of their wealth and in terms of their blood and their honor and their property. May Allah make it a time of ease for us all.