Islam is a Marathon - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Islam is a Marathon

It's been just about a week since the end of the month of Ramadan. And Allah blessed us to see out this month of Ramadan that just passed, and we ask Allah on this day of Jumu'ah that Allah accepts our good deeds from this month of Ramadan, that Allah makes us from amongst those who earned His forgiveness and His mercy throughout that month of Ramadan, and that Allah makes us from amongst those who will live to see and benefit from many more Ramadans to come.

One of the things that we all notice and that we all see a week after Ramadan passes is the contrast between ourselves over a week ago in the month of Ramadan and how we are today. The difference in terms of our acts of worship, the difference in terms of the time and the concentration and the focus that we had upon our religion. In the month of Ramadan, we had so much time and so much focus towards Allah. We made time. The 24-hour clock in the day and the night is the same time — it's the same clock. We had the same chores and responsibilities, but we made that extra effort and time in the month of Ramadan.

But as soon as that announcement of Eid was made, we found that we went back to our normal selves. We found that it wasn't the same — and that's normal to a large part and extent, but it's not just the first time that it's happened. It happens each and every single year. And it's not just in the month of Ramadan, but there are other seasons and times within our life when we have that extra drive and that extra urgency, that extra sense of determination. Perhaps it's when we go for Umrah or for Hajj, or perhaps it's on the day of Arafah for those of us that don't go and perform Hajj. We have those seasons and those times in the year, but as soon as those seasons, those months, those days elapse, we go back to our normal selves.

And one of the reasons for that is our mindset — the way that we think and the way that we deal with these seasons of worship.

The Sprint vs. The Marathon

You see, Islam is a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's not the hundred-meter race. Those of us that spend all of our time and all of our energy in the month of Ramadan and run flat out — often even before the month finishes, within the first week, the first ten days of Ramadan, the first half of the month — we're done and we're spent, because we thought that it was the hundred-meter sprint. Whereas Islam in reality is a marathon.

Allah in the Quran tells us that this religion, this life, is a race — but He doesn't tell us what type of race it is. Allah says: Race with one another towards the forgiveness of your Lord and towards Jannah, Paradise, the width of which is like the heavens and the earth. It has been prepared for those who believe in Allah and believe in His messengers.

That race isn't just a race for a month in the year. It's a race that lasts throughout the lifetime. And so there is a difference between the two — between a person who trains and readies and prepares themselves for the hundred-meter sprint, as opposed to the one who trains themselves and prepares themselves for a 26-mile marathon.

The sprint racer is looking for a certain set of skills. They have priorities that they need to work on. For them, it's all about agility and speed and pace. It's about how quickly they will start, because that race only lasts for 10, 15, 20 seconds — it's done after those 10, 15 seconds. Whereas the marathon runner is someone who is looking for a completely different set of skills. For them, it's not so important about technique. It's not so important how quickly they start from the starting blocks. For them, it's about endurance. For them, it's about stamina. They know that their race is going to take 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 hours before they reach that finishing line.

And yes, there are times when the marathon runner has to sprint, where they have to race, where they have to overtake people. But they need to make sure that their body can last for the long haul — for that eight-hour slog, that 26-mile marathon. And that is what our religion is. It's not just about those moments like Ramadan, those days like Arafah or Ashura, those few weeks when you go for Umrah or you go for Hajj. Islam is about the long haul.

And so we often are so spent out by the end of Ramadan that for the rest of the year — those 11 months — we find that there's nothing left. And then we just about ready ourselves, psych ourselves up for the next Ramadan to come. And that's a problem in the way that we approach our worship of Allah.

Without doubt, Ramadan is a time when you should put in more effort. Hajj and Umrah are times and seasons when you give more than normal. But the meaning of this religion isn't that you focus so much on those periods and seasons that you don't do anything outside of them — that you go back to such a state that you don't feel that you have any motivation or energy to worship Allah for the rest of the year.

Not every single person is a marathon runner. Not all of us have the ability, the stamina, the endurance to run a marathon. That is one of the blessings that Allah bestows. But it's something that we need to work on — those sets of skills, the endurance, the stamina, understanding that we have not just a few weeks to worship Allah, but that we need to continue worshipping Allah after those months and those seasons elapse.

So I want to bring, insha'Allah, in this khutbah three points — three things that we can do to help build up our endurance and stamina to worship Allah for the rest of the year. Three things that if we focus on, insha'Allah, we can take what we had in the month of Ramadan and take it forward for the rest of the year.

Point One: Find Your Niche in Worship

The first point is: look for that which Allah has made easy for you. Find your niche when it comes to worshipping Allah. Even in the month of Ramadan, some of us excelled in the recitation of the Quran, others from amongst us were good in charity, others from amongst us were good when it came to prayer and standing all night in Taraweeh — and rarely do you find those people who can combine and excel in all of those things.

Find what is easy for you. In the hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet told us, peace be upon him:

Perform acts of worship, for indeed Allah has made easy for you that which you were created for. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4949)

Some people find it easy to worship Allah in one way; other people find it easier to worship Allah in a different way. A man once came to Imam Malik, rahimahullah, the famous illustrious scholar of Islam — one of his contemporaries, another scholar from his time living in Medina — and he said to Imam Malik: "I find that you busy yourself in teaching and you don't make enough ibadah, you don't worship Allah enough." And he's referring to the nawafil — he's not referring to the Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr prayers, he's not referring to his zakah or the month of Ramadan. He's referring to his nawafil: "You're not a man of extensive ibadah; you spend your time busying yourself with teaching, with narrating the hadith of the Prophet." And Imam Malik replied using this hadith: "Every single person finds easy that which they were created for."

Even amongst the companions of the Prophet, the majority of them were not like the Prophet who excelled in every single act and every single arena of worship. Very few from amongst them were like Abu Bakr and Umar, who were able to excel in all of those different parts of ibadah. Rather, what we find even amongst the companions is that each one of them excelled in a certain area. Yes, they fulfilled their obligations. Yes, they were still people who did more and performed the optional deeds. But they had an area that was their niche, in which they excelled.

Khalid ibn al-Walid, may Allah be pleased with him — the great illustrious military leader, the strategist, the warrior of Islam. But when you come to look at Khalid ibn al-Walid as a scholar, as a narrator of hadith, there are only seven hadith that he narrated in the six books of hadith. Only seven. That doesn't mean he's not a great companion, but his niche, his expertise, his field of specialism was not the narrating of the hadith of the Prophet.

But then you have Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who narrated thousands upon thousands of hadith. He only spent four odd years in the company of the Prophet. Khalid ibn al-Walid, by contrast, spent slightly longer, but Abu Hurayrah narrated more — yet he is not known for his jihad. He's not known as a warrior. Companions excelled in different issues, in different areas.

Abdullah ibn Umar was known for his following of the Sunnah of the Prophet. Abdullah ibn Abbas is a scholar from amongst the companions. Uthman and Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf and others were known for their charity, for their generosity, for their kindness and their sadaqah. Each one of them excelled in a different area, and that's something that we need to do.

What is it that you find easy when it comes to worshipping Allah? After you have fulfilled your obligations — after you're doing what Allah has obligated upon you — what is it that Allah has made easier for you? Is it charity? You find it easier to give and to spend? Is it helping others — being a source of good for the community, helping those people who need your physical help or your advice, who need you to come and be by them? Or is it that you're a person who wants to spend your time in the Quran — a person of ibadah who finds it easy to fast and to pray the nawafil and to fast those optional days throughout the year?

Whatever Allah has made easy for you — that is what you should do and what you should excel in.

Do what it is that Allah has created you for and made easy for you to do.

Point Two: Gradual Progress — التَّدَرُّج

The second point that I want to bring to your attention is that when it comes to those acts of worship that we want to perform in our Shari'ah, there is a thing called tadarruj — doing things in a gradual manner, taking things step by step. When you look at many of the legislations of Islam, many of the things that Allah obligated or made haram upon us in this religion, they were done in a gradual way, step by step.

We are not a people who can listen to those narrations from amongst the companions or from amongst the scholars — that they would finish the Quran in Ramadan every single day, or that they would spend the whole night awake in prayer, or that they would go home and give everything they own in charity — and immediately do the same. That takes a gradual, step-by-step approach. It's not something easy to do; it takes time and effort and years of determination and focus.

When Allah made the month of Ramadan obligatory, it was done in stages. At the beginning of Islam, the Muslims used to only fast as an obligation one or two days of the year — the day of Ashura, the 10th of Muharram. That was the only obligation of fasting in Islam. And then Allah revealed the verses of fasting in Surah al-Baqarah, but He gave the companions a choice: if you want, fast the month of Ramadan, and if you don't want to, feed a poor person for every single day. They had the choice — some of them fasted, some of them would feed the poor. And then only at the third stage did Allah make fasting Ramadan an obligation upon everyone.

The salah, our prayer, was not obligated all at once. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, says that at the beginning of Islam, salah was two rak'ahs for every obligatory prayer — every prayer was only two rak'ahs. But then that was retained only for the traveler; for the resident, it was increased to four. Done in a gradual way.

When it came to the prohibition of alcohol and wine, Allah in the Quran first said:

They ask you about gambling and alcohol — say to them that indeed within it is a great sin. There are benefits, but the sin is greater than the benefits. It wasn't made haram yet. The Muslims were just told it's better for you to leave; there is more harm than there is good. And then a second stage came when Allah said: don't approach the prayer whilst in a state of being drunk. If you drink, you can't pray. So now the Muslims — Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha — during those five times during the day, they had to avoid alcohol. And it was only after that that Allah finally made it haram:

These are the abominations of Satan, so stay away from them. Done in a gradual way. So likewise, when it comes to us and worshipping Allah after the month of Ramadan — the training that we received in Ramadan, that's what we have to take forward. Do it in a gradual way.

If you want to start fasting after the month of Ramadan, start with the six days of Shawwal. Fast, for example, the day of Ashura and the day of Arafah. Try the three middle days of the month before you go to Mondays and Thursdays. Because if you start trying to fast every week, day in day out, or the fast of Dawud — which is the best of fasts, where you fast one day and miss one day — you will last for a week or two and then you will stop.

Those people who want to pray Qiyam al-Layl — you prayed Taraweeh in Ramadan, continue with Qiyam al-Layl. It's difficult every single night to sleep and then wake up and pray. It takes training. So the scholars would recommend that you pray Qiyam al-Layl after Salatul Isha. Qiyam al-Layl starts after the Isha prayer, so start off after Isha whilst you're still awake, where you don't have to go to sleep and wake up. Pray two rak'ahs, pray four rak'ahs, whatever is easier for you. And then as your body becomes accustomed to it — as you become accustomed to this form of worship — that's how you then go to the situation where the Prophet would sleep, wake up, pray, rest again, and then stand for Salatul Fajr.

Sadaqah — giving charity. Giving so much charity is difficult to do on a consistent basis. But if you train yourself once a month — "I'm only going to give five pounds, only going to give ten pounds, only once a month. I can do more but I'm not going to, because I want to make it a consistent habit" — gradually build yourself up, and that's how you come closer to Allah. And that is why our Prophet told us:

The most beloved actions to Allah are those which are consistent, even if they are small or few. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6464; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 783)

It is more beloved to Allah that you give five pounds a month than that you give twenty pounds once in a year and then never look at sadaqah again. That you pray only Taraweeh in the month of Ramadan but never look at Qiyam al-Layl again. It's better for you to do something which is consistent and small but on a regular basis.

Point Three: Balance in Worship

The third point that I want to bring to our attention — in terms of building up our stamina and endurance for this marathon that is our life in trying to attain Allah's forgiveness and reward — is balance: being balanced in the way that we approach our religion. Our Prophet told us, as collected in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah:

This religion is easy, and no one makes it difficult except that it will overpower him. So be steadfast, and be close to perfection, and receive glad tidings. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 39)

He said: this religion is easy. What Allah has made obligatory for you is only small and few. The Bedouin man came and said to the Prophet: "O Messenger of Allah, I will offer my five salats, and I will fast the month of Ramadan, and I will give my zakah, and I will perform my Hajj — but I won't do anything more." And then he left. And then the Prophet said after the man had left: "Aflaha wallahi in sadaqa" — this man, by Allah, if he is truthful in what he says, he has gained success. What Allah has made obligatory is few and easy.

And no one makes Islam difficult for themselves except that it will overpower them. Because Islam is a vast religion — it is an amazing religion for the person who has the endurance and stamina to worship by day and by night, to fast one day and take one day off, to give all that they have in sadaqah. Islam comes and it accommodates for that individual. Islam is easy. But if you want to make it difficult for yourself, it can become difficult.

Like the companion who came to the Prophet and said that he wanted to fast — "I can fast every day." The Prophet said: "Only fast the three middle days." He said: "I can do more." He said: "Fast Mondays and Thursdays." He said: "I can do more." He said: "Fast one day on and one day off." He said: "I can do more, I can fast every day, O Messenger of Allah." He said: "There is no more. You fast one day, you take one day off. That is the fast of Dawud, peace be upon him. It is the best type of fasting." That same companion, when he became an old man — weak and infirm — he still had to fast day on and day off because that was the pledge he had made to the Prophet. And he said: "I regret that I didn't take the advice of the Prophet. He made things easy for me, but I made it difficult for myself."

And so when you make it difficult for yourself, this religion will overpower you. Find what is easy for you, what is comfortable for you to perform. And once you reach that level of comfort and get into that habit, then you can push that boundary — then you do more, then you excel. But going from zero to a hundred is extremely difficult, and rarely does a person manage to achieve that.

Allah in the Quran, even when it comes to the Salah, tells us to be balanced:

Don't be overly loud in your Salah, and don't be too quiet — rather take the middle path between the two. There are some people who when they pray, they pray so loud that everyone can hear even though they are praying alone. Other people pray so silently that they don't even move their lips. It is between those two extremes that Allah tells us to go.

When it comes to sadaqah, Allah says:

Those who, when they spend and give charity, don't go to the extreme of giving everything away, nor go to the extreme of being stingy and miserly — but rather take the middle, balanced path between the two. Rarely from amongst the companions was anyone given the permission like Abu Bakr to give all of their wealth in sadaqah. Few people were able to do so and manage that situation.

For the rest of the companions — the companion said: "O Messenger of Allah, I think I'm about to die. I'm going to give all of my wealth away in charity." He said: "Don't do so." He said: "I'll give two-thirds away." He said: "Don't." "Half of it in charity?" "Don't." "A third, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "A third — and a third is more than enough in charity. It is better for you that you give that wealth to your children, to your family, than that you leave them poor such that they have to go and beg from others."

That's the vast majority of us — we have to take balance in our religion. In the hadith in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, rahimahullah, the Prophet said: "This religion is strong — so be gentle upon yourself." Strong, meaning that the more that you want to do, Islam gives you the scope to do so. Those scholars who would travel thousands of miles just to learn a single hadith, or those scholars who would tie their hair to the ceiling of their houses so that at night, if they became tired and began to drowse, their head would be lifted by the string attached to their hair — Islam allows for that, gives us the provision to do that. It is a strong religion. But you have to manage yourself. Be gentle with yourself.

One of the scholars of the Tabi'een said in the commentary on this hadith: "Don't make it disliked for yourself to worship Allah." You worship Allah so much for one day, two days, a week — you spend so much time and effort — that you can't ever look at the Quran for the rest of the year. You can't motivate yourself to pray an optional prayer for the rest of the year. You gave so much sadaqah on the 27th night of Ramadan that the idea of charity isn't something which comes to your mind for the rest of the year. Don't make the worship of Allah something which becomes disliked to you, because you spent so much energy in a single go that you have nothing left in the tank.

Be gentle with yourself. Don't make it disliked for yourself that you should worship Allah. Because the one who breaks down on a journey — if you're traveling to Manchester, to London, to Edinburgh, and you break down on the journey — you have neither achieved your destination nor is your car fit for purpose. You didn't get where you wanted to go, and you broke the vehicle that you were driving. That is the example of the one who spends all of their energy trying to do good: they don't reach their destination because they can't do anything for the rest of the year, and the little energy that they had, they didn't space out — they lost it all in a single go, in a single blow.

The Fluctuation of Iman — The Story of Handala

So our religion tells us that Islam is a marathon. Islam is something which takes time and perseverance, takes stamina and endurance to achieve. Attaining Allah's mercy and forgiveness isn't something which you achieve in 10, 15, 20 seconds for the most part. It is something which takes time and effort, and it takes motivation, endurance, and stamina.

One of the realities of our situation that Islam tells us — and that is part of the normal daily routine of the Muslim — is the fluctuation of Iman. We have seasons when our Iman is strong and it is high, and then we have times and places in the year when our Iman becomes weak and it becomes low. That is part of everyday life. It is normal for it to be so. But the solution to that issue is not to ask why our Iman has become low, but rather: how do we get our Iman to become strong again?

To be like we were in Ramadan, outside of Ramadan — that's not going to be the case. We excel more in Ramadan because the rewards and virtues are greater and more on offer. Hajj and Umrah are times when we excel because there are rewards and virtues on offer that are not available throughout the rest of the year or in the rest of the world. We excel, but then after that period of excelling we fall — and the key to Iman is to find how to make that Iman stronger again.

In the hadith of Handala — when Abu Bakr passed by him and saw that this companion looked to be distressed, disturbed and perturbed, not happy — he said to him: "What is wrong, O Handala?" And Handala said: "Nafaqa Handala ya Abu Bakr — Handala has committed hypocrisy." You see, the companions weren't afraid to be self-critical. To accuse yourself of hypocrisy is no small issue. Hypocrisy is the worst of all states to be in.

Allah in the Quran, when He speaks about the hypocrites, says they have the worst of punishment — they are in the lowest depths of the Fire of Hell. But this is a companion of the Prophet being self-critical and self-analytical, knowing that there is a problem and not afraid to seek help from others. Nafaqa Handala. Abu Bakr doesn't rush to judge him or condemn him. "Why, O Handala, what is wrong?" He says: "O Abu Bakr, when I am in the company of the Prophet and he speaks of Paradise and the Hellfire and reminds me of Allah and the Hereafter, it is as if my Iman is so high. But then I leave him and I go back to my family, my home, my job, and I find that my Iman plummets. This is hypocrisy to me."

Abu Bakr — the greatest of this ummah after our Prophet, the most learned and noble of the companions — he said: "By Allah, I find what you find. I feel as you feel. So let us go and seek the Prophet." You find there's an issue with your Iman, there's a problem, something doesn't seem right — don't hide. Don't think that it's something you can't do anything about. Don't go and lock yourself away. Find a solution. Find a path to come closer to Allah. It is a trap of Shaitan to think that there is no hope, that it is only the month of Ramadan that we can excel and worship Allah. The companions would find solutions.

Both of them came to the Prophet, and the Prophet could see Handala again — disturbed, could read in his face that there was a problem. "What is wrong with Handala?" — he doesn't just say it to Abu Bakr; this is now the Prophet himself. "Nafaqa Handala ya Rasulallah — O Messenger of Allah, Handala has committed hypocrisy." "Why, O Handala?" "Because when I am in your company, O Messenger of Allah, my Iman is so high. But then I leave and I go back to my daily routine, my daily life — which is also a part of our religion, it is normal that you go back to your daily life — and I find that my Iman becomes weak and low."

The Prophet said — as a message to Abu Bakr and to Handala, and to me and you by extension:

"O Handala, if you were always in that state of high Iman, then the angels themselves would come down to the earth and they would greet you. They would shake your hands as you walked in the streets and as you lay upon your bed and your mattress. You would be in the company of the angels if your Iman never went weak. It is only the angels of Allah that don't disobey Allah. It is only the angels of Allah that don't have the conundrums and the traps of Shaitan, that don't have the choice between halal and haram — they don't have free will. If you were like that, you would be like the angels."

But there is a time for this and a time for that. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2750)

There is a time when our bodies need rest. There is a time when we need to slow down the pace. There are times when we need to excel and do more. But what is most important is knowing how to manage that — like the marathon runner: if after the first 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, they have spent everything, there is no way they are going to reach that finish line. It's impossible. But you need to learn to manage yourself and your situation. Find your niche, find what is easy for you, do it in a balanced and gradual step-by-step way — and in doing so, you will find that you come closer to Allah, not just in seasons like Ramadan, but throughout the rest of the year.

Du'a

We ask Allah that He makes it easy for us to worship Him, that Allah makes it beloved to us, and makes us from amongst those people who love ibadah and love to come closer to Him. We ask Allah that He grants us His love, and the love of that which He loves, and the love of those who love Him. We ask Allah to make our affairs easy for us and the affairs of our brothers and sisters across the world. We ask Allah to shower His mercy and forgiveness upon us, upon our parents, upon our families.

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to worship Him after Ramadan as we did in Ramadan. That Allah gives us the endurance and the stamina to worship Him in a way that is pleasing to Him. That Allah makes us from amongst those people who are better after Ramadan than we were before Ramadan and during Ramadan. And we ask Allah that He makes His ibadah and His worship beloved to us throughout the whole year.