Continuing with Good Deeds Post Ramadan - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Khutbah Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَفِيُّهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ وَخَلِيلُهُ، أَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى النَّاسِ كَافَّةً بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا، فَبَلَّغَ الرِّسَالَةَ وَأَدَّى الْأَمَانَةَ وَنَصَحَ الْأُمَّةَ، وَتَرَكَنَا عَلَى الْمَحَجَّةِ الْبَيْضَاءِ لَيْلُهَا كَنَهَارِهَا لَا يَزِيغُ عَنْهَا إِلَّا هَالِكٌ، فَصَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ وَسَلَامُهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ وَمَنِ اهْتَدَى بِهَدْيِهِ وَاسْتَنَّ بِسُنَّتِهِ وَدَعَا بِدَعْوَتِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.

My brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah almighty, thanking Him, and sending blessings and salutations upon our beloved messenger, صَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ وَسَلَامُهُ عَلَيْهِ.

I want to use this opportunity, insha'Allah ta'ala, ikhwani fillah, to do some reflections over the blessed month that has just passed — the month of Ramadan — and try and see what lessons we have learned and how we can apply them in our lives.

Ramadan Has Passed — A Reminder of Our Own End

To begin with, ikhwani fillah, Ramadan has left. It ended. And just like that, ikhwani fillah, all good things come to an end. This is something we have to reflect over, because one day your life will come to an end. One day your life will come to an end. And there is this beautiful quote: if you live your life like you did in Ramadan — engage in ibadah and in worship, connecting with your Creator, fulfilling your purpose — then your Eid will be the Akhira. May Allah make us among those that will be happy on the Day of Judgement and are pleased.

Taqwa — The Foundation of Accepted Deeds

Ikhwani fillah, Ramadan is all about ibadah. It's about taqwa. It's about knowing why you are here and fulfilling your purpose. There are many ways to explain what taqwa means, and the most jami' — the most comprehensive one — is: do as you are told by Allah to the best of your ability, stay away from that which is forbidden, and live your life not the way you desire, not the way society asks you to do — because society is not the mi'yar of truth, it is revelation — but live your life the way Allah wants you to live. And how well you do that, and how good you do that, that is how you will attain the pleasure of Allah.

So have taqwa, because Allah will only accept your good deeds if you have taqwa. Allah only accepts from those who have taqwa — those who have piety, those who live their life according to the way Allah wants them to live. Yes, they will have shortcomings, but they are on that path. Now you can't claim to be on that path if you have no care for the sins you are committing, or if you have no care for the acts which you have been commanded to do. So first and foremost, ask yourself: have my good deeds been accepted? Am I fulfilling that condition? Am I from the Muttaqeen?

The Verse of Fearful Hearts

Now, there is a verse in the Quran that we should all ponder over as it relates to when we finish acts of worship. Right now you have attended Jumu'ah, you are going to be praying Salah, you finished Ramadan. Hopefully you will be fasting the six days of Shawwal. Some of us, Alhamdulillah, may have gone to Umrah during Ramadan, gave Zakatul Fitr, gave Sadaqah — lots of good things that you have done. But just because you have done them does not mean Allah accepted them from you. That's not it. And there should be a concern — a constant worry and concern over the good deeds that you have committed. Was I sincere? You should be actively trying to be sincere as it relates to all the good deeds that you do, and fight your Nafs. Maybe this one you had some Riyah. Maybe this one you didn't do according to the way it should be done following the Sunnah of the Prophet. Because, ikhwani fillah, these are conditions — my Salah, my Siyam, my fasting.

So hear this ayah, ikhwani fillah:

Those that give, those that do these acts of worship, while their hearts are fearful — وَجِلَةٌ. When Sayyidatina 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, asked the Prophet why are they fearful — they've done good deeds, why are they fearful? Are they the ones who are sinful, ya Rasulullah? — he said: no. These are the ones that were fasting and praying but they are worried: has Allah accepted my good deeds or not?

Now, this worry that we are describing — it means don't be relaxed. It means that you shouldn't be thinking: "Alhamdulillah, I've done my Ramadan and that's it — can't wait for next Ramadan, I'm a Ramadan-to-Ramadan Muslim, that's it for me." This is not the attitude of the believer. Rather you should be saying: "O Allah, please accept that little that I have done." And you should see it as something little, for you could have done more and you could have done better. All our Salahs, all our fasting, all our Sadaqah are filled with shortcomings. And if you don't believe they are filled with shortcomings, then there is something wrong with you. Because do you really think that the Salah that you pray — when half of it you're thinking about your kids, and you're distracted about dunya — do you think this is the Salah deserving of Allah? Why do we say Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah the moment we finish our Salah? Because we know we cannot give Allah His due or His right.

So you should remember: think about your shortcomings, thank Allah for the little you have done, pray to Allah to give you more opportunity to worship Him. And every single moment in your life that you spend in ibadah — every single SubhanAllah you've ever said, every single ayah you've ever read — wallahi, you did it because Allah allowed you to do it. If Allah did not make it easy for us, we would not have worshipped Him. So He deserves to be thanked. We should be grateful to Allah for every ibadah we do. Every good deed that you do, it is because of Allah, and you should be grateful. And we show our gratitude by doing more — not thinking to ourselves, "What a great Ramadan I had." Don't ever think like that. Try better, try harder, do more. And do it until when? Until the day you die — especially as you know you will have shortcomings.

I didn't mean for this khutbah to be "oh, your Ramadan was horrible" — this is not what I'm saying. It means: thank Allah for the Ramadan we just had, for the Qiyam that you just prayed. Thank Allah, attribute it all to Allah, and ask Him to shower you with more mercy. Ask Him to make the Salah easier for you, ask Him to give you more Ikhlas. And the more ibadah you do after Ramadan, it is a sign that your ibadah was accepted. Among the signs that your good deeds have been accepted is that you followed up with more good deeds. So we ask Allah to give us the tawfiq and the ability to do more as we go along — until the next Ramadan, until the day we meet Him. May we all be engaged from one ibadah to another ibadah, and may Allah accept it all and forgive our shortcomings.

Using Ramadan as a Springboard for More Worship

The other point that I want to share with you, which is very important, is that you need to use Ramadan as a means to put more blessings and khair in your life. If you could come to the Masjid every single night for Taraweeh and Allah blessed you with that — come for Isha, come for Dhuhr, Asr, come for the Jama'ah. Start praying Qiyam at home. If you managed to read the Quran throughout Ramadan, don't be a Ramadan Muslim only. Because we worship Rabbu Ramadan — the Lord of Ramadan — which is Allah. So ask yourself: what are my plans post-Ramadan? What am I going to change in my life?

I've gotten used to giving Sadaqah now. In fact, I know of three or four or five causes that I can support because I heard about them in Ramadan. Maybe now you will give something regular. Now that you know the blessings of hearing the recitation of the Imam and praying in Jama'ah, now you're saying: I'm going to Fajr now, I'm going to Isha now. I'm going to look into the virtues of all these different acts of ibadah. I am going to benefit from every opportunity I can get.

The Six Days of Shawwal

And there is no greater opportunity than to start with the six days of Shawwal. We are in the month of Shawwal now. The Prophet said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 13, Hadith 204)

Whoever fasts Ramadan then adds the six days of Shawwal, then it is as if he fasted the whole year. And if you do the whole year, every year, then it's as if you fasted a lifetime — which is one of the Tafsirs of Dahr: a lifetime. And that means you're constantly engaged in ibadah, and this is what you want. So don't neglect the fasting of the six days of Shawwal.

I say this, and I ask Allah to forgive me and you and all those who have sinned. Forgive me, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Second Part of the Khutbah: Planning Your Acts of Worship

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Prophet. My brothers in Allah, remember to benefit from all occasions of worship.

Now we are in Shawwal, so you can do the six days of Shawwal. After that we're going to enter into the blessed months — the sacred months: Dhul-Qa'dah and Dhul-Hijjah, the months of Hajj. Again, you need to be mindful — another opportunity to worship Allah. Especially those among us that feel that they could have done better in Ramadan. Well, Ramadan is over, but now you have Shawwal. When Shawwal is done, you will have, insha'Allah, Dhul-Qa'dah and Dhul-Hijjah — the beautiful months, the sacred months, in which you can fast. The ten days of Dhul-Hijjah are coming, which are the ten best days in the year.

So you have all these opportunities coming. And even you have daily opportunities. Daily opportunities include that you pray Qiyam and you finish your night by praying Qiyam. For your day, you have weekly opportunities by fasting Thursdays and Mondays. You have monthly opportunities where you can fast three days in every month. You can give Sadaqah. You have a weekly opportunity by attending Jumu'ah. All of these are blessings — not to mention the recitation of the Quran, which you can do on a daily basis.

Ikhwani fillah, please — the beautiful habits you've built in Ramadan, continue them. Pick one. If you can't do all of them, pick one. Start saying: I'm going to recite Quran daily. I'm going to start fasting. I'm going to do any of these khairat that I managed to do in Ramadan. It's a proof that you can continue doing them — so please do so. Build upon it. Plan for your life, ikhwani fillah.

It was Sayyidina 'Umar that said he used to like to do his qada' of Ramadan in Dhul-Hijjah because of the virtues in it. Plan for your life, ikhwani fillah, because you want to spend as much time as possible in ibadah. And like we said earlier — live your life like you did in Ramadan, and insha'Allah ta'ala, your Eid will be the day you meet Allah.

A Reminder of Death and a Call to Repentance

Ikhwani fillah, we need to plan for our lives because our lives will end. This is a reality. Death is a reality. After Jumu'ah, right now, we're going to be praying a Janazah. The only reason I am doing the khutbah today is because our beloved Imam, our Shaykh, Abu Usama al-Dhahabi, he lost his son and he couldn't do the khutbah today. So I ask you all to make du'a for the sister that has passed away, whom we are going to pray the Janazah on — the son of our beloved Shaykh Abu Usama.

We were recently told about another one of our brothers that was working with us at the masjid who lost his son in a stabbing. And there are so many issues that are happening. And ikhwani fillah, at the end of the day, these lives that we have belong to Allah. To Him we belong and to Him we shall return.

Everyone has a time when they will end. So now that you're alive, now that you have an opportunity — repent to your Lord, ask Allah for forgiveness, live your life according to Allah's will. And ask Allah to grant those who lose people patience. And ask Allah to fill our lives with barakah, and blessings, and ibadah, and to forgive our sins, and to accept our fasting, to accept our prayer, and to forgive all of us.