Importance of Taqwa - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Khutbah Opening

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

أَحِبَّتِي فِي اللهِ وَفِي الْإِسْلَامِ، أُوصِيكُمْ بِتَقْوَى اللهِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ فَإِنَّ اللهَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ مُحْسِنُونَ

My beloved brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah and sending blessings and salutations upon our beloved Messenger Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa salam.

The True Objective of Fasting

Before Ramadan started, weeks before it, you were hearing from the minbar. You were hearing reminders as it relates to Ramadan, its arrival, and more importantly its objective. Why do we fast? Why do we fast? What are we hoping to gain from our fast?

Now of course you may say, we hope to gain the pleasure of our Lord. We hope to gain reward from Allah jalla jalaluhu. We hope to gain Jannah. We hope to be among those who enter Jannah from the door called Rayan. But my brothers and sisters, the true objective of the legislation of fasting is mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah when Allah says:

O you who believe, fasting has been made obligatory upon you like the people that came before you, so that you may attain taqwa.

Now the question I have for myself and for every single person here and every single person listening is: Do you feel you have attained that taqwa? Or is there room for improvement?

Understand that the purpose of all of this is to become a pious believer. This is what it is. It is for you to be able to apply the lessons learned from fasting into your life. It is for you to understand that when your Lord commands you, you obey. And He commands you every single day to avoid and abstain from eating and drinking until sunset. And if you can obey your Lord in that, then you must be able to obey Him in the other prohibitions as well. And if you can obey Allah jalla jalaluhu in coming to the masjid and praying at night, then you can do that outside of Ramadan and regarding other issues as well.

There is no point in being someone that only does the Ramadan-related acts of worship but does not take the lesson of taqwa from Ramadan. It is not befitting or becoming of a Muslim to be saying "I am fasting" yet being engaged in sin and haram. To be saying "I come to the masjid for taraweeh" but "I still do this haram and that haram and I cannot stop it." That we have some people among us that when they are making iftar, they start by consuming haram. Where is the taqwa? Where is the piety?

The point of it all was to be pious, to have taqwa. Because it is through this taqwa that you will gain Jannah. It is through taqwa that you will be loved by Allah jalla jalaluhu. Like Allah said:

Allah indeed loves those that are pious — those that have taqwa.

Those that understand that when my Lord commands me, I obey. When He prohibits me, I abstain. If I slip up, I make repentance quickly. This is what Allah wants us to learn from Ramadan — to be people of taqwa.

The Centrality of Taqwa in the Quran

This concept of taqwa is so important that Allah attaches it to almost everything, and it is one of the most often-repeated issues in the Quran. If you think about it, Allah only mentions fasting several times in the Quran — a handful. But He mentions taqwa over and over and over again. Why? Because as we know, that which has been repeated often is that which people lack the most.

Most people will fast. You will have Muslims that don't pray that fast. But what about your piety and your taqwa? Are you someone that lives by it? That wears libas al-taqwa — the garments of piety? That takes his piety as a provision? Are you someone that is conscious of Allah jalla jalaluhu when you're at work, when you're at home, when you're alone?

It is this consciousness that we have to inherit. It is this consciousness that we need. And if we do this, my beloved brothers and sisters, we gain truly the benefit of Ramadan.

This is why, if you read the Quran, quickly Allah tells us in the beginning of Surah Al-Baqarah:

This is the Book, the Quran — in it there is guidance. For who? For those that have taqwa.

This is what Allah jalla jalaluhu tells us all the time. And we hear these ayat — we just heard them right now in the beginning of the khutbah. And I want you to think about it. Ponder over the verses that are recited every Friday. What do we start with? You've heard this so many times, you've memorized it. What's being repeated? Every single one of those ayat is telling you: be someone that is pious, be someone that has taqwa, be someone that is conscious of Allah.

Because once you inherit this consciousness of Allah, you will be able to go about your life and the amount of sin that you incur will be less and less and less, and the amount of worship you will be doing is more and more and more. Because you are conscious of Allah, you will oppress less. Because you are conscious of Allah. This is what we need to gain from Ramadan — taqwa.

Taqwa and Good Character — The Path to Jannah

And not only that, my dear brothers and sisters — what takes people to Jannah the most? The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa salam, said that the act of worship that will lead you to go to Jannah the most is taqwa Allahi — it is being someone that is pious — and having good character. Being pious and having good character.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2004)

This is what we have to really focus on, my brothers and sisters — to be people that truly understand the importance of taqwa.

The Meaning of Taqwa

Allah is encouraging us to be people that are conscious of Him, that have piety. And the word taqwa — the ulama give many different explanations and translations for it. It comes from putting a barrier, or a protective barrier, between you and the fire. Meaning: do everything in your power to be someone that is saving yourself from the punishment of Allah — by listening to the commands and staying away from the prohibitions, by being someone that is actively conscious of Allah, that Allah is on your mind often.

That's why when Allah was talking about the people of taqwa and was talking about when they sin — because pious people also sin. It's not only people that are wicked that sin. Pious people also sin, because the human being has been created flawed, and we will oppress and we will fall into sin. But Allah mentions that they are those who, when they do sin, they remember Allah. They remember Allah.

And this is the point, my beloved brothers and sisters — be people that remember Allah. Just like Ramadan teaches you. Right now, each one of us here — if you eat by accident or drink by accident, what is your reaction immediately? أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّه and you put it down the moment you remember. The moment you realize that you've transgressed upon the boundary of Allah, what do you do? You make istighfar and you put it down. And you know that you would never have done that on purpose. And you're even disturbed by the fact that you've done it by accident, even though Allah is the one that has provided you with that — because if you drink by accident or eat by accident, meaning you forgot that you were fasting, then this is rizq from Allah. Yet the moment you're told, or the moment you realize, what do you do? You step back.

Are you the same when it comes to the other sins? And if not, understand: the way Allah wants you to be outside of Ramadan — or in fasting — is the way you are when you are fasting. Eager to please Allah. Eager to worship Allah. Willing to obey Allah. This is the lesson that we have to take from Ramadan.

The Fruits and Benefits of Taqwa

Allah jalla jalaluhu says:

Allah is saying that in the end, victory belongs to the muttaqeen — the pious. Wallahi, if you read the Quran just focusing on piety, you will come across ayah after ayah where Allah is telling you: be someone that is conscious of Allah, be someone that in your heart Allah is your priority, and life will become so much better for you.

Allah jalla wa 'azza says:

If you have piety and taqwa, Allah will give you Furqan. What is Furqan, my dear brothers and sisters? Furqan is a criterion — the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood. And how many of us would like to be able to know right from wrong? And you might be thinking, "I already know right from wrong." But there are so many issues — is this haram? Is this halal? Is this allowed? Is this not allowed? Should I do this? Should I not do this? Allah is saying: the more you become conscious of Allah, the more you become a pious person, the more you become a righteous person, Allah will gift you Furqan.

There is a du'a that the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa salam, taught us that we should say:

Oh Allah, allow us to see the truth for what it is — the truth — and provide us the ability to follow it. And oh Allah, allow us to see falsehood for what it is, and allow us to be among those that stay away from it.

If you want to be among those that are always on a path of righteousness, truth, and haq — increase your taqwa in Allah. Fear Allah. Allah says:

Have taqwa of Allah, and Allah will teach you. Allah will teach you, Allah will give you knowledge.

Allah says: whoever has taqwa of Allah, Allah will give him a way out of his difficulties. If you feel that your finances are constrained, if you are struggling financially, then increase your taqwa — and Allah says I will provide you from places you do not expect.

Whoever has taqwa of Allah, Allah will make his affairs easy for him.

Allah says: whoever has taqwa of Allah, Allah will expiate their sins and their mistakes, and will increase your reward and give you a greater reward.

Allah mentions all the time — when He talks about His rahmah, Allah mentions that His rahmah encompasses everything, and Allah has made obligatory His rahmah for those that have piety and are conscious of Allah.

Worship Is the Path to Taqwa

So in a nutshell, my dear brothers and sisters, what you learn from this is that everything starts with taqwa and ends with taqwa. Everything starts with taqwa and ends with taqwa. To the point where when Allah says:

O mankind, worship your Lord that has created you and those that came before you, so that you may be pious and have taqwa — so that you may attain piety, so that you may protect yourself from the anger of Allah, so that you may protect yourself from the fire.

The Lessons of Ramadan — and What Remains

This is what we need to learn from Ramadan. The lessons in Ramadan are there for us to benefit from. If you go into specifics — Ramadan should teach you to be connected to the masjid. Why is it so easy for us to come to the masjid in Ramadan but not outside of it? Ramadan should teach you to become more charitable, so that you become more charitable outside of Ramadan. Ramadan should teach you to become someone that prays at night — not just in Ramadan. It is meant to be that springboard by which the rest of your year you gain from Ramadan and you start doing all these things inshallah, so that you don't end up being only Ramadan Muslims.

Now of course it goes without saying, my brothers and sisters, that we now have less left in this month than what has gone by — less. And it is important that you realize that this is an opportunity that is about to finish. It is an opportunity, a gift from Allah. We know many who have not been able to fast this month of Ramadan — and they passed away. And some that started to fast this Ramadan but they are not with us anymore. Yet Allah has given you this opportunity. Use this opportunity. Repent from your shortcomings and your sins. Go from strength to strength.

Don't just wait for the last ten — start now. And increase your ibadah, your recitation, your Quran. Involve your families. Don't be distracted by the dunya. Don't be distracted by the dunya. This is a great opportunity for you to become among those that are freed from the fire. May Allah make us among them.

Closing Du'a

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ وَلَا عُدْوَانَ إِلَّا عَلَى الظَّالِمِينَ وَصَلَّى اللَّهُمَّ وَسَلِّمْ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ

May Allah forgive our shortcomings. May Allah accept our fasting and our standing and our prayer. May Allah accept our fasting.