Ramadhan Recession - Ustadh Aqeel Mahmood

Ramadan Recession

Brothers and sisters, I want you to go back to a few days before Ramadan, or a day before Ramadan, and I want you to think about how we were excited that we were going to be blessed with another month of Ramadan once again. And we come to the masjid for the first day of Taraweeh, and we wear the best of clothes, and the nicest perfume. And we might wear a thobe, and we don't normally wear a thobe. And so we come to the masjid, and we have this zeal and this excitement for the month of Ramadan. And we see the atmosphere, and the feeling is different.

And a person wants to do good, and he wants to do good deeds in this blessed month. And so he starts the month of Ramadan, and he has this zeal, he has this excitement, he wants to make the most of this blessed month. And so he starts to read Quran like he's never read the Quran before. He starts to read pages and pages, every single day. He starts to make salawat, nawafil prayers, and he does so many good deeds. And then, after a week goes by, or after 10 days go by, it seems as if he's used up all of his energy. He's used up all of his energy, and he has no more energy left. And he has no more strength left. And all that zeal, and all that excitement has gone.

And he has the majority of the month of Ramadan left. He has 20 days left. And you'll see, after the first 10 days, you'll see the masjid won't be as busy. You know, the first 10 days, there'll be lots of people. You might have to make space for more brothers who are coming in, you might have to open the back hall. But then, after the first 10 days, the numbers decrease, and people stop coming. And they tend to give up, or stop trying when it comes to the middle part of Ramadan. So there seems to be like a slump when it comes to the middle of Ramadan. The second third of the blessed month of Ramadan — a Ramadan recession — where people don't seem to be making the effort in this particular time of the month.

The Importance of Pacing Yourself

And when it comes to the reason for this, then a person, when he overexerts himself, he's unable to make the most of his time. He's unable to make the most of the blessed month of Ramadan, because of this zeal and passion that he has at the beginning of Ramadan. He uses up his energy. He goes from first gear to fifth gear straight away. And 10 days go by, and we are a third of the way through the month of Ramadan now. And we have two thirds of the blessed month of Ramadan left.

And so really a person should be pacing himself when it comes to the month of Ramadan. He should have an idea of what he's capable of. Yes, we're excited that it's the month of Ramadan, and we're blessed that it's the month of Ramadan. And especially in this time of difficulty with the heat and with the long summer days, a person may find it difficult, and there may be some type of special atmosphere or something that he feels that he won't feel in any time of the year when we experience Ramadan at any other time of the year, except in the summer. And so a person needs to make sure that he paces himself when it comes to this blessed month. He needs to make sure that he has some type of timetable that he sticks to. Otherwise, when the best time of the month comes, the last 10 days, he won't have any more energy left, and he won't be able to do the good deeds that he wants to do. He would have done so much at the beginning of Ramadan, and he would have overexerted himself, and he won't be able to do anything when it comes to the last 20 days or the last 10 days.

Start Today, Not Tomorrow

And then you have another group of brothers and sisters. And this group, they can't seem to even kick off the month of Ramadan in a good way. They haven't got into the gist of the month of Ramadan. They can't get into a routine. Maybe they had goals. Maybe they had priorities. Maybe they had something that they wanted to do in the blessed month of Ramadan — whether it was to read the Qur'an, finish the whole Qur'an, or do some other type of good deed in this blessed month — and they haven't done it. They haven't started. They haven't found that kick that they need in order to start those good deeds.

And a person needs to realize that one of the signs of the Hour is that time will go by fast. A third of the month of Ramadan has already passed us by. These 10 days, we'll never get these 10 days again. We'll never get these 10 days back. And whatever a person did of good deeds in these 10 days, then he'll be rewarded for that. And those who never did any good deeds or didn't do as much as they felt like they could have done, they need to realize that those days won't ever come back again. These 10 days, you won't be able to rewind time. You won't be able to go back in time and experience those 10 days again. That's not possible. But what a person can do is focus on each day as it comes.

Sometimes we make plans about the month of Ramadan, about what we're going to do each and every single day. And we make a plan of what we're going to do. Yet when it comes to a person starting to do good deeds, starting to implement that plan that he made, he fails to do it. Days go by. Weeks go by. And he fails to do it. And this is why they say that a person should focus on today and don't worry about what's going to happen tomorrow or the day after or next week. Whatever a person is capable of doing, he should do it today.

If somebody wants to do something — if he wants to read Quran, if he wants to give in charity, if he wants to feed the poor, if he wants to do any type of deed — then let him start with today. Because when a person doesn't start with today, he's going to keep thinking about tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow. I'll leave it for tomorrow. There's plenty of time. I won't do it today. I'll feel tired. I'll start tomorrow. And then tomorrow comes and he says the same thing. He thinks the same thing. And then tomorrow finishes and he says the same thing for the following day. I'll start it tomorrow. And that tomorrow never ever comes. And he wastes his time thinking about tomorrow.

So instead of thinking about tomorrow, try to think of doing that deed today. Start with that deed today and take each and every day as it comes. Think about what you can do when it comes to good deeds on this very day. Not about what you're going to start tomorrow or what you intend to do tomorrow. Start with today. What's wrong with doing a good deed today instead of focusing on tomorrow or next week? When you have today, when you have this day ready for you, prepared for you — this day is for you. But it's about what the slave does with his day that will decide whether he gets rewarded for the actions that he does.

Fasting in the Heat — A Greater Reward

And knowing and understanding that we are fasting in this heat, in these long summer days, sometimes a person will complain. And he'll complain about the heat. And he'll say, it's so hot today. The weather is too hot. And you hear people complaining. And they complain about the heat. And they complain about their fast. And how hungry they are. And how thirsty they are.

One of the women of the past, one of the righteous women of the past, she would choose to fast the hottest days. And she would choose to fast the longest days. Not out of obligation, not in the month of Ramadan, but out of her own choice. She would choose to fast the hottest days of the year. She would wait for the hottest days to come in the summer, the longest days, and then she would choose to fast those days specifically. And when the people asked her, they said, why do you choose to do this? Why do you choose to fast on these long days when it's so hot and it's so difficult to fast? Why don't you fast on shorter days, days in the winter, cooler days, days which it will be easier for you to fast? When she was asked this, she said to them: When the price is cheap, everyone will buy. When something's cheap, when something's available to everyone, everyone's going to have it. When something's expensive and something is high up and not everyone can afford it, they'll be wary, they'll be hesitant, they'll be careful about buying that product. The more difficult something is, the less people will do it. So this is a sign of determination when it came to this woman — the fact that she would want to fast on these days because the more difficulty that a person has when it comes to fasting, the more reward he'll get.

So all that thirst and the dry mouth that we have and the hunger that we're experiencing and the sweat that comes off our foreheads in these long summer days while we're fasting — there's going to be more reward for us if we're patient. If we're patient with our fast. And fasting means refraining, restraining, withholding oneself, staying away from certain things — not just food and drink and relations with our wives and husbands, but also when it comes to our tongues, what we say. So if a person refrains from complaining about these long summer days, about how hot it is, we know how hot it is. We're experiencing the same sun as you. We're in the same place as you. We know how hot it is. We know the weather. But if a person controls his tongue and is patient with what he says, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will reward him as a result of this.

Gratitude — A Reminder from Somalia

One of the people from Somalia, he called up a Muslim TV channel to get a fatwa from one of the scholars. And when he called, he asked the Sheikh and he said, O Sheikh, will my fast be accepted if I don't do suhoor and I don't do iftaar? He never had any food to have suhoor and to have iftaar — subhanAllah. And so when the scholar heard this, he broke down crying. He couldn't even answer the question. The fact that there are some people in the world who don't even have any food and drink. We complain about the fact that we're staying away from food and drink for a certain number of hours. These people, they don't even have any food and drink. And yet they still want to fast, even though it's not even obligatory upon them. They still want to fast, even though they have no food and drink.

And yet we're complaining about the heat. We're complaining about our fasts. We're in no position to be complaining about these days, when we are blessed with the type of food that we have during iftaar and during suhoor. During iftaar, when the food is laid out in front of us, so much food for us — we're blessed with the food that we have. So much food that we can't finish it all. So much food that the food goes to waste. We're wasting food. People in some places don't even have any food. And we're wasting food during these days. And then we're complaining about the long hours and about how difficult it is to fast. And then we eat so much and we come for Taraweeh and we can't even stand. And maybe some people don't even come for Taraweeh because they're eating too much. Because they're having too much of an iftaar. Because they're not controlling their desires. They don't understand the blessing of the month of Ramadan. They don't understand the purpose of the month of Ramadan — to be able to refrain from food and drink, to be able to control one's desires.

The month of Ramadan is where a person should be training his body. The time of iftaar comes and a person just eats whatever is in front of him. And he overeats. And then he can't even make it to the masjid. So we're in no position to complain, brothers and sisters.

The Reward of Fasting in the Summer Heat

And when it comes to the reward of fasting in these days, as I mentioned, the more difficulty there is when it comes to fasting, the more reward he'll get. Imam Ibn Rajab, rahimahullah, he mentions that a maiden of paradise, when it came to the rewards of those who fast in the heat, he said that a maiden of paradise will say to a friend and a servant of Allah while he is in paradise — while he's reclining with her beside the shores of a river with wine in his hands, and she'll hand him the cup of wine, and he'll be in the pinnacle of his enjoyment in paradise next to the sea with the maidens of paradise, with wine in his hand — and while he's in this position, the maiden of paradise will say to him:

"Do you know on which day Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala married you to me? He looked at you on a long summer day while you were extremely thirsty in the midday heat and He expressed His pride over you to the angels themselves, saying: 'Look at My slave, he has left his wife, he has left his food, he has left his drink, he has left all of his pleasure for My sake, desiring what is with Me — bear witness that I have forgiven him.' And then she will say: He forgave you on that day and married you to me."

Look at the reward, brothers and sisters, of fasting in this blessed month, in these long summer days. While we are experiencing this difficulty, there is nothing but good that will come out of this.

I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness for me and for you. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful. And peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

The Levels of Fasting

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the chief of Prophets and messengers, our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

The scholars, they mention that fasting has different levels. And they say that the first level of fasting is the fast of the average Muslim — the one who, when he fasts, he just refrains from food and drink and from relations with his spouse. That's the fast of the average Muslim. And then they say that there is another level, which is only for a select few of the Muslims. And this type of fasting is not just refraining from food and drink and relations with our spouses, but also restraining the ears from listening to things which are bad, and refraining and restraining and controlling our gaze and what we look at, and also controlling our tongues and controlling what our hands and feet do — doing these things and preventing these limbs of ours from doing anything which might displease Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Controlling the Tongue

And when it comes to controlling our tongues, then this is something which sometimes we tend to overlook. Sometimes a person speaks and he tends to speak even before thinking. Even before thinking about what he's saying, he'll be speaking. And he might be saying something about a brother or about a sister. And he might be cursing somebody. He might be making istihza of someone, making fun of someone. And a person needs to be considerate when it comes to what he says and when it comes to his tongue, and he needs to be considerate when it comes to controlling his tongue, especially in this blessed month of Ramadan.

Once a man came to the Messenger of Allah alayhis salatu wa s-salam and he said, advise me. And the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he held his tongue with his fingers and said: Control this. Keep hold of this. Control your tongue.

And the Messenger of Allah alayhis salatu wa s-salam talked about fasting and the reward of fasting, and he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1904; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1151)

Fasting is like a shield. And he said: If someone fasts, then let him refrain from saying anything evil, from saying anything bad, from saying filthy words. And if someone swears at him, curses him, says something bad to him, or tries to harm him with his own hand — gets physical with him, tries to hurt him — then let him say: إِنِّي صَائِمٌ — let him remind himself of the fact that he's fasting. Don't reply back to those people, because you're better than that person. So you need to reply by saying, Inni sa'im — verily I am fasting — to remind yourself and to remind that person who might be doing some harm to you, that you are under the obedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You are obeying Allah by fasting and you're not going to waste your time or make sins by using your tongue in a way which you shouldn't be doing.

And also the Messenger of Allah mentioned in a hadith when he said:

Whoever doesn't leave false speech and evil speech and acting upon that, then there is no benefit, there's no reason for that person to leave food and drink. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has no need for this person. When a person leaves food and drink yet he's using his tongue for false talk and evil talk and filthy words, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has no need for this person because he hasn't benefited from fasting. He hasn't seen the purpose of fasting and the benefits of being able to control his desires and what he says and what he does.

The Story of Abu Bakr and the Angel

Once the Messenger of Allah was sitting with Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. And a man came and started to curse Abu Bakr — just started to curse him right there and then. And so Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, remained quiet. And then the man cursed him a second time. And Abu Bakr stayed quiet. He never said anything. And a third time this man was cursing Abu Bakr. And this time Abu Bakr replied and cursed back. And when he did this, the Messenger of Allah left the gathering. He stood up and he walked away.

And Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, followed the Messenger of Allah and he said:

Did you become angry over me, O Messenger of Allah? Is that why you stood up and left? And the Messenger of Allah said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 9634; reported by Imam Ahmad with a chain from Abu Hurairah)

An angel came down and started to talk back to the man who was cursing you — started to refute the man who was cursing you. And the second time when he cursed you again, the angel refuted that man and replied to that man. And then the third time when you replied to this person who cursed you, Shaytan became present in our gathering. He came to our gathering. He came to our place of sitting. So I didn't want to sit in a gathering in which Shaytan himself was sitting in.

So a person, if he controls his tongue, brothers and sisters — even if someone's cursing him — that curse will ultimately go back to that person, except when a person replies and tries to argue and tries to respond to that person who might be saying things to him.

The Best of Islam

Also, it's mentioned that a person came to the Messenger of Allah alayhis salatu wa s-salam and he said to him:

Which is the best deed in Islam? What is the best thing that I can do when it comes to Islam? And the Messenger of Allah alayhis salatu wa s-salam said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 11; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 41)

The one from whose hand and tongue other Muslims are safe. The one who controls his hands and tongue from harming other Muslims. When he controls what he says, when he controls what he does, when it comes to other Muslims and being considerate for other people — this is the person who will have the best type of Islam. The one who is aware and conscious of his Muslim brother. The one who loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

Iman, the Heart, and the Tongue

And it's also been mentioned that the Messenger of Allah alayhis salatu wa s-salam talked about iman and talked about the heart and talked about the tongue. And he talked about the relationship between these three. And he said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 13048; reported by Anas ibn Malik)

A person's iman won't be set straight until he sets his heart straight — until he sorts his heart out, until he knows how to be with other people and he controls his desires and he controls what takes place in his heart. And then he said: a person's heart won't be set straight until his tongue is set straight — until he controls his tongue, until he makes sure that whatever he says is something which is good. And if it isn't good, then he shouldn't be saying anything at all. He should be controlling his tongue.

And this was the advice of the Messenger of Allah alayhis salatu wa s-salam when it came to controlling our tongues and when it came to refraining and restraining from doing evil deeds, especially in this blessed month of Ramadan. We need to be controlling not just what we put into our mouths, but also what comes out of our mouths — when it comes to the things that we say, when it comes to our tongues, and when it comes to how we behave towards other people.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 45)

A person won't truly and fully believe until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. Don't say something to your Muslim brother or sister if you know that if someone was to say it to you, you'd feel uncomfortable. You won't feel happy. You won't feel good if that same thing was said to you. So control what you say when it comes to your tongues.

Du'a and Closing

Finally, I want to make du'a specifically for those people who have any children, who have any parents, who have any relatives who are suffering, who have any illnesses. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He cures every single one of them. Anybody who has any type of children who have some type of sickness, wherever they are — whether they are in Pakistan, in Lahore, or in Birmingham, whatever place they're in — we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He cures every single one of them and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes their affairs easy for them, and that He, as a result of their difficulties, takes away from their sins on the Day of Judgment.

O Allah, forgive the believers, the Muslims, those who are alive and those who are dead.

Allah commands you to be just and to do good and to give to those who are near, and forbids immorality, evil and transgression. He warns you so that you may remember. So remember Allah, the Great, the Glorious — He will remember you. And call upon Him for His blessings so that He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is higher, more precious and greater. And Allah knows what you do.