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The Purpose of Fasting

Ramadan Tadhkirah, Simply Islam

Dr. Nour Kabbani

26 April 2021 Fenton, Michigan

As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,

Ramadan Mubarak insha Allah for all Ummati Muhammad (s); for all of you. I was asked by Sidi Salleh from Simply Islam Academy in the UK to record a brief message, he called it tadhkirah, a reminder; a reminder of the month of Ramadan and the only thing that comes to my mind is what I got from my murshid, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani (q) where he said that true fasting is to get rid of everything related to the world from the human heart. That is the essential purpose of fasting; to rid ourselves of physical pleasures and turn to the spiritual pleasures that Allah has for us.

That means leaving the distractions of the world and directing ourselves to the Hereafter, and that is precisely what the Messenger of Allah (saw) brought to teach people. He (saw) has brought Qur'anu 'l-Karim, and his sacred wisdom to guide people to the Hereafter. But what happened with the unbelievers of Quraish, with the disbelievers at that time? They saw that most of the followers of the Prophet (s) were ordinary people, people who were poor and simple, not people who had money or wealth, so they said, "these people have no mind, they leave worldly pleasures and turn to something unknown!" That is also happening right now.

Today many people look at us and say, "Oh, these people are not interested in gaining wealth in the world, they are not interested in gaining prestige in this world, these people have no minds! They do not understand the fun they have missed. " But we always understand and hear the holy Qur'an, especially the holy verses that I read yesterday,

Asta`eedhu billah,

۞ قَالُوْٓا اَنُؤْمِنُ لَكَ وَاتَّبَعَكَ الْاَرْذَلُوْنَ ۗ - ١١١

qaaloo anu'minu laka wa 't-taba`aka 'l-ardhaloona

They said, "Should we have faith in you, even though your followers are despicable people?" (Surah Ash-Shu`ara, 26: 111)

That's what they said to Rasulullah (saw). So they said that, "The people following you are the poor and we can't be in the same majlis, association, with them." Look, Awliyaullah, they always accept everyone. But the people of this world, they only wanted to meet their peers. They only meet people of the same level.

Awliyaullah, Anbiyaullah, they accept everyone. All Anbiyaullah, their followers are all poor people, so are Awliyaullah because they inherited the message of Anbiyaullah, inherited their path. They also have followers around them who are poor, alhamdulillaah.

The problem is, people who are rich, who do not want to accept the way, their view is only fixated on the world. And they think that the person at the highest level in the world is the one who has the most share in the dunya. These are the people to be befriended; the people who are respected; the people who rule the most of the world, these are the people who must be recognized.

But they don't understand and they don't know what Rasulullah (s) has taught us that before Allah (swt) a truly honorable person is a person who has obtained the Hereafter and a truly dishonorable person is a person who has lost the Hereafter. That's how we see it, that's why we don't pursue this world too much, we don't pursue wealth too much, to gain prestige, or to gain prominence. No, we want the Hereafter, we want na`imu 'l-Akhira, we want the Hereafter Favors, we want please our Lord and we want the pleasure of Rasulullah (s).

This is the path that Ramadan teaches us, which is to get away from the world, not to pursue the pleasures of the world but to hope for the pleasures of the Hereafter. So, stay on the right track. Stay on the path of Awliyaullah and may Allah (swt) bless you all.

Wa 's-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi ta`ala wa barakaatuh

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