1 Shawwal 1427/23 October 2006
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, La ilaha ill-Allah…
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, La ilaha ill-Allah, Allahu akbar Allahu akbar wa lillahi l-hamd.…
Ayyuhal muminoon al-haadiroon.
That saying Allahu akbar, Allah I likes that. Because we are admitting and we are saying that there is no one other than Allah I is the creator and he is the greatest.
There is nothing that exists without his existence. We are unable to exist. They say in science that animals or dinosaurs extinct, disappeared, gone. They are gone from dunya, many species are gone. But creation is still going on. It means the Creator is creating. It means new cycles are always going and new cycles coming, until Allah I with His heavenly and eternal wisdom makes it end, and He knows it best. That is why He is the Greatest. You say akbar, greatest, but it is not compared to what we are. If we compare to what we are that is nothing, of course Allah I is greater than everything. Allah I is above everything that we think, not that Allah I is greater than us or greatest of all things in existence. He is above every imagination or science. He is above whatever inspiration comes to your heart, Allah’s I hidden treasure is far more. There is endless treasures that Allah I is granting to His servants. That is why the Prophet e was looking to himself in the night of Mi’raj and he was saying, “I am nothing but a human being like you.” He only wants to show his humbleness. “Nothing exists in front of Your Existence.” These appearances have passed on and gone, but Allah I remains.
But we are so huge with our monstrous ego, with our selfishness. And Allah I is always teaching us how to be humble. We are fasting this month. The Prophet e said, according to Abu Hurayrah y, and this is in a holy hadith and there are very few hadith in which the Prophet e said,
“Allah I said, Qaala Allah inna li bani Adam u, kulli ibadah ill as-sawm fa innahu lee wa ana ajzi bih.”
Allah I said that for the sons of Adam u, “Fasting is for Me and I reward it.” It means: “No one can interfere in fasting. And I am the one that rewards for it.” Everything else you will be granted reward by angels. But fasting is different; there is no intermediary for the fasting. “I will take it directly and I will reward it.”
Was-sawmu junnah - “And fasting is a Paradise.” When Ramadan comes and you begin fasting and you don’t do something against Shariah, such as adultery or entertaining yourself in bad places. And if anyone come against you or was fighting with you, you have to say to him, I am fasting, twice and by the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad e the smell that comes from the mouth of the fasting person is better on Judgment Day than all perfumes in Paradise.”
You know after they wake up they go and brush their teeth. They want to smell nicely. And when they go to meet someone I see many people spraying in their mouths. To smell nicely. The Prophet e is saying that, “The smell of the one who is fasting, whatever smell it is, is better to Allah I on the Day of Judgment than the best scents of Paradise, reeh al-misk. And for the fasting person there are two great joys. One is when you break the fast.”
Like today or like the time when you break in the evening. Look how the ego is dangerous. It is constantly telling you, “You are tired, you are sick.” And then if you complete the fast you are very happy and satisfied. “And the second is happiness is when you meet your Lord on the Day of Judgment.” Ramadan will be on Day of Judgment coming with you like a bed flying; like a flying carpet. And you will be happy with your Ramadan.
Qaala an-Nabi e Al-Qur’an wa Ramadan yashfi`aan li-l `abd yawm al-qiyaamat.
The Qur’an and fasting will intercede for everyone on Judgment Day. That siyaam will come on Judgment Day and say, “That person you must not judge him.” The fast, siyaam will say, “I forbade him from eating and bad desires during the day, [because he is fasting], he cannot do it. Let me intercede for him.” And the Qur’an will say, “I forbade him from sleeping at night, [because he is reading Qur’an at night when he is fasting on the day]. And let me intercede for him and it will be accepted.” So there will be two intercessions. [Ahmad]
And from Sahl bin Sa`d y who said that, “Paradise will have a door called Rayyaan.” Rayyaan means something watered or something juicy and sweet. “At the door of that Paradise will stand angels that call out, ‘where are the people who fasted Ramadan, come and enter here.’ And when the last of them has entered that door will be closed.” That means that the fasting ones enter Paradise without any account.
The Prophet e said, “As-sawmu lee wa ana ajzi bih-- Fasting is for Me and I will reward it.”
If one person broke fast during Ramadan without illness, intentionally and without any legitimate excuse, even if he fast all his years from that day to the day of his death it will never compensate for that one day of Ramadan. So be careful, there are people who say, “I have an excuse,” but it might not be a legitimate excuse.
Allah I mentioned the excuses in Qur’an. “If you are sick or traveling then you may fast days later.”
Adh-Dhahabi y said, “Whoever left the fast of Ramadan without being sick or an excuse, he breaks his fast intentionally or didn’t fast, ignored the fast, he is worse than the one who makes adultery and the one who is addicted to alcohol. He is worse than that drunk person and there will be a doubt in his Islam, is he Muslim or not and they will think about him he is a corrupted heretic.”
That is what ulama al-Islam are worried. They are very worried for those who are intentionally not fasting or ignoring the month of Ramadan. Alhamdulillah the majority of the Ummah are fasting. I know many people who fast but don’t pray. And some fast and pray but only in Ramadan. They don’t remember praying outside Ramadan. Allah I is merciful but we have to be careful.
Abu Hurayrah y said, that the Prophet e said between the 5 prayers, from one day to another from a Friday to a Friday and from one Ramadan to the next, whatever is between, Allah I will waive all the sins that are between.
It means if you fast one Ramadan and then fast another, every sin that occurred between the two Allah I will forgive them all.
And the Prophet e said, “Man saama Ramadan imaanan wahtisaaban ghufir lahu maa taqadamma min dhanbih—Whoever fasted Ramadan with belief and full attention, will be forgiven whatever he has done in the past.” Everything will be forgiven. Whatever were sins before. Rawahu Ahmad wa ashaab as-sunan.
`An abi ayyub al-ansari `an an-nabi annahu qaala man saama Ramadan wa’ ttab`ahu bi sittatin min shawwaal ka annahu saam ad-dahr.
“Whoever fasted Ramadan and followed it with six days [fast] from [the month of] Shawwaal, it will be as if he had fasted permantnely.”
And the `ulama explained that because every fast is multiplied by 10 hasanaat, so 30 days of Ramadan is equal to 300 days of fasting, and whoever fasted 6 days from Shawwal multiply it by 10 hasanaat, then it is as if he fasted 60 days and that makes 360 days or the whole year.
Zakaat al-fitr is very important. If anyone didn’t pay it let him pay before noon.
Zakaat al-fitr was ordered in the 2nd year after the Prophet’s e message and it was ordered in Sha`ban. That zakaat will search out the defect in your fasting in Ramadan and purify it. It is like a Google search engine, it searches for defects, and then it purifies them. We have to call it the Google Shaykh, that googles everything and then cleans it and you will saved.
Ibn `Abbas y related from the Prophet e that Allah I made zakaat al-fitr an obligation in order to purify the mistakes of Ramadan, and what is included is al-laghwi. Al-laghwi means people keep talking, whatever doesn’t concern them, they only like to keep talking. That is a sickness. You go on a plane or a ship or a train or a bus, and there is a person that sits by your side and he will tell you his whole life story: “My grandchildren got married and got divorced and this and that.” That is laghaw. That zakaat al-fitr will take any laghaw. Sometimes you throw some lies there, that zakaat al-fitr will take it.
And rafath, it will take all of it. It is something that is against Islamic Shariah in behavior. As long as you are keeping your fast that will take and clean it. And tu`mat al-masakeen, that is a food that you give to poor people to satisfy their needs in Eid time. It is higher than sadaqa. You make those people who are poor happy by giving them some money or in time of Prophet e giving in kind, if you sell barley you give barley if you sell whet you give wheat.
Anyone who will give it before he prays, it will be like a Google Shaykh and will clean the fasting. If given after the prayer it will be like sadaqa and will not have that search engine to clean your actions.
…
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, La ilaha ill-Allah, Allahu akbar Allahu abkar wa lillahi al-hamd.
Alhdulillah illadhee sharafana bi haadha ad-din, …