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Why is the Month of Ramadhan Great?
English Bayan, 37 mins
8th April, 2021

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Why is the Month of Ramadhan Great?
​It is a principle of life that however much greatness, appreciation, Adab and respect for something you have in your heart, then that is the extent to which you will take benefit from that. Due to the esteem he has in his heart for that thing, and due to his value and appreciation for it, he brings it into his life – whatever it is. If you want to take benefit from something, then first and foremost there must be a feeling in the heart that this thing is great. The more respect and esteem and Adab you have, the more you will take benefit and appreciate it. Take anything from the Dunya – a car for example. If you purchase a very expensive car, you will use it and benefit from it if you value it. If you acquire a lot of wealth for which you didn’t work hard and didn’t earn yourself because you inherited it, then obviously, you won’t respect and value that wealth and are likely to waste it.
​In respect of the Hereafter, this is the situation as well. If there are A’maal which a person respects and appreciates inside himself, then he will practice them properly. If you want to take benefit from an individual, if you have esteem and respect and regard for that person in your heart, then the more this is the case, the more benefit you will derive from that person. This is why you may see that a Sheikh has thousands of Mureeds or even hundreds of thousands of Mureeds, but you will see differences between them. There are differences in their status and level and Maqam, and this is not a matter of the Sheikh distributing his love, but rather, this happens Bi’idhni-llah, according to the dispensation of Allah. The Sheikh doesn’t have anything in his control. Where does this come from? From Allah ta’ala. Allah is Khabir and Basir – He knows everything that is in the hearts; He knows the condition of the hearts.
This is a very big subject, because Allah is being attained – we have to reach Allah. Why is there this difference between the students of a Sheikh? Within a few moments, one person can go from here to there, whereas another person spends all of his life on a lower level. What is the reason for this? The difference is in the extent of Aqeedah, of Ihtiram, of respect and of Adab. The more esteem and honour for the Sheikh that the student holds in his heart, and the more love he has, the more he pulls on the blessings and the Faidh from the teacher. He will take benefit from every discussion, from every word, when walking with him and when seeing him. The whole life of the Sheikh will become a benefit for the student. This is very important for the Salikeen, and they should pay attention to this. When a student goes to the Sheikh, he should ask himself whether he is getting Nisbat, connection, with the Sheikh, and whether he has respect and regard for him in his heart. If he doesn’t, then he should increase this. This is our subject because this is our Waseelah, our means, by which we are going to arrive to Allah, so if the source of the path is weak in us, and we see it as a routine or a tradition, or if the connection with that person is seen as a mere cultural connection, then this will just be a routine of life and we won’t benefit. Such a person won’t take any benefit – this is a very important point to understand.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala has made all the months and the days and the years. There is no doubt – all that there is comes from Him. But we are coming towards a month that is very close to us – and let us all make Dua, because something can seem very close, but its closeness depends on Allah. So make Dua that ‘Oh Allah ta’ala, may You allow us to arrive at this great and momentous month with ease and with health and with Iman.’ Why is there so much respect for this month? Why is it such a great month? How did Allah ta’ala speak about the month, and in what style? First and foremost, when Allah spoke about this month in the Qur’an, Allah mentioned its greatness and instilled its importance in our hearts. In every month, the Faidh and blessings of Allah descend – was Sha’ban minor? Was Rajab minor? No matter what month of the year you take, Allah’s Rahmah is there – every month is full of Allah’s Rahmahs. But Allah ta’ala has instructed us about this month specifically in the Qur’an – {يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ}. Allah ta’ala has said this to create special respect and esteem in our hearts. Allah is saying this so that the understanding of the greatness and the rank of this month can come into our hearts, so that we can take benefit from this month. If there is no value or esteem for it in our hearts and we do not appreciate its status, then the month will go to waste.
People will benefit from Ramadhan in proportion to the level of esteem for it that is in their hearts, just as I said that the students benefit from the Sheikh in proportion to the level of esteem they have for him in their hearts. For this reason, Allah ta’ala has introduced this month in an Ajeeb and unique way. Allah is saying ‘This is not a minor month, so listen carefully and attentively. This is a month which has a special reason for being treated with Ihtiram and respect. Every month has its status, but there is a specific and unique point about Ramadhan, which is that this month is not just given to you alone.’ {كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ} Allah says ‘This Siyam is not just for you, but also the people who came before you.’ From when? Allah ta’ala is saying ‘This is such an important month that it is not just for today and for this day and age and for this Ummah, but rather, it is such an important month that, from Adam alayhi salam until now, I made it compulsory on all peoples.’ SubhanAllah – tell me, what a great thing Ramadhan will be!
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam did not say that famous Hadith for nothing – ‘A great month is about to come upon you.’ Be attentive, be alert, be awake – Allah ta’ala is telling us to accord due respect for this in your hearts, for it is not a small month that has been given to you. All of the people from Adam alayhi salam until now attained this, and we think ‘Oh, it’s just Ramadhan – Khair, it will come and go. We’ll fast and that’s it, and pray Salah and do some Talawat and Dhikr.’ Or some people even say ‘Ramadhan has come – oh no!’ Allah is saying ‘No! This is not how to spend this month, and this is not the way to regard this month - understand this month and what it is!’ Say SubhanAllah. The Qur’an is saying this – verses have been revealed. Allah is saying ‘In this month, there is a unique Ibadah. You fast, and I have given you Hajj as well, and also Salah and other Ibadaat – Zakah and Sadaqaat. But in this month, the biggest factor that I have given you is called what? Siyam – fasting. How long has this been going on for you humans? Since Adam alayhi salam until now!’
So what is there that is so important that Allah ta’ala has instilled in this fast? Because of this, Allah ta’ala says, you have to fast not just for one or two days, but He has given us this Ibadah for thirty days. Say SubhanAllah – thirty days. ‘Understand this’, Allah ta’ala says: ‘Don’t think that is a minor thing or that it is insignificant.’ So what is the reason? Brothers, Allah ta’ala is telling us to be attentive and alert in this Ibadah, so what is the connection? Why were all previous nations prescribed this as well? The reason is that Allah ta’ala has sealed within this Ibadah of fasting an element without which Insan cannot attain success. He cannot be successful in the Hereafter. This is that Ibadah which Allah ta’ala has given in this month of Ramadhan, and Allah ta’ala wants to embed the importance of this thing in our hearts so that we can practice this Ibadah. Allah ta’ala tells us that this is the objective of a human being’s life. What is our objective? That Allah ta’ala becomes pleased with us and we become pleased with Allah.
{ٱرۡجِعِىٓ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً۬ مَّرۡضِيَّةً۬} In this verse, Allah ta’ala tells us in the Qur’an the state of a person who is dying while Allah is pleased with him and that servant is pleased with Allah. If we are not in that situation that Allah is happy with us when we depart from this world, then see the Hal that will ensue. Tell me. What will occur? If Allah is not happy with us when we are departing from this world, then punishment will come at that time. How fortunate is that person with whom Allah is happy when he is departing from this world. So in this month, Allah subhana wa ta'ala has given this specific and unique Ibadah, and Allah ta’ala is saying ‘Understand that this is a very great Ibadah that you have been given, and it is hidden in this action.’ Through the Ibadah, the objective is what? Via this Ibadah, you can attain the pleasure of Allah at the conclusion of your lives. That feeling is attained, that condition is attained, that emotion is attained by which the servant pleases Allah. Allah ta’ala has given thirty days in which to make Allah ta’ala pleased, and fasting is the action through which Allah becomes pleased with His servant. How does this happen? What is it in fasting that makes Allah ta’ala happy? Allah subhana wa ta'ala has put a condition and a feeling and a factor within the action of fasting that pleases Allah – and without this, Allah will not be pleased; and if Allah ta’ala is not pleased, then we cannot be successful. Remember this. Certainly, we will not be successful. Allah is only happy when this condition is present inside a human being, and then that human being will be successful.
Listen carefully. You are Saliks, travellers, students, and this is the subject of the path we are on, and Allah ta’ala has given us this month out of the whole year so that we can revise our lesson and remember this. What is this thing through which Allah ta’ala becomes happy, that thing which a human being needs, without which he cannot be successful, and which is acquired only through fasting? What is that factor? {لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ} That thing is Taqwa – Taqwa! Say SubhanAllah. It doesn’t matter how much Ibadah we do - and this applies to any worship that we may do - if we do not have Taqwa, everything will fail. Everything from that human being will fail. Success is based on what? Taqwa – remember this. Taqwa. Allah ta’ala becomes happy due to what? Taqwa. We do all sorts of Dhikr, but if we do not attain Taqwa through that Dhikr and the Sohbat of the Sheikh, then we cannot be successful and will fail. Our Dhikr will fail, our Sohbat will fail, our effort will fail. You can do all kinds of worship and deeds, but if we do not attain Taqwa, and if Taqwa is not felt, then we have totally failed.
Why? Because Allah ta’ala will not ask about Ibadah, but rather Allah ta’ala wants to look at the result of the Ibadah. Allah has given us Salah, but Allah won’t just ask about Salah and whether we prayed thousands or hundreds of thousands of Nawafil Rakaats. Allah ta’ala has given us five Salaat in a day so that we can attain that factor via those five daily prayers. Noor ‘ala Noor – the more sugar you out on top, the sweeter it will become. It’s fine if you want to pray a thousand Nafl or one hundred thousand Nafl, but Allah ta’ala has instilled that factor in the five compulsory Salahs through which we can get the desired result; and without it, we don’t get that result. So what should we attain through every Salah? Taqwa. After Hajj, what should we attain? Taqwa. After giving Zakah, what should we attain? Taqwa. If there is no Taqwa in our lives, then our Ibadah is not successful.
So Allah ta’ala has given us such an Ibadah, called fasting, which practically brings us to this factor. Say SubhanAllah. The essence of this Ibadah is Taqwa – the Ibadah of fasting actually is Taqwa. If there is no Taqwa, then it won’t be a fast. Do you understand what I am saying? This Ibadah depends on this factor, because only if you are a Muttaqi can you become a fasting person, a Saim. If you are not a Muttaqi, then you are not a fasting person. Do you understand what I am saying? I am trying to explain this and break it down so that it is easy for you. So how does a human being who is sinning beyond sinning become a Muttaqi? Whatever he is - say we call him a thief - despite the weaknesses within him, he keeps the fast. Say SubhanAllah. He keeps a fast, and on the other side, Allah ta’ala says {لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ}, that the fast makes a person become a Muttaqi – and the Muttaqi is a high grade. So the sinful person has kept the fast, and by the end of the day, he is a Muttaqi! SubhanAllah – what an Ibadah Allah ta’ala has given us!
Will he become a Muttaqi? How? By doing the action of fasting throughout the day. If he doesn’t have that quality, then he is not keeping the fast. What is the quality that he will attain by keeping the fast? He disobeyed Allah all life-long, but now he has kept the fast, so then his Nafs says ‘Come on, now, steal something!’ Will he steal something? Will he? He will say ‘No, no – let’s not.’ If the Nafs says ‘Let’s smoke cannabis’, will the fasting person smoke it? No, he will say ‘My fast will break!’ No one is telling him what to do or guiding him – he is free. He has eaten Suhoor in the morning, and now he has got the stamp of a fasting person. Because Iman is present, then automatically, the worst of the worst people gets this passion within him and says ‘No, I cannot do this action because I am fasting. No - don’t tell me to do this.’ Say SubhanAllah. He will never do that action, believe me. Even if a child sets out to keep a fast, if you put chocolates in front of him, he will not eat them. Test him. Why? Because Allah ta’ala has praised those people {لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ}. The quality that is inherent in the fast makes the fasting person a Muttaqi by the time he becomes free of it. SubhanAllah – the fast will make that individual a Muttaqi by the time it leaves him. Look at how great this month is and how much Allah ta’ala wants to take us out of Jahannam, SubhanAllah. Imagine! Imagine!
Do you understand the objective of fasting? What a great message fasting has brought to us. Take any fasting human being – he will never commit the sin because even though the Nafs plays his game until the evening and the desires pull on him, he will say to the Nafs ‘Don’t talk nonsense! I’m fasting, so will I listen to my Rabb or will I listen to you?’ This is the Deen of Islam – this is Taqwa. And Allah ta’ala has taken this to such a high level that He has made Halal things Haram. Why? Because Allah knows that La ilaha illa-llah, Muhammad-ur-Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has so much power that if this penetrates somebody, then it doesn’t matter how sinful he is – the power of this Kalimah is such that he can leave everything in the Dunya. Yes? Iman is not a minor thing. Allah ta’ala knows the power of Iman. That is why Allah ta’ala has taken this Deen to a high level. It is not about whether a person is sinful, a Zani, a thief, a dirty woman, a good man, and they all keep the fast differently to match that – no. There is one standard for keeping this fast, Allah says. Why? Because they all have Iman within and Allah ta’ala is saying that the status of that Iman means that it doesn’t matter how bad that person is, Iman means that he has got the strength that even if a small Haram thing is put in front of that person, he will reject it. How? Allah says ‘Haram is Haram – we know that. But let Me show you the power of Iman.’ So in normal times, intimacy with this wife of yours is permissible, but when you are fasting, will anybody get close to his wife? Tell me. She is Halal normally, is she not? To approach her is not Haram, so Nafs says ‘This is your Halal wife, so what loss could there be in this for you? She was your wife last night and she is still your wife – so difference does it make?’ What is the answer he will give? ‘No, my Rabb has said that you cannot do this action while in the state of fasting.’ Say SubhanAllah! What a high regard a person has for the fast!
Look at what power Allah ta’ala has given a person. This is the power and strength of Iman that even if Allah says that a Halal thing has become Haram, a person can leave it. So as for your bad actions that you keep running after, saying ‘No, I am forced to do this – what can I do? Oh, I can’t leave this. This woman was calling me, so I went. What can I do? It was night-time, and the screen was switched on, so how could I avoid it?’ Regarding all such excuses, Allah ta’ala says ‘No, you are talking rubbish. You have the power – I have given you the power. These are all just excuses of the Nafs – this is shaytani criminality. If you want to, you can change yourself suddenly, within a second. And the punishment of Jahannam into which people will be thrown will be given for this reason. Very big punishments will be given – but I am not an oppressor. This will not be oppression, for I do not oppress anybody. You commit these sins yourself and contaminate yourself with the Nafs.’ You have been given the power, and if you just have determination and courage and go towards Allah, then no power of the world will prevent you from implementing the Hukm of Allah. SubhanAllah.
These are just your excuses, and you are speaking nonsense when you say ‘Oh, I am forced to do this – I can’t help it. I feel like doing this because I am young, and I feel like looking at women. I want to do this and I cannot stop myself from doing Haram – it is so hard and so difficult.’ But whatever Allah ta’ala has called Haram in the world, Allah ta’ala has given the strength to a Mu’min that, if he has Taqwa, if he has fear of Allah and love for Allah and if he wants Allah’s love and success in the Hereafter, then he can reject that sin as easily as when he is in intense heat during the fast with a dry tongue, and water is present, and nobody is looking, but he doesn’t go close to the water, saying ‘My Rabb has prevented me.’ SubhanAllah – say SubhanAllah!
Now do you understand what fasting is? What is the start of fasting? It is Taqwa – this is the definition of Taqwa. What does Allah ta’ala say? He tells us that this is Taqwa, and that we need to adopt this Taqwa in our lives that we display when we are fasting, when we even leave things that are normally Halal. Eating is Halal, after all. Fish is Halal, and kebabs or roast or whatever delicious foods you want to cook can be put in front of you when you are desperate with hunger – and this applies even to children – but even if the chef says ‘All of this is Halal – all the animals have been slaughtered correctly, so eat’, you will not eat anything! You will say ‘No – let me wait until Maghrib, and then I will break the fast and tackle the food. I won’t leave one thing of this food untouched then, but right now, even if you put mounds of food in front of me, I tell you that I will not eat. My Rabb says that I cannot eat, so I will not eat!’ SubhanAllah.
This is the message. So how is it that after fasting, we become like shaytan? Who do we blame? We make excuses - ‘Oh, this is the reason’ – but there is no reason. Allah says ‘You are oppressing yourself!’ {رَبَّنَا ظَلَمۡنَآ أَنفُسَنَا} We will say ‘I have committed oppression against myself. Due to my Nafs, I have oppressed myself.’ So if I want, I won’t do Haram; and if I want, I won’t go towards criminality; and if I want, I won’t oppress anybody; and if I want, I won’t backbite against anybody; and if I want, I won’t lie; and if I want, I won’t get angry. What Haram actions we do! Anger is such a bad thing, but in contrast to this anger, a person says ‘I want to do a deed of Taqwa. I want to fast and to forgive people with love and tell them that I have forgiven them and have tenderness towards them.’ Look at the beauty of that tenderness! How terrible it is for a person to consume a person’s wealth and oppress him, but if you let someone off a debt, for example, or give that person extra despite the debt, then look at the love and the Taqwa that is being demonstrated at that time!
So now do we understand why fasting has been given to us? {لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ} So that we can become Muttaqi. And what is a Muttaqi? It is when a person makes the habit of dealing with their Nafs, so that they say ‘Whatever Allah ta’ala says, I will listen and I will obey, and I will not listen to you, oh Nafs!’ SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala has given thirty days for the practice of rectification, of Islah of the Nafs, in order to tell human beings to make their Nafs used to this and to tell them that they are not going to listen to it or obey it at all. And then we will say to the Nafs ‘Why should I listen to you at all? I didn’t listen to you during the fast, so why should I listen to you now and go towards Haram? I won’t do it.’ If we keep our fasts in this way, then we will understand that Allah is saying ‘This is the way of a Mu’min throughout his life.’ Our reality is that our Nafs will invite us towards wrongdoing and Haram actions all day long, and when this happens, we must immediately say to the Nafs ‘I will not listen to you because I am a fasting person.’
So this fasting is not just for Ramadhan – the fast of a Mu’min is all life-long. SubhanAllah – and when will the Iftar of that fast be? SubhanAllah, the Iftar of that fast will be provided by Allah at the time a person passes away, and the first command that Allah ta’ala will give is that he must break his fast. Such beautiful things will be placed in front of that person - why? Look, two things are particular areas of weakness for men, and one is women and the private parts. Whatever age he attains, a man will always have a weakness in respect of women. Even if he is coughing and spluttering and dying, he will still say ‘Oh, let’s do another marriage – what difference does it make?’ He is running after a woman because this is a big weakness that Allah has placed in a man. This is a fact. So Allah subhana wa ta'ala says that he who saves his Nafs from these things, from the pull of Haram and wrongful actions, then when a person stops himself from these due to fasting, then when that person dies, Allah ta’ala will say ‘This is a fasting person, and he didn’t just fast in Ramadhan, but rather he kept that fasting attitude throughout his life.’ The effect of Ramadhan is to prevent a person from doing wrong, so then the rest of his life he suppresses his desires.
SubhanAllah, I have seen that the friends of Allah don’t just abstain from the Haram actions in Ramadhan, but they also deny themselves lawful things as well. There are many accounts that Sahaba-e-Kiram radhiAllahu anhum - and Sahabiah also - would not eat meat. Why? They would say ‘Because I want to discipline my desires by not eating meat. I will punish my Nafs by not eating meat for twenty years.’ We say ‘It is Halal, so why is he not eating it?’ We have not understood this fact that such people have arrived at the state where they are a full-time fasting person. Just as there are Halal and Haram conditions specific to Ramadhan, such a person says ‘I will apply similar restrictions throughout my life. I will only break my fast when I am given the Hoor of Jannah – only in the Hereafter will I break my fast.’ SubhanAllah – what a great point. This is Taqwa.
Allah ta’ala says ‘Have I not given a great Maqam for Taqwa? {ٱرۡجِعِىٓ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً۬ مَّرۡضِيَّةً۬} Come to Me – I am waiting for you, oh fasting person. I am awaiting your arrival and will give you whatever you abstained from in the Dunya, those delicious tastes of the Nafs, the women that you turned away from, the money that you walked away from. These are two weak points of human beings, women and wealth, and you rejected these two things for My sake and remained in a state of fasting by leaving them for your whole life. Come, now I will give you!’ And then, SubhanAllah, the line of Hoors is presented in front of him and Allah says ‘Now you can have Iftar! Here is your food, so take your Iftar now.’ This is just like what is narrated in a Hadith, that first and foremost, Allah ta’ala will give dinner to the people of Jannah, SubhanAllah, and the dish will be made of fish liver – Allahu Akbar. Imagine that fish with which a person will break the fast in Jannah.
So if our understanding is just that Ramadhan consists of thirty fasts, and we eat in the morning and then abstain from food for the rest of the day, we should realise, as I said to you, that the fast of the Mu’min is seen in the example that even after Ramadhan, he abstains from Halal things as well. He says ‘No, I won’t eat meat; for twenty or thirty years, I will not eat it’, or ‘I won’t go towards my wife for fifteen years.’ Some people scoff at this sort of thing and say that this is going against Shari’ah, but, my brothers, this is for those people who fast by not going to their wives. But we, by contrast, start disliking ourselves due to the fact that those Haram things which Allah ta’ala says are the worst things become tasty and enjoyable to us. Haram actions and dirty actions, actions which are disobedience that the Shari’ah says we shouldn’t do and which Allah has prohibited, they have become the elements of our lives that bring us enjoyment. Both internally and externally, all wrongful things become the enjoyment of our lives – that is how dirty and impure we are. That is why we say that when a person keeps a fast, he becomes light, and when he raises his hands at Iftar time, his Dua becomes accepted. Has this not been stated? This is because he attains the objective of the fast by adopting Taqwa, and Taqwa means that he opposes his Nafs - this is the definition of Taqwa. Opposing the Nafs is the definition of Taqwa. Now do you understand what fasting is?
So Allah subhana wa ta'ala has said ‘I have given to you what I gave to all the previous nations, and if you do not become a Mutaqi, then how will you get the rewards from Me? How will you enter My Jannah? If you want to be successful, then come as a Muttaqi.’ That is why Allah subhana wa ta'ala gives not one or two or four days, but rather He gives us thirty days to rectify and correct our Nafs – SubhanAllah. But we don’t understand this, and we think ‘Oh, I will finish this many recitations of the Qur’an, pray this many Rakaats in Tarawih, do this much Dhikr, and then my Ramadhan will be complete.’ But the very next day, shaytan comes back after Ramadhan finishes. The human being needs to understand that the meaning of Ramadhan is that we have to become Muttaqis, and that the meaning of being a Muttaqi is to practice what? Islah of the Nafs, rectification of the Nafs, by making our Nafs accustomed to turning away from disobedience to Allah. We must resolve that ‘Just as I have done this in the days of Ramadhan, I will adopt this same technique in the rest of my life.’ That is the enjoyment – that is the Lutf.
This is the definition of fasting, my brothers. That is why Allah ta’ala says in the Qur’an that the fast will make us Muttaqis every day until the evening, but we have to continue this afterwards as well. Don’t just stop when Ramadhan finishes, and think ‘Our fasts have finished’ – no! We should have become people who fast permanently by fighting the Nafs, SubhanAllah. This is the mercy that Allah ta’ala has given to us. In these thirty days, Allah ta’ala has prohibited many things from us, and after that, Allah says ‘I made you practice for thirty days, so what should you do now? You can eat and drink, and I will not stop you from enjoying all the Halal things that are in front of you, but keep one practice going - keep on stopping your Nafs from disobeying Me. Don’t break this aspect of the fasting obligation afterwards.’ Allah has made it easy, saying ‘I will make eating and drinking Halal for you after Ramadhan, but the real objective which I made you practice in Ramadhan should remain your continuous practice after Ramadhan as long as you live. Maintain that same opposition to the Nafs, and if you keep that same opposition alive, then you are a fasting person in My Book. Your fast has not broken and your Iftar has not happened yet – I will host your Iftar Myself!’ Do you understand the point brothers?
I would like to share another point with you about how merciful Allah ta’ala is to us. We say ‘Okay fine, You have given us mercy and have made us practice, and inshaAllah, we have understood how we must oppose the Nafs.’ Have you understood the meaning now? When you keep the fasts, do so carefully and cautiously, and don’t just say ‘Oh, I have done this and I have done that.’ Rather, you should look at how much you have controlled your Nafs in Ramadhan. This is what we need to consider. Think ‘How much have I controlled my Nafs and prevented it from Allah’s disobedience? I must not let the Nafs do so at all!’ That is when you are defined as a fasting person; then you are a Saim and you are being successful in Ramadhan. Now we may say to Allah ta’ala ‘Okay, fair enough – You have given us Ramadhan and Tarawih, and You have given us a way and a habit and a schedule. We see that the Masjids are full, and everything is happening. In addition, you have chained up shaytan and imprisoned him. But after this, oh Allah, how will I practice when these factors finish? How can I continue this?’ Say SubhanAllah.
It is hard, is it not, to come back into the Dunya afterwards? Yet we are being told that we should be steadfast on the habits of Ramadhan after it finishes. In Ramadhan, we had power and strength and Allah controlled shaytan, so when Ramadhan goes, what can we do then? Allah ta’ala has mentioned His mercy in the Qur’an. Allah says ‘Okay, fair enough - I have taken Ramadhan away from you, but I will continue to provide you with the spring from which Ramadhan flows. The garden, the freshness, the feeling and the emotion – I will give you these just as you had them in Ramadhan. Is that acceptable to you?’ Say yes! So Ramadhan will say ‘In practical terms, I have gone, but physically, I am still with you.’ So you stopped sinning in Ramadhan because Ramadhan corrected you, and Allah ta’ala says ‘I will give you something through which alhamdulillah, even after Ramadhan ends, you will still feel Ramadhan. You will be back in the world, but you will feel that emotion of Ramadhan at every moment. Just as Ramadhan stopped you and held back your Nafs, in the same way, your Nafs will continue to be controlled and held back. I will give you something that brings this about!’
This is a point to listen to, my brothers! Ramadhan will go, but remember, even when it has gone, the well-spring of Ramadhan does not go away; the emotion of Ramadhan does not go away; the feeling of Ramadhan does not go. Allah ta’ala says ‘Do you want to attain that same result of suppressing your desires and not obeying your Nafs, and instead follow the orders of Allah? Do you want that same feeling of Ramadhan to be ongoing? I will give this to you!’ How do we get this? Allah ta’ala says {يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ} – ‘Oh you who believe, attain Taqwa and be with the Sadiqeen.’ SubhanAllah! You will get all these things and the same Taqwa by going to the company of the folk of Allah, the friends of Allah. I swear by Allah, you will get the very same emotion of Ramadhan. Just as in Ramadhan, the human being thwarts his Nafs and doesn’t listen to the Nafs, when he goes to the friend of Allah and makes him his Sheikh and his teacher, then that person’s greatness comes into his heart. And just as Ramadhan came into your heart when Allah ta’ala gave you Ramadhan, when Allah ta’ala gives you the Sohbat of such an individual and you respect that person as you respected Ramadhan, then just as you obeyed the orders of Ramadhan and shunned wrongdoing, in the same way, you will obey your Sheikh’s orders and will not commit sins. SubhanAllah. The person who doesn’t listen to his Sheikh’s order is not a Mureed and he has no connection, just like if he doesn’t obey the conditions of Ramadhan, he is not a fasting person.
So Allah has given us the ability to acquire those same emotions and to adopt Taqwa such that it will not fade away. How? By going into the proper company of the friend of Allah – SubhanAllah. Take the Sohbat of the friend of Allah and hold the Sheikh in that same high esteem and importance. Think ‘If my Sheikh is not happy, what will I do? What will I do if he rejects me as a Mureed? My Sheikh has prohibited me from this and has told me not to do this action, so if I do this, how will I be able to submit my sheets? How will I be able to face him?’ What are we suppressing in this way? Our desires! If Nafs says ‘Do this sin’, you will reply ‘No way! My Sheikh told me not to do this, so I will not do it.’ And in the same way that you need to have the greatness of Ramadhan in your heart, you need to have the greatness of your Sheikh in your heart also. And know that just as Allah ta’ala gives you Ramadhan, Allah ta’ala has also given your Sheikh to you – it is Allah who introduced you to your Sheikh! I swear by Allah, the Barakaat that stopped your Nafs in Ramadhan are the same Barakaat that you get in the company of the Sheikh. In fact, in the company of the Sheikh, there are more Barakaat, because while Ramadhan does not speak, your Sheikh will explain to you and demonstrate to you, and you will listen to him. He will host you and enable you to do Dhikr, and there you will attain greater effects than from Ramadhan – SubhanAllah.
When a human being sees that his Islah is being done during Ramadhan, then what he should do, when Ramadhan is drawing to a close, is seek a Sheikh, and say to him ‘Hadhrat, just as my Nafs was corrected during Ramadhan, I have come to you to ask for the Islah of my Nafs.’ Then the Sheikh will say ‘You will have to do the same actions and in the same style with which you approached Ramadhan. Just as Ramadhan told you not to drink water or approach your wife, with that same attitude, you need to stop doing whatever your Sheikh tells you to stop. If you delay in this respect or are lazy, then the same will happen to you as happened to the fasting person – if he was lazy and did not keep to the conditions, then he was not a fasting person.’ If you have a connection with a Sheikh and you cut corners and do not obey him, then you can consider his Sohbat as a waste and all your actions as a waste. Do you understand? Allah ta’ala has explained both these points in the Qur’an, SubhanAllah.
So Ramadhan does not disappear because Ramadhan comes with an objective, and the objective of both Ramadhan and the company of the Sheikh are the same – Islah of the Nafs. What is Islah of the Nafs? It is that the Nafs learns to live according to the desire of Allah. It does not matter if a person is alone in the darkness, whether he is up or down – wherever he is, in isolation or in company, he will oppose his Nafs, and then, Alhamdulillah, in both the Dunya and the Akhirah he will be successful.
May Allah subhana wa ta'ala give us the Tawfeeq to spend this Ramadhan in this way. Ameen
Recite Durood Sharif.
13th Apr, 2021
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