A Farewell Message of Ramadhan
Alhamdulillah, the final moments of Ramadhan have arrived. Firstly, we are grateful to Allah subhana wa ta'ala that He has brought us to this hour with good health and well-being, and has given us the Tawfeeq to complete Ramadhan – and there are no words that we can present in the Court of Allah that can adequately express our gratitude.
Ramadhan took some promises from us, and Ramadhan also made some promises to us, and alhamdulillah, today it is completing these promises as it departs. Ramadhan said ‘Keep the fast {لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ} and I will make you a Muttaqi’ – SubhanAllah. ‘It is your job to keep the fast, and it is my job to make you a Muttaqi.’ So today, this promise has been fulfilled for us for we have received the message about how to attain Taqwa. Attaining this was the whole essence of Ramadhan, and Ramadhan made us practice the suppression of our own desires and passions, and we started to listen to the orders of Allah. Throughout the whole of Ramadhan, Ramadhan made us practice this rejection of our base desires and Nafs and follow the commands and orders of Allah. This was the message and the objective of Ramadhan, and alhamdulillah, we practiced this for thirty days – nobody’s fast could be complete without doing this. Whoever kept a fast had to do this action first and foremost - to leave the desires of his Nafs and not have any food or drink. Allah told us to leave everything that is normally Halal, and we did this, making Niyyah to keep the fast for the whole day and to spend our time in obedience to Allah ta’ala’s orders so that by the evening, a person had become a Muttaqi.
After thirty days of this, Ramadhan has fulfilled its promise and has made us all Muttaqis. There may be different stages and levels of Taqwa that have been acquired - Muttaqis have different levels – but everyone is a Muttaqi, alhamdulillah. Everyone is a Muttaqi, and that is why we are happy about the day of Eid that is to come – why else would we want to celebrate and be happy? Every person who has kept a fast is a Muttaqi, both men and women, and the good news is that Allah ta’ala has explained in the Qur’an that He has prepared Jannah for the Muttaqis - SubhanAllah. So Allah ta’ala has given us this tremendous honour and status by means of the Barakah of Ramadhan. We have been guided towards the destination of Taqwa, and Paradise has been opened for us, and to testify to this, in the morning after Fajr we will recite the Takbir in the Court of Allah, as if to say ‘Oh Allah, You have made us Muttaqis, and we have attained all of the rewards of the Muttaqis that You have mentioned in the Qur’an.’ To show our gratitude for this, we then pray the two Rakahs of Eid Salah.
My brothers, if somebody gets such honour and dignity, then who would want to waste that? Jannah has been opened up and palaces and mansions have been made for everyone who has fasted – this applies also to the person who could not fast and who gave Fidya instead, whilst also leaving his desires and obeying the orders of Allah. Even that person, who could not fast due to a valid reason, has joined that line of the Muttaqis, and this is such a big honour and dignity and status that nobody can waste this. So the task now is to maintain this honour and dignity until death. We should think to ourselves that we have got one year left, so we should not waste this honour and dignity and title that Allah ta’ala has bestowed on us; remember this point. I will give you a method for this, alhamdulillah, and if you do Amal on this method, then inshaAllah, this honour and dignity of being a Muttaqi will remain with you until death. Say SubhanAllah.
So look: if we have kept the fast for thirty days, we now have to continue to keep the fast in the same way – say SubhanAllah. We have to wake up every morning, make the Niyyah, and keep the fast, and in the evening, we have to do Iftar also – but the form and the condition of this fast will change. We must keep the fast in the same way, but we have to keep a spiritual fast rather than a physical, bodily fast. We kept the physical, bodily fast in Ramadhan, but now Allah ta’ala has removed that from us. Okay, that’s fine – we can leave physical fasting now. So what is left? Eating and drinking and the other restrictions are all Halal and permissible again, so what Niyyah for fasting are we going to make? Food and drink are allowed, but the foundation of Taqwa must be maintained, which is that we leave our Nafsi, base inclinations, and follow Allah ta’ala’s Will and Desire. This will remain in existence – say SubhanAllah. Food and drink is allowed, so you can partake of that, but the Niyyah for the spiritual fast that we make after Ramadhan will be that we will reject our base desires and follow Allah ta’ala’s Will and Desire instead. This will be the Niyyah.
You know how we said “وَبِصَوْمِ غَدٍ نَّوَيْتُ مِنْ شَهْرِ رَمَضَانَ”? Well, the Niyyah will be similar – “وَبِصَوْمِ غَدٍ Oh Allah, we keep a fast today with this Niyyah that, just as we made Niyyah every day in Ramadhan to reject our desires and passions and follow Allah’s Hukm, so we intend the same thing now.” It will be easier in that we will eat and drink and do the other things that are allowed, but we will keep this fast during the day and then we will do Iftar in the evening, alhamdulillah. Okay – so you have made the Niyyah, and there is Suhoor for this fast and Iftar as well. We will consume Sehri in the morning and then do Iftar in the evening. So what do we do with this Niyyah? The Suhoor in Ramadhan was the pre-dawn meal. So what is the Suhoor for this fast? It is Dhikrullah! First make the Niyyah for this fast, promising Allah that we will leave our desires and passions and lust and follow Allah’s Will and Desire, so then what is the Suhoor that goes with this? It is to do Dhikrullah. That is your Niyyah and your Sehri, and in the evening, before you sleep, you will break this fast. After Isha and before going to bed, you can break this fast. That is the time for the Iftar of this fast – and what is the Iftar? The Iftar is also the Dhikr of Allah! So the Suhoor is Dhikrullah and the Iftar is also Dhikrullah. When you do this Iftar and go to sleep, that will be one fast completed.
When we kept the fasts of Ramadhan, we were careful not to eat or drink all day, and in the same way, when we do this fast, we have to exercise caution and not listen to our base desires and ego. That is the Niyyah that we have to make today, that we will not run after our desires all day long and will follow the orders and Ahkams of Allah; and then, if you carry on like this until the evening, your fast will be complete. If we do something against the commands of Allah along the way, then we will have wasted that day – the fast of that day will have gone. This is the Tariqah, and if we follow this, then the honour of being a Muttaqi will remain with us until death comes, and our Ramadhan will never end. The physical fasts will end, but if we implement the spiritual fasts consistently and continually, then by maintaining the Niyyah of Ramadhan, we will leave our base desires and stick to Allah ta’ala’s order and instruction.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to do Amal on this, which is the farewell message of Ramadhan. Ramadhan says ‘InshaAllah, I will not leave you. I will stand up on Qiyamah and testify that these people did not just keep thirty fasts, but rather they continued to fast for the rest of their lives’ – SubhanAllah. May Allah ta’ala give us the ability to keep these fasts as well. Ameen.
Recite Durood Sharif.
10th Jun, 2021
Subhaan'Allaah wa alhamduLillah wa la illaaha ila Allah wa Allaah hu Akbar.
Alhamdulillah, the final moments of Ramadhan have arrived. Firstly, we are grateful to Allah subhana wa ta'ala that He has brought us to this hour with good health and well-being, and has given us the Tawfeeq to complete Ramadhan – and there are no words that we can present in the Court of Allah that can adequately express our gratitude.
Ramadhan took some promises from us, and Ramadhan also made some promises to us, and alhamdulillah, today it is completing these promises as it departs. Ramadhan said ‘Keep the fast {لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ} and I will make you a Muttaqi’ – SubhanAllah. ‘It is your job to keep the fast, and it is my job to make you a Muttaqi.’ So today, this promise has been fulfilled for us for we have received the message about how to attain Taqwa. Attaining this was the whole essence of Ramadhan, and Ramadhan made us practice the suppression of our own desires and passions, and we started to listen to the orders of Allah. Throughout the whole of Ramadhan, Ramadhan made us practice this rejection of our base desires and Nafs and follow the commands and orders of Allah. This was the message and the objective of Ramadhan, and alhamdulillah, we practiced this for thirty days – nobody’s fast could be complete without doing this. Whoever kept a fast had to do this action first and foremost - to leave the desires of his Nafs and not have any food or drink. Allah told us to leave everything that is normally Halal, and we did this, making Niyyah to keep the fast for the whole day and to spend our time in obedience to Allah ta’ala’s orders so that by the evening, a person had become a Muttaqi.
After thirty days of this, Ramadhan has fulfilled its promise and has made us all Muttaqis. There may be different stages and levels of Taqwa that have been acquired - Muttaqis have different levels – but everyone is a Muttaqi, alhamdulillah. Everyone is a Muttaqi, and that is why we are happy about the day of Eid that is to come – why else would we want to celebrate and be happy? Every person who has kept a fast is a Muttaqi, both men and women, and the good news is that Allah ta’ala has explained in the Qur’an that He has prepared Jannah for the Muttaqis - SubhanAllah. So Allah ta’ala has given us this tremendous honour and status by means of the Barakah of Ramadhan. We have been guided towards the destination of Taqwa, and Paradise has been opened for us, and to testify to this, in the morning after Fajr we will recite the Takbir in the Court of Allah, as if to say ‘Oh Allah, You have made us Muttaqis, and we have attained all of the rewards of the Muttaqis that You have mentioned in the Qur’an.’ To show our gratitude for this, we then pray the two Rakahs of Eid Salah.
My brothers, if somebody gets such honour and dignity, then who would want to waste that? Jannah has been opened up and palaces and mansions have been made for everyone who has fasted – this applies also to the person who could not fast and who gave Fidya instead, whilst also leaving his desires and obeying the orders of Allah. Even that person, who could not fast due to a valid reason, has joined that line of the Muttaqis, and this is such a big honour and dignity and status that nobody can waste this. So the task now is to maintain this honour and dignity until death. We should think to ourselves that we have got one year left, so we should not waste this honour and dignity and title that Allah ta’ala has bestowed on us; remember this point. I will give you a method for this, alhamdulillah, and if you do Amal on this method, then inshaAllah, this honour and dignity of being a Muttaqi will remain with you until death. Say SubhanAllah.
So look: if we have kept the fast for thirty days, we now have to continue to keep the fast in the same way – say SubhanAllah. We have to wake up every morning, make the Niyyah, and keep the fast, and in the evening, we have to do Iftar also – but the form and the condition of this fast will change. We must keep the fast in the same way, but we have to keep a spiritual fast rather than a physical, bodily fast. We kept the physical, bodily fast in Ramadhan, but now Allah ta’ala has removed that from us. Okay, that’s fine – we can leave physical fasting now. So what is left? Eating and drinking and the other restrictions are all Halal and permissible again, so what Niyyah for fasting are we going to make? Food and drink are allowed, but the foundation of Taqwa must be maintained, which is that we leave our Nafsi, base inclinations, and follow Allah ta’ala’s Will and Desire. This will remain in existence – say SubhanAllah. Food and drink is allowed, so you can partake of that, but the Niyyah for the spiritual fast that we make after Ramadhan will be that we will reject our base desires and follow Allah ta’ala’s Will and Desire instead. This will be the Niyyah.
You know how we said “وَبِصَوْمِ غَدٍ نَّوَيْتُ مِنْ شَهْرِ رَمَضَانَ”? Well, the Niyyah will be similar – “وَبِصَوْمِ غَدٍ Oh Allah, we keep a fast today with this Niyyah that, just as we made Niyyah every day in Ramadhan to reject our desires and passions and follow Allah’s Hukm, so we intend the same thing now.” It will be easier in that we will eat and drink and do the other things that are allowed, but we will keep this fast during the day and then we will do Iftar in the evening, alhamdulillah. Okay – so you have made the Niyyah, and there is Suhoor for this fast and Iftar as well. We will consume Sehri in the morning and then do Iftar in the evening. So what do we do with this Niyyah? The Suhoor in Ramadhan was the pre-dawn meal. So what is the Suhoor for this fast? It is Dhikrullah! First make the Niyyah for this fast, promising Allah that we will leave our desires and passions and lust and follow Allah’s Will and Desire, so then what is the Suhoor that goes with this? It is to do Dhikrullah. That is your Niyyah and your Sehri, and in the evening, before you sleep, you will break this fast. After Isha and before going to bed, you can break this fast. That is the time for the Iftar of this fast – and what is the Iftar? The Iftar is also the Dhikr of Allah! So the Suhoor is Dhikrullah and the Iftar is also Dhikrullah. When you do this Iftar and go to sleep, that will be one fast completed.
When we kept the fasts of Ramadhan, we were careful not to eat or drink all day, and in the same way, when we do this fast, we have to exercise caution and not listen to our base desires and ego. That is the Niyyah that we have to make today, that we will not run after our desires all day long and will follow the orders and Ahkams of Allah; and then, if you carry on like this until the evening, your fast will be complete. If we do something against the commands of Allah along the way, then we will have wasted that day – the fast of that day will have gone. This is the Tariqah, and if we follow this, then the honour of being a Muttaqi will remain with us until death comes, and our Ramadhan will never end. The physical fasts will end, but if we implement the spiritual fasts consistently and continually, then by maintaining the Niyyah of Ramadhan, we will leave our base desires and stick to Allah ta’ala’s order and instruction.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to do Amal on this, which is the farewell message of Ramadhan. Ramadhan says ‘InshaAllah, I will not leave you. I will stand up on Qiyamah and testify that these people did not just keep thirty fasts, but rather they continued to fast for the rest of their lives’ – SubhanAllah. May Allah ta’ala give us the ability to keep these fasts as well. Ameen.
Recite Durood Sharif.