Two Deeds to Make Allah Happy in Ramadhan
There is no part of the Deen that Allah subhana wa ta'ala has not included in Ramadhan, and there is no part of the Deen that Ramadhan has not enabled us to practice. If we ponder and reflect and analyse, if we sit and think for a little while, there are so many different, beneficial aspects of the Deen that Ramadhan gives us guidance about. And Allah subhana wa ta'ala has instilled a Noor and a Rahmah in Ramadhan such that, if a person focuses on those subjects, thinking ‘This is a part of Deen, that is a part of Deen, and this month of Ramadhan has given me a chance to revise this fact and this knowledge’, then Allah ta’ala instills freshness and energy into this thinking and pondering. There is so much that we lack – there are defects in our Amal and practice – but such strength comes that for the rest of the year, these defects are mended. May Allah ta’ala give us Ramadhan again, and grant us this energy so that, with this guidance, we can stay corrected and easily pass the time until next Ramadhan.
One Faqih made a statement, which probably comes from a Hadith, and he said that there will be a unique scene in the Hereafter - unique and strange, you could say – where the people of Paradise will be surprised. I am sharing the meaning of this Hadith with you. And their surprise will also be unique and strange. Why will they be surprised? Their surprise will not be from having reached and arrived in Paradise, but they will be looking at each other in amazement. Allah will say ‘Why are you surprised that I have brought you into Jannah?’ and they will say ‘Ya Allah, oh our Lord, You have brought us into Jannah, but we read about this and studied about it in Your Kitab, and we heard this as well, so we were prepared for it.’ And what team was this that had arrived in Jannah? Listen to this and think about it as well. This was not a team of Ghawths or Qutbs or high-status Walis, and they weren’t Zahids or Aabids – they were sinful people, wrong doers who had done dirty actions. They had committed theft and left Salah; they had done shaytani actions like Zina and drinking alcohol. That is who this team were, and they were surprised and taken aback when they arrived in Paradise. Keep this in your minds.
So Allah said ‘Oh My servants, why are you shocked and dismayed? Is it because I have brought you into Paradise?’ They replied ‘Oh Allah, we are thinking that, although we made some preparation, You had said, in the Kitabs, in the Qur’an and in the Hadith that we heard from the respected scholars, that what would happen is that we would have to pass through hell before going into Jannah.’ Isn’t this the case? The Bridge of Siraat, that fantastic route that Allah ta’ala has created, has been laid across over the hellfire – and you know what the account of that Bridge of Siraat is and what will occur. We cannot imagine how much darkness there will be on the Bridge of Siraat and how thin it will be, and we will have to cross that Bridge beneath which will be the boiling fire Hell. Allah! I will have to pass over that Bridge and you will also have to pass over it, my brothers.
Look at this. This knowledge is not for reading or for discussing and chatting about. These Hadiths have been mentioned to us because a Mu’min has to understand which phases of life will confront us. I remember the statement of my Hadhrat Sahib noor ‘ala maraqadahu wa rahimahu-llah, which he would make with a sigh. He would say in his dialect, in his language, ‘Oh servants of Allah, you are stuck in this world and are upset and distressed with the issues and difficulties of this world, but you don’t know how severe the time to come will be!’ SubhanAllah. Then he would sigh a deep sigh – he had Yaqeen – and say ‘These difficulties and small issues of the world give us distress and sadness and we regard these as a hardship and a reason to worry and be sad. We make small issues into mountains although they will soon be solved - but think about the time to come and its tests. How will we pass that test? Think about the Bridge of Siraat, which is so thin and sharp and dark, and yet we will have to cross it - every human being will face this - and underneath will be the boiling fire of Jahannam with its ashes and flames everywhere. How will we be saved in that darkness? Who can save us? Allah tells us ‘You have to cross that Bridge; you have to cross it.’’
So tell me – have we made any preparation for this? What Amal can we do that will allow us to cross that Bridge of Siraat? Tell me. The real Muslim who has Yaqeen on these points worries about them day and night. This worry is there because that test and that challenge will come to us. How will we cross that obstacle with the abilities that we have? It will be very difficult to pass over it. But your hearts will enjoy Allah subhana wa ta'ala’s response when you hear of Allah’s mercy. Allah said ‘Yes, I did say this. You did have to pass through that hellfire, for sure – but you have passed through it!’ SubhanAllah. ‘You did pass through that test and trial, but due to you, hell became cool. It was cooled – Jahannam was cooled!’ My brothers, the sinners will look at each other and congratulate each other. Then they will say ‘Ya Allah, how did You confer Your mercy onto us in this way? What was it that made You give us so much Karam and grace that You cooled the fire of hell for us, so much so that we didn’t even realise that we had gone through that part of the journey? We thought we had marched straight into Paradise!’ SubhanAllah - may Allah ta’ala include us amongst those people! Say Ameen. Then Allah subhana wa ta'ala stated ‘Yes, you are right – you did have one quality due to which I cooled the hellfire today.’ They said ‘What was that quality, oh Allah?’ Allah replied ‘Yes, you used to sin, but after you committed those sins, you would say ‘O Allah, we are afraid’ and then you did Tawbah and you repented!’ SubhanAllah - Allahu Akbar!
Allah talks in the Qur’an about those people who did dirty actions, who oppressed themselves and did dirty actions and a lot of sins {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}. Allah says ‘What sins did you not commit and implement?’ Okay, you are human beings, and human beings do commit sins. That group did sin, didn’t they? But what was their quality? They did Dua – they made Tawbah. A man can go astray. He opens his phone to look at the news, but after the news, where does he end up? Tell me. And then he meets someone, and they have a chat, and then backbiting and such sins are committed at that time. How many people commit sins? But shaytan makes us so firm and stubborn about our sinful actions that we do not take this opportunity Allah ta’ala has given to us. If you have committed a sin and done wrong and have erred, then your Lord is present. What is sin? What is it? {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}
When we commit sins – and it does happen – what do we do? Allah is saying ‘You think it is a time of enjoyment and rejoicing when you do this, but you are oppressing yourselves.’ You are laughing and thinking ‘How can this be a sin? I am sinning but I am enjoying it so much! There is so much benefit in this. I take interest, but I am acquiring property after property, so how can this be against the Deen? I have done Zina, but I enjoyed myself. If you smoke this or drink that, you will enjoy it, so how can this be oppression against myself? How can I think that I am doing something wrong when I am enjoying it? There is enjoyment in these sins.’ This is what the sinful person says, SubhanAllah.
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that a person will be swimming in a river of blood, and when he comes to the bank, a boulder will be smashed onto his head. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw this. He saw that there would be a cauldron of fire in which naked women will be being tossed up and down – will they be enjoying themselves there? When that man is swimming in that river of blood and trying to get to the bank of the river and his head is struck by the boulder, will he enjoy that? When long nails are ripping a person’s skin, will there be any enjoyment in that? There will be an intense fire and a person will be thrown into it and it will burn off his skin, and then a new skin will grow so that it too can be burned - will there be enjoyment in that? This is the reality of the sins they are committing. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw this on the Night of Me’raj with his own eyes - he saw these effects, these consequences. He said that there is no enjoyment in sins, for committing sin is the total opposite to Deen.
Whenever anybody commits a sin, the genuine scene at that time is what Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw and which he came back and told us about. The person who sins has reached that condition that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw. When he does Zina, he is in that state; when a person is immodest and shameless, he is in that state; when he commits a sin of the tongue, the consequences are what Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw with his own eyes. Our Iman tells us this - we believe in this. This is why Allah ta’ala says {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}. Allah is saying ‘When you commit a sin, you are taking yourself into that negative state; you are doing Dhulm on yourself and spoiling your own position; you are taking yourself to that place of oppression.’ When you commit a sin, at that very time you are in the state of that punishment that has been apportioned for that sin – that is why Allah says {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}.
And then, further on in the same verse, Allah says {فَٱسۡتَغۡفَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ }. When you have committed a sin and have lowered yourself to such a position by committing a sin, {فَٱسۡتَغۡفَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ }. How will you attain Allah’s nearness? Allah is Ghafur ur-Rahim. What will Allah do? He will be Ghafur ur-Rahim – when you pass over the Bridge of Siraat, Allah ta’ala will cool the hellfire for you! So you committed a sin, but committing that sin can elevate the status of a person. So what should he do when he commits a sin? He should immediately do Astaghfar, within a second. As soon as you have committed the sin, immediately do Astaghfar. If you commit the sin again, then say Astaghfirullah again – and how much a person’s status increases at that time. It becomes so high.
But what happens instead? Insan have become so stubborn. How many people are there who commit sins and think they should do Tawbah afterwards? They keep on committing sins, and those sins accumulate, layer upon layer. So what habit has Ramadhan given to us? SubhanAllah. So much importance has been placed on Astaghfar in Ramadhan – Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam emphasized this. This was mentioned to us by Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the first Hadith about Ramadhan that we looked at: “واستكثروا فيه من أربع خصال: خصلتين ترضون بهما ربكم” There are four special features of Ramadhan, and two are so important that you can easily attain Allah ta’ala’s pleasure if you do those. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying ‘Don’t leave these two actions – don’t forget or reject these two actions in Ramadhan. They are part of Ramadhan and you have to get the habit for them in Ramadhan. If you get the habit of doing these two things in Ramadhan, then the stamp and seal will be applied to you that Allah ta’ala is happy with you, and you will depart from this world with Allah’s Pleasure.’
Ramadhan is telling us this, so definitely do this. And don’t do this just in Ramadhan, no. The real test will come after Ramadhan, when shaytan will be released and we will be thrown back into the real world, and there will be no Tarawih in the Masjid and just our five times Salah. The Qur’an will close, and everything will finish. This time will come, and how long will that be for? We will have to pass eleven months like that in the wilderness. This is just like if somebody came and said that you have to pass through a desert, so you have to gather whatever food and drink you will need for the eleven months of desert that are to come. Get your luggage and food together accordingly so that you can get through those eleven months. This is what Allah ta’ala is saying as well, that you should gather together whatever luggage and assistance you can during this month, for after that, you do not know if Ramadhan will come back again in your life. Will this environment come back again or not? This will all end – this environment is temporary. You are enjoying yourself, and with the Fadhl of Allah and with His grace and mercy and blessings, it is essential that you grab hold of this thing that Allah has said we need.
Allah! How much has Allah laid this out for you? Allah has given us this gathering three times a day in Ramadhan. Three times, not just once. If a person does not take part, is there a greater loser and a more ungrateful person than this? Tell me. A human being is hungry and thirsty, and the essential foods are placed in front of him, but he says ‘I don’t want to eat. I may die, but I have no need to eat food, even though I am hungry and thirsty, and the pangs of hunger are there.’ This is unnatural! Sometimes the Majalis may be lengthy, but this is a great time – you attain the Majlis of the Naqshbandi Silsila. And it contains not just Dhikr, but SubhanAllah, you get Khatam Khawajgan on top of that! If we start speaking about the Khatam Khawajgan, you will be amazed, because in the Khatam Khawajgan, you are getting the effects of each Wali of Allah whose Khatam you are doing. You will get his spirituality, his Tawajjuh, his attention and his Barakaat. When you do Esal-e-Thawab for that Naqshband Sheikh Hadhrat Mujaddid Alf Thani, do you think he is forgetting you in the heavens? Say SubhanAllah. Not once, not twice - three times a day you are getting this, for thirty days - and not in small nights, SubhanAllah. When Isha ends, Tahajjud time begins, SubhanAllah.
Can there be a more ungrateful person than the one who leaves that? Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying that Allah will be happy and pleased with you if you remember Allah – SubhanAllah. Do it! Will you be able to do this after Ramadhan? No. Allah will say ‘Look at the Thawab that you took during that month!’ Nothing can compare with that. This is truly a great opportunity – and people can come at this time. Even high-class people who have learned Dhikr – I am talking about them. Okay, maybe a normal person won’t realise, but those who have learned Dhikr cannot come and sit – so we realise that they have not learned. They play games and make a show of it. There are people like this who make a drama of it and play games - they jest and mock. Yes? When they open the Qur’an, they joke with the Qur’an, as if ‘Oh, what is the Qur’an’ – and they read it as if it is a joke. They read Nafl, but they are playing games with the Nawafil.
In reality, there should be appreciation and value in those hearts. They should think ‘Allah ta’ala has taught me this Dhikr, this high-grade Dhikr. Allah has taught me this Dhikr on my Lata’if, and I have been given different lessons.’ And if he knows that in the night, at Tahajjud time, he can send Esal-e-Thawab on these great Walis of Allah and do their Khatam, and that Hadhrat Baha’uddin Naqshband rahmatullah alayh will be present, and Hadhrat Baqi Bi-llah rahmatullah alayh will be present, and Hadhrat Ubaydullah Ahrar rahmatullah alayh will be present, and Hadhrat Khwaja Ma’sum rahmatullah alayh will be present – ah, and my Sheikh Hadhrat Ali Murtaza rahmatullah alayh will be present! SubhanAllah. But they say ‘Oh, no, no, no.’ This is about Yaqeen. How can you leave empty-handed if you have Yaqeen? Brothers, the Kalimahs that we recite are Khatam for the Khwajgan – this is the litany for the Sheikhs, our pious elders. And after attaining all their Barakaat and blessings, we do Dhikr Ism-e-Dhat, on Allah’s Name – is this a minor action? Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is announcing the reward and this comprehensive Hadith was explained by Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam in Sha’ban so that we would not forget this Sabaq. This is such a big lesson – have we forgotten it? Do we leave Dhikr of Allah? Will Allah ta’ala not call us to account for this?
So how great this action of Dhikr is. And after that, what is the second thing? There are two important things – “خصلتين” - and we are told ‘Take hold of these two things, and don’t just practice these in Ramadhan, but hold fast to them for the rest of the eleven months and for the rest of your life - and through them, you will complete your Deen.’ That second element is Istighfar. The first is Dhikr, and the second is Istighfar. What a great reward – you won’t even experience the Bridge of Siraat and you won’t get that darkness; you won’t have that fear and anxiety. It will be like travelling to your country in a first-class seat. You will have a special ticket for the direct six-hour flight. It won’t be the fourteen-hour flight that stops in Dubai, in which you have to transit with delays and so on. Your flight will be direct, in the first-class cabin, and in six hours you will arrive in Lahore -SubhanAllah. Say SubhanAllah. ‘Did you sleep on the way?’ ‘I slept and relaxed and then arrived, no problem - the trip was nothing.’
We are wandering around here in England with chickens and an easy life – we don’t have anything to worry about. This is our life. Allah ta’ala has given us Halal food and cars – and Allah ta’ala has also given us Dhikr of Allah here! Say SubhanAllah. There is a double reward – Allah says ‘Eat My Ni’mahs and do My Dhikr on top of that – no hardship.’ This is not for those poor people who we have left behind in Hindustan and Bharuch and Surat and Pakistan and other places. Yes? They have not got these rewards and have not gained them. So tell me – what are their conditions at this moment in time? How many people are hungry and in severe situations? Ask the Ulema-e-Kiram who are collecting money at the moment about the situation of those they have left? They are people who say ‘Qala qala Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam’; they are high-status Ulema, from the high level of the Makhluq of Allah, those who teach ‘Ilm and invite people towards the Deen via the ‘Ilm of Allah, giving up their time and learning Qur’an and Hadith and teaching that to people. They are high-grade people, high-class people – if Ikhlas comes into their lives.
There is always this ‘if’ – this is a condition that the Qur’an gives. If there is Ikhlas, nobody in the world can compare to the scholars, SubhanAllah. If Ikhlas comes into their lives, such is the level and Haq of the Alim that the very ink of the pens with which they write their Fatwas has tremendous reward. I put my hands together and I plead - just take that one step further! Oh my colleagues, oh my brothers who learn ‘Ilm in the Dar-ul-Ulooms, you have arrived at the greatest pedestal. There is just one more ‘Ilm that you need to learn, so spend some time in the Khanqah! But that’s where they stop and put the brakes on - the Nafs overwhelms them. The status of the Alim is so great that the ink from the pen of the Alim who writes a Fatwa is a great treasure – SubhanAllah. Where they are writing a Fatwa, in the Akhirah, the ink with which they write will be weighed alongside who? The blood of the Shaheed! It is comparable to that in the Hereafter, SubhanAllah. But the difference is that he stops. He comes out of the Dar-ul-Uloom and then goes to work and starts earning in the Dunya – because he learned for the sake of the Dunya, unlike he who learns for the sake of the Akhirah. When they get to that level, they turn to the bank instead of to the Khanqah, because they don’t want to do their Islah and to rectify and purify themselves at the feet of the Wali of Allah, or to pick up the slippers of the Wali of Allah. This is all Islah, rectification and purification, and I would make this request to my brothers and the respected Ulema: congratulations to those who are sending their children to acquire knowledge, but after that, brothers, knock on the door of the Khanqah and present yourselves in the service of the Wali of Allah, so that your son can get to that Maqam foe which Allah has selected him and has destined him for.
So Allah subhana wa ta'ala has given us this beautiful point of Tawbah in Ramadhan. This is a compulsory factor of Ramadhan, so do Istighfar in abundance. Allah ta’ala is saying that we should do Dhikr in abundance and Istighfar in abundance, and then Allah gives the guarantee that before you have even departed from Ramadhan, while you are still in Ramadhan, Allah will give you forgiveness. Some people will get this reward, some will get that reward, but, oh Dahkireen and those who do Tawbah, don’t worry, you will get the good news of Allah’s Ridha, Allah’s Pleasure.
So think about this my brothers – Istighfar, repentance. Let me go a bit beyond this, because the available time has extended a little bit now. I will take the discussion forward a little bit because my heart is open, and I am enjoying it. How much Allah ta’ala gives Karam and His grace and mercy, because when someone get this reward, his heart rejoices, SubhanAllah. My every hair is grateful at the moment. Oh Allah, how should I show my gratefulness to You? Only by doing Allah’s Dhikr can I be grateful to You. How is it possible for You to give the Tawfeeq to a person like me to sit after Fajr to do Your Dhikr, to do this great Dhikr; and then I come at this time the day for this also; and then after Isha, I will again sit down in a Majlis to do Your Dhikr. Who is giving this to me? Oh Allah, it is Your Rahmah and mercy that is dragging me to do this – SubhanAllah.
Shall I share another Hadith with you so that your passion and determination increase? Do you want to hear it? Say SubhanAllah. Look – what a beautiful point Allah ta’ala is making. Okay, we have committed sins. Allah is saying ‘So you have committed a sin – now I will show you what to do.’ Look at this Hadith. There are two angels who are sitting here, one on the right and one on the left, and Allah ta’ala addresses these two angels, the Kiraman Katibeen. MashaAllah, you are educated and learned - the Kiraman Katibeen on the right and the left. The one on the right has a bit more power – he is greater than the one on the left. The right hand is greater than the left, is it not? Allah ta’ala likes everything on the right side more, so when you do something good, do it with the right. When you do something bad, do it from the left. Yes? When you eat, eat with the right hand; when you drink, drink with the right; when you shake hands, put the right hand forward. The right hand has a higher status, which is why that angel on the right is the Amir of the angel on the left. He says ‘Whatever you do, ask permission from me first.’ Who is saying this? The right-hand angel – Allah has given him this power.
So before you do anything, look at Allah’s Rahmah and mercy, SubhanAllah. Allah has made this system, and I am telling you why Allah ta’ala has made this system and kept it running. Do you understand what I am saying or not? Look, how has Allah made this system progress, and why has Allah ta’ala given this emphasis to the right side? Listen carefully. Say Zaid does a sin and then asks for forgiveness. I am just giving an example when using this particular name; let’s just say a person - okay. So if a person commits a sin, then look at Allah ta’ala’s preparation and plan. The person commits a sin, and the duty, when a sin is committed, is for it to be recorded. But the angel on the right says ‘Stop! Don’t write it.’ He gives this order to the angel on the left. He says ‘Don’t record it yet.’ So the angel on the left asks ‘When should I write it then?’ He is told ‘Wait.’ ‘How long shall I wait?’ he asks. ‘Wait until he commits five sins.’ Say SubhanAllah! Do you understand the point? The angel on the right says ‘You cannot record this sin until or unless he commits five sins.’
So look at the chances you get, the opportunities. You didn’t know that you were going to commit a sin, maybe looking at the news on the phone, but then you looked at other games or scenes that came into view and decided to go further, becoming immersed in that shaytani environment. Or this might happen when a person is free at night and he puts the computer on - what else is he going to do? He has just studied and then prayed Salah and come back home. But the angel is told ‘Wait until he commits five sins’ – and then eventually, the five sins are committed. We commit the five sins, don’t we? So he says ‘Shall I record them now?’ But the angel on the right again says ‘Stop!’ He asks why, and says ‘Is this not Allah’s law and principle? What is the principle of Allah?’ The right-hand angel say ‘Wait – be quiet. Wait until he does a good deed.’ SubhanAllah – how many? One good deed. So he has committed five sins, and they are both waiting and the time is extended – there is a gap now. Say SubhanAllah.
So we need one good – is one good deed hard for us? ‘Assalamu alaykum’ – how many good deeds for this? But we don’t even do that – we keep our mouths sealed. We say ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’ or ‘Khem Cho’ or ‘Kya Hal He’ – we don’t say Salam. Does this happen or not? We ask each other ‘How are you?’ in our languages – ‘Kaifa-l-Hal?’ But we don’t say what Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has prescribed to us and taught us. Allah ta’ala has put safety and security in this greeting. When a person goes home and says ‘Assalamu alaykum’, he will have nothing lacking in his wealth. Say SubhanAllah. But we don’t want to say Salam - we keep our mouths shut and just stand there. We think ‘If I give Salam, I will be dishonoured, because I am a big man, and he is a small man.’ Allahu Akbar. If a person splutters and struggles to reply to Salam, that one Salam which can take out all the dirt and impurities within him, the Salam he was offered scans him and says ‘Look - he has pride and haughtiness and thinks he is higher and better than others’, so it curses him instead of giving him getting the reward for replying ‘Wa alaykum as-Salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.’ And if a person gives him Salam and initiates the greeting, he thinks to himself ‘He had a duty to give me Salam, but I am a Choudhury so I have no need to reply to him – let’s leave it at that.’ Islah – we need to rectify ourselves.
So they are waiting for the person to record just one good deed - and a Muslim will eventually do one good deed – but then the angel again says ‘Stop!’ His partner says ‘Why?’ He says ‘Don’t you know that compared to what you are about to record, Allah has kept ten rewards for this one good deed – it is multiplied.’ SubhanAllah. So where does this story start from? He committed a sin, and then there was a gap while they waited for five sins to be committed, and he was told to wait again until the person did a good deed, and then he told him to wait again, and said that the Thawab for one good deed was ten times the value of that deed. Look at Allah’s Rahmah – SubhanAllah. So then he says to him ‘Do the maths – do you know how to count? There are ten good deeds, minus the five sins.’ SubhanAllah, Allahu Akbar – say SubhanAllah. This is what is happening with us now – every day this happens, with me and with you. Take away the fives sins from the ten good deeds, and what is left? What is the balance? Five good deeds. So he says ‘We will record five good deeds in his Book of Deeds.’ SubhanAllah. Though he committed sins, this one good deed removed them! When shaytan sees this, he says ‘Oh Allah – I have lost! I cannot control this person.’ These are the words of the Hadith; shaytan gets destroyed by that one human being and his good deed. Allahu Akbar.
So what does Ramadhan say? Let us come to the reality now, SubhanAllah. For one good deed, how much does a person get to offset five of his sins? Five good deeds get recorded in his Book of Deeds after that one good deed. So what does Allah subhana wa ta'ala do? Allah ta’ala gives us Ramadhan and says ‘Commit good deeds and actions, and I will give you up to 700 times the Thawab for each good deed. I will give you so much reward that when you pray a Nafl Salah, I will transform it into Fardh.’ The question arises as to why Allah ta’ala wants to give us so much Thawab in Ramadhan, and the answer is that Allah ta’ala wants to give you an overdraft. Allah wants to credit your account – is that an overdraft? I am not good with the banking terminology. Allah says ‘I want to give you a credit to your balance so that for the eleven months until you return again to Ramadhan, you will have accumulated so much through your good deeds.’ SubhanAllah. Ya Allah, have you given me this much credit, and rather than putting my account into the red, have you given more and more credit? Look at Allah ta’ala’s Hikmah in Ramadhan. Allah ta’ala says ‘I will increase the rewards so that the Ummah of My Habeeb has this chance to gather and acquire so much luggage in this month.’ So what we should do is practice doing good deeds, actions that will acquire the water we need, actions that will give us the dates that we need, giving so much Salam and doing this, that and the other actions.
Also, one other preparation that Allah ta’ala has given to us is that, along with Ramadhan, the Qur’an is bestowed to us. And what is the Hukm? Allah ta’ala says ‘Recite the Qur’an abundantly in Ramadhan - as much as you want.’ Why? How does the reward of one letter of the Qur’an in Ramadhan compare to the reward that Allah ta’ala gives in normal days? If you recite Alif Ba and Ta in Ramadhan, then every letter is so precious! Oh Huffadh, I tell you that your lottery ticket has been won! SubhanAllah – where does your balance get to? The reward for this will never end – that is how much Allah ta’ala increases the credit of the account of those people – SubhanAllah. What is all this? This is called Allah’s Rahmah, His mercy. This is why that the jurists have said that a Mu’min cannot go to Jahannam – SubhanAllah. Allah has prepared so much for this Ummah – the question doesn’t arise that a person could go to hell. Allah ta’ala has prepared so many opportunities for good deeds with the Qur’an. You have to open the Qur’an in Ramadhan - the Qur’an is attached to Ramadhan. If there is no Qur’an, then there is no Ramadhan. Is this not the case? Yes. As soon as Ramadhan comes, the Qur’an opens alhamdulillah.
I would like to mention another point here in passing - you can compare now. Look at our countries - if you go out to the wilderness, to the deserts, to the villages, eighty-five to ninety percent of people don’t know how to read the Qur’an. Isn’t this the case? Do some research and analyse this. Very few people read the Qur’an – they haven’t learned how to read. That is why Madrasas have been opened in the village areas and the remote areas where the respected scholars do the work of the Deen. We have gone so far from the Deen – the people there don’t even read the Qur’an. If I speak about Africa where I travelled, in the remote areas, people didn’t even know what the Qur’an was. In one place there was just one torn, incomplete copy of the Qur’an – they didn’t even have a whole Qur’an with them. Okay, so many people don’t read the Qur’an. And other people have learned the Qur’an but they are sick and so they cannot read it. Or a person cannot read so much because he is busy and occupied, perhaps he is a Da’ee of the Deen and he is giving Da’wah in Ramadhan, doing Tableegh, explaining to people, inviting people with Hadith and Qur’an. He is so immersed in this that he doesn’t get the time to finish the whole Qur’an like other people. The poor soul – how can he manage then? For example, and Alim may have to speak here, to call there, invite here, go there, so he doesn’t get the time to sit down and read the Qur’an like normal people do.
Isn’t this the case? So his Thawab has gone, the poor soul – how will he earn the good deeds? Allah subhana wa ta'ala has given a beautiful preparation to compensate for that, SubhanAllah. Shall I tell you what it is? This makes it even easier for you if you can’t read so much Qur’an. A person may say ‘I work too much’ or ‘I work for the police’, or ‘I work as a security guard’ or ‘I come back home in the evening after working and I’m tired. Other people complete the Qur’an and I try, but I can’t manage it.’ The poor soul opens the Qur’an, but he completes two or three Juz only. Allah says ‘Don’t worry! Your Rabb is great and merciful.’ SubhanAllah. Allah is saying that He will not allow any deficiency if you can’t read the Qur’an. Especially older women may say ‘This is too hard – I can’t see it.’
Allah ta’ala says ‘Don’t worry, My servants! {وَٱذۡڪُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ ڪَثِيرً۬ا لَّعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ} There will be no deficiency!’ SubhanAllah. This is a speciality of Dhikr and of Istighfar. Allah says ‘That is why I have made Dhikr of Allah essential, because it is so easy – no one can reject the Dhikr of Allah. Which person who is old or busy or without knowledge cannot say ‘SubhanAllah’? Who is there who cannot say ‘SubhanAllah’, oh man? Even those born recently, children of one and half years old, the word ‘Allah’ even comes out on their tongue. Is this a small amount of Dhikr? If a person says ‘Allah’ once, Allah ta’ala says ‘I fill the gap between the heavens and the earth with Noor!’ Tell me what a preparation Allah has made. If a person says ‘I can’t read so much Qur’an’, then okay, fine - pick up a Tasbeeh and do the Dhikr of Allah! If a person says ‘We have been left behind’, Allah says ‘Why have you been left behind? You will read the Qur’an and also do Dhikr of Allah in the three Majalis!’ Lead the Tarawih Salah, and also go to the gathering of Dhikr – earn from the Qur’an, and also earn via Dhikr. Ramadhan means earning, so collate and gather so much into your account that, when we have a need, there will be no deficit. Rather, the balance should be in credit until next Ramadhan comes, SubhanAllah.
May Allah ta’ala accept us all for coming – let us go towards Dhikr. The real time for us to earn has come. All of what I have said has been for the sake of preparing you, not just for Ramadhan, but rather for the days which are to come. I am preparing you for the time that is to come, so stay strong and don’t forget these words. Keep on reading and listening; keep on listening on the website, and your passion and love for Allah will be aroused and revived inshaAllah. When Ramadhan goes, don’t think that you are an orphan because Ramadhan has gone – don’t cry, no. Everything you have gathered will provide you with a lot of wealth from which you can eat – you will have acquired so many good deeds to your name. You have done a lot of Dhikr, alhamdulillah, with the Fadhl of Allah.
Come, let’s get together and do Dhikr of Allah inshaAllah - let’s earn something.
Recite Durood Sharif.
There is no part of the Deen that Allah subhana wa ta'ala has not included in Ramadhan, and there is no part of the Deen that Ramadhan has not enabled us to practice. If we ponder and reflect and analyse, if we sit and think for a little while, there are so many different, beneficial aspects of the Deen that Ramadhan gives us guidance about. And Allah subhana wa ta'ala has instilled a Noor and a Rahmah in Ramadhan such that, if a person focuses on those subjects, thinking ‘This is a part of Deen, that is a part of Deen, and this month of Ramadhan has given me a chance to revise this fact and this knowledge’, then Allah ta’ala instills freshness and energy into this thinking and pondering. There is so much that we lack – there are defects in our Amal and practice – but such strength comes that for the rest of the year, these defects are mended. May Allah ta’ala give us Ramadhan again, and grant us this energy so that, with this guidance, we can stay corrected and easily pass the time until next Ramadhan.
One Faqih made a statement, which probably comes from a Hadith, and he said that there will be a unique scene in the Hereafter - unique and strange, you could say – where the people of Paradise will be surprised. I am sharing the meaning of this Hadith with you. And their surprise will also be unique and strange. Why will they be surprised? Their surprise will not be from having reached and arrived in Paradise, but they will be looking at each other in amazement. Allah will say ‘Why are you surprised that I have brought you into Jannah?’ and they will say ‘Ya Allah, oh our Lord, You have brought us into Jannah, but we read about this and studied about it in Your Kitab, and we heard this as well, so we were prepared for it.’ And what team was this that had arrived in Jannah? Listen to this and think about it as well. This was not a team of Ghawths or Qutbs or high-status Walis, and they weren’t Zahids or Aabids – they were sinful people, wrong doers who had done dirty actions. They had committed theft and left Salah; they had done shaytani actions like Zina and drinking alcohol. That is who this team were, and they were surprised and taken aback when they arrived in Paradise. Keep this in your minds.
So Allah said ‘Oh My servants, why are you shocked and dismayed? Is it because I have brought you into Paradise?’ They replied ‘Oh Allah, we are thinking that, although we made some preparation, You had said, in the Kitabs, in the Qur’an and in the Hadith that we heard from the respected scholars, that what would happen is that we would have to pass through hell before going into Jannah.’ Isn’t this the case? The Bridge of Siraat, that fantastic route that Allah ta’ala has created, has been laid across over the hellfire – and you know what the account of that Bridge of Siraat is and what will occur. We cannot imagine how much darkness there will be on the Bridge of Siraat and how thin it will be, and we will have to cross that Bridge beneath which will be the boiling fire Hell. Allah! I will have to pass over that Bridge and you will also have to pass over it, my brothers.
Look at this. This knowledge is not for reading or for discussing and chatting about. These Hadiths have been mentioned to us because a Mu’min has to understand which phases of life will confront us. I remember the statement of my Hadhrat Sahib noor ‘ala maraqadahu wa rahimahu-llah, which he would make with a sigh. He would say in his dialect, in his language, ‘Oh servants of Allah, you are stuck in this world and are upset and distressed with the issues and difficulties of this world, but you don’t know how severe the time to come will be!’ SubhanAllah. Then he would sigh a deep sigh – he had Yaqeen – and say ‘These difficulties and small issues of the world give us distress and sadness and we regard these as a hardship and a reason to worry and be sad. We make small issues into mountains although they will soon be solved - but think about the time to come and its tests. How will we pass that test? Think about the Bridge of Siraat, which is so thin and sharp and dark, and yet we will have to cross it - every human being will face this - and underneath will be the boiling fire of Jahannam with its ashes and flames everywhere. How will we be saved in that darkness? Who can save us? Allah tells us ‘You have to cross that Bridge; you have to cross it.’’
So tell me – have we made any preparation for this? What Amal can we do that will allow us to cross that Bridge of Siraat? Tell me. The real Muslim who has Yaqeen on these points worries about them day and night. This worry is there because that test and that challenge will come to us. How will we cross that obstacle with the abilities that we have? It will be very difficult to pass over it. But your hearts will enjoy Allah subhana wa ta'ala’s response when you hear of Allah’s mercy. Allah said ‘Yes, I did say this. You did have to pass through that hellfire, for sure – but you have passed through it!’ SubhanAllah. ‘You did pass through that test and trial, but due to you, hell became cool. It was cooled – Jahannam was cooled!’ My brothers, the sinners will look at each other and congratulate each other. Then they will say ‘Ya Allah, how did You confer Your mercy onto us in this way? What was it that made You give us so much Karam and grace that You cooled the fire of hell for us, so much so that we didn’t even realise that we had gone through that part of the journey? We thought we had marched straight into Paradise!’ SubhanAllah - may Allah ta’ala include us amongst those people! Say Ameen. Then Allah subhana wa ta'ala stated ‘Yes, you are right – you did have one quality due to which I cooled the hellfire today.’ They said ‘What was that quality, oh Allah?’ Allah replied ‘Yes, you used to sin, but after you committed those sins, you would say ‘O Allah, we are afraid’ and then you did Tawbah and you repented!’ SubhanAllah - Allahu Akbar!
Allah talks in the Qur’an about those people who did dirty actions, who oppressed themselves and did dirty actions and a lot of sins {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}. Allah says ‘What sins did you not commit and implement?’ Okay, you are human beings, and human beings do commit sins. That group did sin, didn’t they? But what was their quality? They did Dua – they made Tawbah. A man can go astray. He opens his phone to look at the news, but after the news, where does he end up? Tell me. And then he meets someone, and they have a chat, and then backbiting and such sins are committed at that time. How many people commit sins? But shaytan makes us so firm and stubborn about our sinful actions that we do not take this opportunity Allah ta’ala has given to us. If you have committed a sin and done wrong and have erred, then your Lord is present. What is sin? What is it? {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}
When we commit sins – and it does happen – what do we do? Allah is saying ‘You think it is a time of enjoyment and rejoicing when you do this, but you are oppressing yourselves.’ You are laughing and thinking ‘How can this be a sin? I am sinning but I am enjoying it so much! There is so much benefit in this. I take interest, but I am acquiring property after property, so how can this be against the Deen? I have done Zina, but I enjoyed myself. If you smoke this or drink that, you will enjoy it, so how can this be oppression against myself? How can I think that I am doing something wrong when I am enjoying it? There is enjoyment in these sins.’ This is what the sinful person says, SubhanAllah.
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that a person will be swimming in a river of blood, and when he comes to the bank, a boulder will be smashed onto his head. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw this. He saw that there would be a cauldron of fire in which naked women will be being tossed up and down – will they be enjoying themselves there? When that man is swimming in that river of blood and trying to get to the bank of the river and his head is struck by the boulder, will he enjoy that? When long nails are ripping a person’s skin, will there be any enjoyment in that? There will be an intense fire and a person will be thrown into it and it will burn off his skin, and then a new skin will grow so that it too can be burned - will there be enjoyment in that? This is the reality of the sins they are committing. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw this on the Night of Me’raj with his own eyes - he saw these effects, these consequences. He said that there is no enjoyment in sins, for committing sin is the total opposite to Deen.
Whenever anybody commits a sin, the genuine scene at that time is what Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw and which he came back and told us about. The person who sins has reached that condition that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw. When he does Zina, he is in that state; when a person is immodest and shameless, he is in that state; when he commits a sin of the tongue, the consequences are what Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam saw with his own eyes. Our Iman tells us this - we believe in this. This is why Allah ta’ala says {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}. Allah is saying ‘When you commit a sin, you are taking yourself into that negative state; you are doing Dhulm on yourself and spoiling your own position; you are taking yourself to that place of oppression.’ When you commit a sin, at that very time you are in the state of that punishment that has been apportioned for that sin – that is why Allah says {ظَّلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَهُمۡ}.
And then, further on in the same verse, Allah says {فَٱسۡتَغۡفَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ }. When you have committed a sin and have lowered yourself to such a position by committing a sin, {فَٱسۡتَغۡفَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ }. How will you attain Allah’s nearness? Allah is Ghafur ur-Rahim. What will Allah do? He will be Ghafur ur-Rahim – when you pass over the Bridge of Siraat, Allah ta’ala will cool the hellfire for you! So you committed a sin, but committing that sin can elevate the status of a person. So what should he do when he commits a sin? He should immediately do Astaghfar, within a second. As soon as you have committed the sin, immediately do Astaghfar. If you commit the sin again, then say Astaghfirullah again – and how much a person’s status increases at that time. It becomes so high.
But what happens instead? Insan have become so stubborn. How many people are there who commit sins and think they should do Tawbah afterwards? They keep on committing sins, and those sins accumulate, layer upon layer. So what habit has Ramadhan given to us? SubhanAllah. So much importance has been placed on Astaghfar in Ramadhan – Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam emphasized this. This was mentioned to us by Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the first Hadith about Ramadhan that we looked at: “واستكثروا فيه من أربع خصال: خصلتين ترضون بهما ربكم” There are four special features of Ramadhan, and two are so important that you can easily attain Allah ta’ala’s pleasure if you do those. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying ‘Don’t leave these two actions – don’t forget or reject these two actions in Ramadhan. They are part of Ramadhan and you have to get the habit for them in Ramadhan. If you get the habit of doing these two things in Ramadhan, then the stamp and seal will be applied to you that Allah ta’ala is happy with you, and you will depart from this world with Allah’s Pleasure.’
Ramadhan is telling us this, so definitely do this. And don’t do this just in Ramadhan, no. The real test will come after Ramadhan, when shaytan will be released and we will be thrown back into the real world, and there will be no Tarawih in the Masjid and just our five times Salah. The Qur’an will close, and everything will finish. This time will come, and how long will that be for? We will have to pass eleven months like that in the wilderness. This is just like if somebody came and said that you have to pass through a desert, so you have to gather whatever food and drink you will need for the eleven months of desert that are to come. Get your luggage and food together accordingly so that you can get through those eleven months. This is what Allah ta’ala is saying as well, that you should gather together whatever luggage and assistance you can during this month, for after that, you do not know if Ramadhan will come back again in your life. Will this environment come back again or not? This will all end – this environment is temporary. You are enjoying yourself, and with the Fadhl of Allah and with His grace and mercy and blessings, it is essential that you grab hold of this thing that Allah has said we need.
Allah! How much has Allah laid this out for you? Allah has given us this gathering three times a day in Ramadhan. Three times, not just once. If a person does not take part, is there a greater loser and a more ungrateful person than this? Tell me. A human being is hungry and thirsty, and the essential foods are placed in front of him, but he says ‘I don’t want to eat. I may die, but I have no need to eat food, even though I am hungry and thirsty, and the pangs of hunger are there.’ This is unnatural! Sometimes the Majalis may be lengthy, but this is a great time – you attain the Majlis of the Naqshbandi Silsila. And it contains not just Dhikr, but SubhanAllah, you get Khatam Khawajgan on top of that! If we start speaking about the Khatam Khawajgan, you will be amazed, because in the Khatam Khawajgan, you are getting the effects of each Wali of Allah whose Khatam you are doing. You will get his spirituality, his Tawajjuh, his attention and his Barakaat. When you do Esal-e-Thawab for that Naqshband Sheikh Hadhrat Mujaddid Alf Thani, do you think he is forgetting you in the heavens? Say SubhanAllah. Not once, not twice - three times a day you are getting this, for thirty days - and not in small nights, SubhanAllah. When Isha ends, Tahajjud time begins, SubhanAllah.
Can there be a more ungrateful person than the one who leaves that? Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying that Allah will be happy and pleased with you if you remember Allah – SubhanAllah. Do it! Will you be able to do this after Ramadhan? No. Allah will say ‘Look at the Thawab that you took during that month!’ Nothing can compare with that. This is truly a great opportunity – and people can come at this time. Even high-class people who have learned Dhikr – I am talking about them. Okay, maybe a normal person won’t realise, but those who have learned Dhikr cannot come and sit – so we realise that they have not learned. They play games and make a show of it. There are people like this who make a drama of it and play games - they jest and mock. Yes? When they open the Qur’an, they joke with the Qur’an, as if ‘Oh, what is the Qur’an’ – and they read it as if it is a joke. They read Nafl, but they are playing games with the Nawafil.
In reality, there should be appreciation and value in those hearts. They should think ‘Allah ta’ala has taught me this Dhikr, this high-grade Dhikr. Allah has taught me this Dhikr on my Lata’if, and I have been given different lessons.’ And if he knows that in the night, at Tahajjud time, he can send Esal-e-Thawab on these great Walis of Allah and do their Khatam, and that Hadhrat Baha’uddin Naqshband rahmatullah alayh will be present, and Hadhrat Baqi Bi-llah rahmatullah alayh will be present, and Hadhrat Ubaydullah Ahrar rahmatullah alayh will be present, and Hadhrat Khwaja Ma’sum rahmatullah alayh will be present – ah, and my Sheikh Hadhrat Ali Murtaza rahmatullah alayh will be present! SubhanAllah. But they say ‘Oh, no, no, no.’ This is about Yaqeen. How can you leave empty-handed if you have Yaqeen? Brothers, the Kalimahs that we recite are Khatam for the Khwajgan – this is the litany for the Sheikhs, our pious elders. And after attaining all their Barakaat and blessings, we do Dhikr Ism-e-Dhat, on Allah’s Name – is this a minor action? Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is announcing the reward and this comprehensive Hadith was explained by Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam in Sha’ban so that we would not forget this Sabaq. This is such a big lesson – have we forgotten it? Do we leave Dhikr of Allah? Will Allah ta’ala not call us to account for this?
So how great this action of Dhikr is. And after that, what is the second thing? There are two important things – “خصلتين” - and we are told ‘Take hold of these two things, and don’t just practice these in Ramadhan, but hold fast to them for the rest of the eleven months and for the rest of your life - and through them, you will complete your Deen.’ That second element is Istighfar. The first is Dhikr, and the second is Istighfar. What a great reward – you won’t even experience the Bridge of Siraat and you won’t get that darkness; you won’t have that fear and anxiety. It will be like travelling to your country in a first-class seat. You will have a special ticket for the direct six-hour flight. It won’t be the fourteen-hour flight that stops in Dubai, in which you have to transit with delays and so on. Your flight will be direct, in the first-class cabin, and in six hours you will arrive in Lahore -SubhanAllah. Say SubhanAllah. ‘Did you sleep on the way?’ ‘I slept and relaxed and then arrived, no problem - the trip was nothing.’
We are wandering around here in England with chickens and an easy life – we don’t have anything to worry about. This is our life. Allah ta’ala has given us Halal food and cars – and Allah ta’ala has also given us Dhikr of Allah here! Say SubhanAllah. There is a double reward – Allah says ‘Eat My Ni’mahs and do My Dhikr on top of that – no hardship.’ This is not for those poor people who we have left behind in Hindustan and Bharuch and Surat and Pakistan and other places. Yes? They have not got these rewards and have not gained them. So tell me – what are their conditions at this moment in time? How many people are hungry and in severe situations? Ask the Ulema-e-Kiram who are collecting money at the moment about the situation of those they have left? They are people who say ‘Qala qala Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam’; they are high-status Ulema, from the high level of the Makhluq of Allah, those who teach ‘Ilm and invite people towards the Deen via the ‘Ilm of Allah, giving up their time and learning Qur’an and Hadith and teaching that to people. They are high-grade people, high-class people – if Ikhlas comes into their lives.
There is always this ‘if’ – this is a condition that the Qur’an gives. If there is Ikhlas, nobody in the world can compare to the scholars, SubhanAllah. If Ikhlas comes into their lives, such is the level and Haq of the Alim that the very ink of the pens with which they write their Fatwas has tremendous reward. I put my hands together and I plead - just take that one step further! Oh my colleagues, oh my brothers who learn ‘Ilm in the Dar-ul-Ulooms, you have arrived at the greatest pedestal. There is just one more ‘Ilm that you need to learn, so spend some time in the Khanqah! But that’s where they stop and put the brakes on - the Nafs overwhelms them. The status of the Alim is so great that the ink from the pen of the Alim who writes a Fatwa is a great treasure – SubhanAllah. Where they are writing a Fatwa, in the Akhirah, the ink with which they write will be weighed alongside who? The blood of the Shaheed! It is comparable to that in the Hereafter, SubhanAllah. But the difference is that he stops. He comes out of the Dar-ul-Uloom and then goes to work and starts earning in the Dunya – because he learned for the sake of the Dunya, unlike he who learns for the sake of the Akhirah. When they get to that level, they turn to the bank instead of to the Khanqah, because they don’t want to do their Islah and to rectify and purify themselves at the feet of the Wali of Allah, or to pick up the slippers of the Wali of Allah. This is all Islah, rectification and purification, and I would make this request to my brothers and the respected Ulema: congratulations to those who are sending their children to acquire knowledge, but after that, brothers, knock on the door of the Khanqah and present yourselves in the service of the Wali of Allah, so that your son can get to that Maqam foe which Allah has selected him and has destined him for.
So Allah subhana wa ta'ala has given us this beautiful point of Tawbah in Ramadhan. This is a compulsory factor of Ramadhan, so do Istighfar in abundance. Allah ta’ala is saying that we should do Dhikr in abundance and Istighfar in abundance, and then Allah gives the guarantee that before you have even departed from Ramadhan, while you are still in Ramadhan, Allah will give you forgiveness. Some people will get this reward, some will get that reward, but, oh Dahkireen and those who do Tawbah, don’t worry, you will get the good news of Allah’s Ridha, Allah’s Pleasure.
So think about this my brothers – Istighfar, repentance. Let me go a bit beyond this, because the available time has extended a little bit now. I will take the discussion forward a little bit because my heart is open, and I am enjoying it. How much Allah ta’ala gives Karam and His grace and mercy, because when someone get this reward, his heart rejoices, SubhanAllah. My every hair is grateful at the moment. Oh Allah, how should I show my gratefulness to You? Only by doing Allah’s Dhikr can I be grateful to You. How is it possible for You to give the Tawfeeq to a person like me to sit after Fajr to do Your Dhikr, to do this great Dhikr; and then I come at this time the day for this also; and then after Isha, I will again sit down in a Majlis to do Your Dhikr. Who is giving this to me? Oh Allah, it is Your Rahmah and mercy that is dragging me to do this – SubhanAllah.
Shall I share another Hadith with you so that your passion and determination increase? Do you want to hear it? Say SubhanAllah. Look – what a beautiful point Allah ta’ala is making. Okay, we have committed sins. Allah is saying ‘So you have committed a sin – now I will show you what to do.’ Look at this Hadith. There are two angels who are sitting here, one on the right and one on the left, and Allah ta’ala addresses these two angels, the Kiraman Katibeen. MashaAllah, you are educated and learned - the Kiraman Katibeen on the right and the left. The one on the right has a bit more power – he is greater than the one on the left. The right hand is greater than the left, is it not? Allah ta’ala likes everything on the right side more, so when you do something good, do it with the right. When you do something bad, do it from the left. Yes? When you eat, eat with the right hand; when you drink, drink with the right; when you shake hands, put the right hand forward. The right hand has a higher status, which is why that angel on the right is the Amir of the angel on the left. He says ‘Whatever you do, ask permission from me first.’ Who is saying this? The right-hand angel – Allah has given him this power.
So before you do anything, look at Allah’s Rahmah and mercy, SubhanAllah. Allah has made this system, and I am telling you why Allah ta’ala has made this system and kept it running. Do you understand what I am saying or not? Look, how has Allah made this system progress, and why has Allah ta’ala given this emphasis to the right side? Listen carefully. Say Zaid does a sin and then asks for forgiveness. I am just giving an example when using this particular name; let’s just say a person - okay. So if a person commits a sin, then look at Allah ta’ala’s preparation and plan. The person commits a sin, and the duty, when a sin is committed, is for it to be recorded. But the angel on the right says ‘Stop! Don’t write it.’ He gives this order to the angel on the left. He says ‘Don’t record it yet.’ So the angel on the left asks ‘When should I write it then?’ He is told ‘Wait.’ ‘How long shall I wait?’ he asks. ‘Wait until he commits five sins.’ Say SubhanAllah! Do you understand the point? The angel on the right says ‘You cannot record this sin until or unless he commits five sins.’
So look at the chances you get, the opportunities. You didn’t know that you were going to commit a sin, maybe looking at the news on the phone, but then you looked at other games or scenes that came into view and decided to go further, becoming immersed in that shaytani environment. Or this might happen when a person is free at night and he puts the computer on - what else is he going to do? He has just studied and then prayed Salah and come back home. But the angel is told ‘Wait until he commits five sins’ – and then eventually, the five sins are committed. We commit the five sins, don’t we? So he says ‘Shall I record them now?’ But the angel on the right again says ‘Stop!’ He asks why, and says ‘Is this not Allah’s law and principle? What is the principle of Allah?’ The right-hand angel say ‘Wait – be quiet. Wait until he does a good deed.’ SubhanAllah – how many? One good deed. So he has committed five sins, and they are both waiting and the time is extended – there is a gap now. Say SubhanAllah.
So we need one good – is one good deed hard for us? ‘Assalamu alaykum’ – how many good deeds for this? But we don’t even do that – we keep our mouths sealed. We say ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’ or ‘Khem Cho’ or ‘Kya Hal He’ – we don’t say Salam. Does this happen or not? We ask each other ‘How are you?’ in our languages – ‘Kaifa-l-Hal?’ But we don’t say what Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has prescribed to us and taught us. Allah ta’ala has put safety and security in this greeting. When a person goes home and says ‘Assalamu alaykum’, he will have nothing lacking in his wealth. Say SubhanAllah. But we don’t want to say Salam - we keep our mouths shut and just stand there. We think ‘If I give Salam, I will be dishonoured, because I am a big man, and he is a small man.’ Allahu Akbar. If a person splutters and struggles to reply to Salam, that one Salam which can take out all the dirt and impurities within him, the Salam he was offered scans him and says ‘Look - he has pride and haughtiness and thinks he is higher and better than others’, so it curses him instead of giving him getting the reward for replying ‘Wa alaykum as-Salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.’ And if a person gives him Salam and initiates the greeting, he thinks to himself ‘He had a duty to give me Salam, but I am a Choudhury so I have no need to reply to him – let’s leave it at that.’ Islah – we need to rectify ourselves.
So they are waiting for the person to record just one good deed - and a Muslim will eventually do one good deed – but then the angel again says ‘Stop!’ His partner says ‘Why?’ He says ‘Don’t you know that compared to what you are about to record, Allah has kept ten rewards for this one good deed – it is multiplied.’ SubhanAllah. So where does this story start from? He committed a sin, and then there was a gap while they waited for five sins to be committed, and he was told to wait again until the person did a good deed, and then he told him to wait again, and said that the Thawab for one good deed was ten times the value of that deed. Look at Allah’s Rahmah – SubhanAllah. So then he says to him ‘Do the maths – do you know how to count? There are ten good deeds, minus the five sins.’ SubhanAllah, Allahu Akbar – say SubhanAllah. This is what is happening with us now – every day this happens, with me and with you. Take away the fives sins from the ten good deeds, and what is left? What is the balance? Five good deeds. So he says ‘We will record five good deeds in his Book of Deeds.’ SubhanAllah. Though he committed sins, this one good deed removed them! When shaytan sees this, he says ‘Oh Allah – I have lost! I cannot control this person.’ These are the words of the Hadith; shaytan gets destroyed by that one human being and his good deed. Allahu Akbar.
So what does Ramadhan say? Let us come to the reality now, SubhanAllah. For one good deed, how much does a person get to offset five of his sins? Five good deeds get recorded in his Book of Deeds after that one good deed. So what does Allah subhana wa ta'ala do? Allah ta’ala gives us Ramadhan and says ‘Commit good deeds and actions, and I will give you up to 700 times the Thawab for each good deed. I will give you so much reward that when you pray a Nafl Salah, I will transform it into Fardh.’ The question arises as to why Allah ta’ala wants to give us so much Thawab in Ramadhan, and the answer is that Allah ta’ala wants to give you an overdraft. Allah wants to credit your account – is that an overdraft? I am not good with the banking terminology. Allah says ‘I want to give you a credit to your balance so that for the eleven months until you return again to Ramadhan, you will have accumulated so much through your good deeds.’ SubhanAllah. Ya Allah, have you given me this much credit, and rather than putting my account into the red, have you given more and more credit? Look at Allah ta’ala’s Hikmah in Ramadhan. Allah ta’ala says ‘I will increase the rewards so that the Ummah of My Habeeb has this chance to gather and acquire so much luggage in this month.’ So what we should do is practice doing good deeds, actions that will acquire the water we need, actions that will give us the dates that we need, giving so much Salam and doing this, that and the other actions.
Also, one other preparation that Allah ta’ala has given to us is that, along with Ramadhan, the Qur’an is bestowed to us. And what is the Hukm? Allah ta’ala says ‘Recite the Qur’an abundantly in Ramadhan - as much as you want.’ Why? How does the reward of one letter of the Qur’an in Ramadhan compare to the reward that Allah ta’ala gives in normal days? If you recite Alif Ba and Ta in Ramadhan, then every letter is so precious! Oh Huffadh, I tell you that your lottery ticket has been won! SubhanAllah – where does your balance get to? The reward for this will never end – that is how much Allah ta’ala increases the credit of the account of those people – SubhanAllah. What is all this? This is called Allah’s Rahmah, His mercy. This is why that the jurists have said that a Mu’min cannot go to Jahannam – SubhanAllah. Allah has prepared so much for this Ummah – the question doesn’t arise that a person could go to hell. Allah ta’ala has prepared so many opportunities for good deeds with the Qur’an. You have to open the Qur’an in Ramadhan - the Qur’an is attached to Ramadhan. If there is no Qur’an, then there is no Ramadhan. Is this not the case? Yes. As soon as Ramadhan comes, the Qur’an opens alhamdulillah.
I would like to mention another point here in passing - you can compare now. Look at our countries - if you go out to the wilderness, to the deserts, to the villages, eighty-five to ninety percent of people don’t know how to read the Qur’an. Isn’t this the case? Do some research and analyse this. Very few people read the Qur’an – they haven’t learned how to read. That is why Madrasas have been opened in the village areas and the remote areas where the respected scholars do the work of the Deen. We have gone so far from the Deen – the people there don’t even read the Qur’an. If I speak about Africa where I travelled, in the remote areas, people didn’t even know what the Qur’an was. In one place there was just one torn, incomplete copy of the Qur’an – they didn’t even have a whole Qur’an with them. Okay, so many people don’t read the Qur’an. And other people have learned the Qur’an but they are sick and so they cannot read it. Or a person cannot read so much because he is busy and occupied, perhaps he is a Da’ee of the Deen and he is giving Da’wah in Ramadhan, doing Tableegh, explaining to people, inviting people with Hadith and Qur’an. He is so immersed in this that he doesn’t get the time to finish the whole Qur’an like other people. The poor soul – how can he manage then? For example, and Alim may have to speak here, to call there, invite here, go there, so he doesn’t get the time to sit down and read the Qur’an like normal people do.
Isn’t this the case? So his Thawab has gone, the poor soul – how will he earn the good deeds? Allah subhana wa ta'ala has given a beautiful preparation to compensate for that, SubhanAllah. Shall I tell you what it is? This makes it even easier for you if you can’t read so much Qur’an. A person may say ‘I work too much’ or ‘I work for the police’, or ‘I work as a security guard’ or ‘I come back home in the evening after working and I’m tired. Other people complete the Qur’an and I try, but I can’t manage it.’ The poor soul opens the Qur’an, but he completes two or three Juz only. Allah says ‘Don’t worry! Your Rabb is great and merciful.’ SubhanAllah. Allah is saying that He will not allow any deficiency if you can’t read the Qur’an. Especially older women may say ‘This is too hard – I can’t see it.’
Allah ta’ala says ‘Don’t worry, My servants! {وَٱذۡڪُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ ڪَثِيرً۬ا لَّعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ} There will be no deficiency!’ SubhanAllah. This is a speciality of Dhikr and of Istighfar. Allah says ‘That is why I have made Dhikr of Allah essential, because it is so easy – no one can reject the Dhikr of Allah. Which person who is old or busy or without knowledge cannot say ‘SubhanAllah’? Who is there who cannot say ‘SubhanAllah’, oh man? Even those born recently, children of one and half years old, the word ‘Allah’ even comes out on their tongue. Is this a small amount of Dhikr? If a person says ‘Allah’ once, Allah ta’ala says ‘I fill the gap between the heavens and the earth with Noor!’ Tell me what a preparation Allah has made. If a person says ‘I can’t read so much Qur’an’, then okay, fine - pick up a Tasbeeh and do the Dhikr of Allah! If a person says ‘We have been left behind’, Allah says ‘Why have you been left behind? You will read the Qur’an and also do Dhikr of Allah in the three Majalis!’ Lead the Tarawih Salah, and also go to the gathering of Dhikr – earn from the Qur’an, and also earn via Dhikr. Ramadhan means earning, so collate and gather so much into your account that, when we have a need, there will be no deficit. Rather, the balance should be in credit until next Ramadhan comes, SubhanAllah.
May Allah ta’ala accept us all for coming – let us go towards Dhikr. The real time for us to earn has come. All of what I have said has been for the sake of preparing you, not just for Ramadhan, but rather for the days which are to come. I am preparing you for the time that is to come, so stay strong and don’t forget these words. Keep on reading and listening; keep on listening on the website, and your passion and love for Allah will be aroused and revived inshaAllah. When Ramadhan goes, don’t think that you are an orphan because Ramadhan has gone – don’t cry, no. Everything you have gathered will provide you with a lot of wealth from which you can eat – you will have acquired so many good deeds to your name. You have done a lot of Dhikr, alhamdulillah, with the Fadhl of Allah.
Come, let’s get together and do Dhikr of Allah inshaAllah - let’s earn something.
Recite Durood Sharif.