PREPARING FOR RAMADAN DAY 1
Ask yourself why do we have to prepare for Ramadaan? One of the answers is to reap the benefits to the fullest.
Ramadaan is a time where we do huge acts of worship such as reading Quran frequently, performing Qiyaam ul-layl etc. How can we perform these powerful acts of worship and not feel a difference? We are not tasting the fruits of Ramadaan, we are lacking.
We have to fast Ramadaan as it truly deserves to be fasted. Before we prepare we must feel a longing for Ramadaan. The salaf used to long for Ramadaan 6 months before it arrived.
Our distractions, children, husbands can pre-occupy us bring our emaan down, there fore during Ramadaan we have to recharge our fuel!
We all know that during the month of Ramadaan the devils are chained up, the doors to Jannah are opened and the doors to hell are closed. Even though we know and read this, have we reflected on its reality? From the start of Ramadaan the laws of the universe changes. Ask your self, how would you feel if this was your last Ramadaan.
Note: You get what you intended! Meaning whatever you intend to do, that is what you will get.
We have to try to make our heart gain insight, the Sheikh said “Cause your heart to smell Ramadaan as Yacoob smelt the shirt of his son Yusuf”
We have to realise what Ramadaan is all about. Some of the scholars used to say the month of Rajab is the month of planting the seeds, Shabaan is the month of watering the seeds and Ramadaan is the month for reaping the fruits.
In the month of Shabaan we should fast a lot, as much as you can, read Quran and do more dhikr, make it a month of ibaadah to prepare for Ramadaan.
What is the wisdom on increasing the worship before Ramadaan?
The salaf of the past used to say “ I made jihad (struggled) with Qiyaam -ul layl for 20 years, then enjoyed the sweetness of it, for the next 20 years”.
To taste the sweetness we must be patient as it is a gift from Allah SWT.
The days of Ramadan are very few and it goes quickly. It’s a short time, so in order for the ibaada to take affect on us, we have to do much ibaada all or most of the time during the month of Shabaan to prepare ourselves, as did the salaf and according to the Sunnah.
We have to do warm-up exercises (practice) before Ramadaan.
Realise before we do this- tell your naffs “we are going to co-operate with each other, if not I will force you”. Speak to your nuffs like you speak to a child.
We need to be consistent-have high standards and maintain it. When you feel impatient tell your self it’s only a matter of day’s inshAllah!
The Sheikh said, do not despair, if you do not feel the sweetness straight away, keep focus.
We must remember that the shaitan/naffs will test you.
Warm-up exercise:
Renew our tauba (repentance)- practice to try and make our tauba perfect, tauba is a life-time affair. Everyone needs repentance. Our hearts have become like rust/black spots because of our sins. We have to clean our heart, remove all the junk and repent to Allah for our sins.
The Sahaaba said to it’s followers the (Tabieen the 2nd best generation), “Indeed truly you do sins which you consider smaller than a strand of hair, while during the life of the prophet we used to consider them amongst the major and disruptive sins”
The Sheikh gave some examples of what we need to make tauba from:
1) Misuse of our tongue, the prophet (s) used to make dua “I seek refuge with you from the evil of my tongue” The prophet(s) also said, “you should be more shy from Allah, than the most righteous person from your community”.
2) Backbiting – this is when you say something about a person behind their back which they wouldn’t like, even if what you are saying is true.
Slander – When you say something about a person which isn’t true.
“Who ever believes in Allah and the last day, let him speak good, or stay quiet.”
3) Lies and even exaggeration when speaking. And note that in Islam there is no such thing as white lies. A lie is a lie! There are only 3 circumstances when it is permissible to lie:
a) In times of war
b) To keep harmony between husband and wife eg, if the wife asks her husband do you like the food, and the husbands says yes, just to keep the harmony and the bond between them even though he may not like the food.
c) To bring together the harmony of two muslilms.
4) Gossip, disrespect, insulting and bad speech. Bad speech can be what you say and how you say it. Allah will hold you responsible for both.
5) Calamity of telephones.
The prophet (s) said “Allah hates 3 things for you, gossip (he said….she said….), wasting money and asking too many questions.”
6) Sins from the heart this can be offences to Allah and to other muslims
7) Riya (showing off) doing good deeds for others, other than Allah.
8) Ujoob – feeling that I am fine the way I am, I don’t need to change. This is self-conceit and self-admiration.
9) Kibr – arrogance, thinking you are better than others
10) Hasad and hatred. It is haraam to feel jealousy/envy/hatred towards another muslim.
We also have to make tauba from lack of modesty. Take care of how you dress, talk, conduct your self especially in front of men etc. You do not want to be a cause of fitnah for men. We have to make tauba from all of the time we have wasted.
The Sheikh asks the question, “ How often do we read the Quran?”, he also said, time is wasted on silly things such as unnecessary phone calls, shopping, TV. We must make tauba from trying to please people at the displeasure of Allah.
Remember when making taubah bear in mind that there is no sin too great that Allah does not forgive.
Ramadaan is a time where we do huge acts of worship such as reading Quran frequently, performing Qiyaam ul-layl etc. How can we perform these powerful acts of worship and not feel a difference? We are not tasting the fruits of Ramadaan, we are lacking.
We have to fast Ramadaan as it truly deserves to be fasted. Before we prepare we must feel a longing for Ramadaan. The salaf used to long for Ramadaan 6 months before it arrived.
Our distractions, children, husbands can pre-occupy us bring our emaan down, there fore during Ramadaan we have to recharge our fuel!
We all know that during the month of Ramadaan the devils are chained up, the doors to Jannah are opened and the doors to hell are closed. Even though we know and read this, have we reflected on its reality? From the start of Ramadaan the laws of the universe changes. Ask your self, how would you feel if this was your last Ramadaan.
Note: You get what you intended! Meaning whatever you intend to do, that is what you will get.
We have to try to make our heart gain insight, the Sheikh said “Cause your heart to smell Ramadaan as Yacoob smelt the shirt of his son Yusuf”
We have to realise what Ramadaan is all about. Some of the scholars used to say the month of Rajab is the month of planting the seeds, Shabaan is the month of watering the seeds and Ramadaan is the month for reaping the fruits.
In the month of Shabaan we should fast a lot, as much as you can, read Quran and do more dhikr, make it a month of ibaadah to prepare for Ramadaan.
What is the wisdom on increasing the worship before Ramadaan?
The salaf of the past used to say “ I made jihad (struggled) with Qiyaam -ul layl for 20 years, then enjoyed the sweetness of it, for the next 20 years”.
To taste the sweetness we must be patient as it is a gift from Allah SWT.
The days of Ramadan are very few and it goes quickly. It’s a short time, so in order for the ibaada to take affect on us, we have to do much ibaada all or most of the time during the month of Shabaan to prepare ourselves, as did the salaf and according to the Sunnah.
We have to do warm-up exercises (practice) before Ramadaan.
Realise before we do this- tell your naffs “we are going to co-operate with each other, if not I will force you”. Speak to your nuffs like you speak to a child.
We need to be consistent-have high standards and maintain it. When you feel impatient tell your self it’s only a matter of day’s inshAllah!
The Sheikh said, do not despair, if you do not feel the sweetness straight away, keep focus.
We must remember that the shaitan/naffs will test you.
Warm-up exercise:
Renew our tauba (repentance)- practice to try and make our tauba perfect, tauba is a life-time affair. Everyone needs repentance. Our hearts have become like rust/black spots because of our sins. We have to clean our heart, remove all the junk and repent to Allah for our sins.
The Sahaaba said to it’s followers the (Tabieen the 2nd best generation), “Indeed truly you do sins which you consider smaller than a strand of hair, while during the life of the prophet we used to consider them amongst the major and disruptive sins”
The Sheikh gave some examples of what we need to make tauba from:
1) Misuse of our tongue, the prophet (s) used to make dua “I seek refuge with you from the evil of my tongue” The prophet(s) also said, “you should be more shy from Allah, than the most righteous person from your community”.
2) Backbiting – this is when you say something about a person behind their back which they wouldn’t like, even if what you are saying is true.
Slander – When you say something about a person which isn’t true.
“Who ever believes in Allah and the last day, let him speak good, or stay quiet.”
3) Lies and even exaggeration when speaking. And note that in Islam there is no such thing as white lies. A lie is a lie! There are only 3 circumstances when it is permissible to lie:
a) In times of war
b) To keep harmony between husband and wife eg, if the wife asks her husband do you like the food, and the husbands says yes, just to keep the harmony and the bond between them even though he may not like the food.
c) To bring together the harmony of two muslilms.
4) Gossip, disrespect, insulting and bad speech. Bad speech can be what you say and how you say it. Allah will hold you responsible for both.
5) Calamity of telephones.
The prophet (s) said “Allah hates 3 things for you, gossip (he said….she said….), wasting money and asking too many questions.”
6) Sins from the heart this can be offences to Allah and to other muslims
7) Riya (showing off) doing good deeds for others, other than Allah.
8) Ujoob – feeling that I am fine the way I am, I don’t need to change. This is self-conceit and self-admiration.
9) Kibr – arrogance, thinking you are better than others
10) Hasad and hatred. It is haraam to feel jealousy/envy/hatred towards another muslim.
We also have to make tauba from lack of modesty. Take care of how you dress, talk, conduct your self especially in front of men etc. You do not want to be a cause of fitnah for men. We have to make tauba from all of the time we have wasted.
The Sheikh asks the question, “ How often do we read the Quran?”, he also said, time is wasted on silly things such as unnecessary phone calls, shopping, TV. We must make tauba from trying to please people at the displeasure of Allah.
Remember when making taubah bear in mind that there is no sin too great that Allah does not forgive.
PREPARING FOR RAMADAN DAY 2
Prophet (s) said “Ramadhan has arrived to you a month of Baraka, Allah envelops you with his mercy. So he descends his mercy, erases the sins, answers the duas and watches your competition for goodness and he boasts to his angels about you. So let Allah see the best from you, for truly the miserable one is he who is prevented Allah’s mercy.”
The Prophet said that “Ramadhan is a race, competition”.
We should all want and hope that we are amongst those whom Allah boasts to the angels about us. Imagine that Allah calls your name and mentions of you to the angels, and calls the angels to come and watch you do these acts of worship that Allah is pleased with.
Continuing from the last lecture regarding warm-up exercises to prepare us for Ramadhan.
2) We have to increase our level of motivation; this is done by increasing our ibaadah during the month of Shabaan. Examples of this can be to increase in the nawaafil (Sunnah) prayers connected to the fard prayers. This should be done if we are not already doing this, and if we are doing this then we can increase the nawaafil - according to the Sunnah. For those of us who do not pray the Dhuha prayer (mid-morning prayer) we should start praying it. We should get up before Fajar and pray night prayer, start fasting in Shabaan, stay up after Fajar to read Quran. Try to sleep early to make it easier to wake up early. Have a rest after zhour prayer in order to regain energy for other acts of worship.
We should increase in a zikr (Morning and Evening zikr should be said) these morning/evening zikr should never be abandoned/left. They are a great protection – if you leave them you will be inflicted with harm and this is a reality.
Make a lot of dua especially during the times it is accepted e.g., during the last hour before Maghrib salaah on a Friday. We generally should do the acts of worship we were not doing before.
3) Training the senses in particular the eye sight, hearing and tongue.
We want to train our senses to get used to worship, as these are avenues / ways to the heart. Remember what ever your are taking in, goes straight to the heart. We have to get used to the senses being trained, because they are used to doing what they want e.g., looking at what they want, listening to what they want, speaking about what they want without any boundaries. To help train your senses do not go to those places where there is corruption, as it will affect you. Instead get the eyes used to looking at the Mushaf which is pleasing to Allah. Train the ears to listen to Quran and not to engage in backbiting, lies or listening to music. Train the tongue to refrain from speaking as much as possible, get it trained to say much thikr. Our tongue is not used to it.
We must train ourselves to hate sins. Naturally we are created with a fitrah - this is to be up-right. Naturally we are created that our fitrah hates sins and is repulsive of them.
Why is it that we don’t feel this hatred/repulsiveness towards our sins?
This is because we have mixed our sins so much that our fitrah has become numb towards them.
Prophet (s) said “ Whoever sees an evil let him change it with is hand, if not by his tongue and if not his heart…….”
We need to get this numbness away and start hating the sins.
How can we return this sensitivity to our hearts?
We have to take care of following the Sunnah, as Allah says “Enter into Islam completely…….”
1) The first thing to achieve sensitivity is to fill our hearts with recitation of the Quran, praying frequently with sincerity. Allah says he gives calamity to the disbelievers so that they reach the state of humbleness.
We must make duaà with full of emotion, then your heart will become normalise and return back to its natural state.
2) We have to renounce the sins then mentally and physically abstaining (rejecting) from them. This will give our hearts the chance to return to sensitivity.
So what does this have to do with Ramadaan?
It is to prepare us to clean inside our heart, so that Ramadaan can take its effect !
Continuing with the 5th warm-up exercise.
Train your self to humiliate your self in front of Allah swt. By doing this you are showing Allah that you are in desperate need of him, that you are miskeen and in need of him at all times. The Sheikh says when you do not humble / humiliate yourself in front Allah – this is when a person begins to transgress and commit sins. i.e., thinking that you are fine and self-deficient.
Allah said to the prophet (s) “we have given you the 7 great ones ( the 7 ayats of Surah Fatiha or the long Surahs of the beginning of the Quran) and the great glorious Quran, so do not turn your eyes to what we have given to the others for temporary enjoyment”. Surah 15 Al Hijr v87-88.
Allah swt has chosen us to believe in him and has given and blessed us with the correct aqeedah. We have been blessed so much, and Imaan (faith) is the most blessed thing.
A duaà to say “Oh Allah, do not make our calamity in our deen” (religion). If Allah doesn’t keep us steadfast on his way, we can never last! We are in need of Allah to help us apply this Deen. Our calamities are to teach us to return to Allah.
What was the difference between the muslims in the battle of Badr and the battle of Uhud?
The people of the battle of Badr were humble, and had complete tawakul (trust) in Allah. Some were bare footed, barely clothed, miskeen and hungry. The prophet (s) begged Allah saying “surely if you destroy this group, you will not be worshipped on the earth.” So in the battle of Badr they were in a state of humiliation.
Whilst during the battle of Uhud, they felt very confident and did not completely show there weaknesses in front of Allah. So Allah showed them their weaknesses and how they were in need of Him swt.
6) Magnify and elevate the symbols (rites) of Allah. Allah has symbols in his religion e.g., the 5 pillars of Islam, Salah (prayer), Hajj, Ramadaan, Umrah – these acts of worship are all symbols of Allah. Allah says “Those who consider the great symbols of Allah, this is takwa (piety) from the hearts.”
We should not take these acts of worship lightly e.g., Hijab, fasting, Salaah/prayer etc.
The Sheikh says the Ghafla (heedlessness, unawareness) on our hearts is very dangerous to our religion i.e., lack of consciousness. We must awaken our hearts before Ramadhan comes. Realise that the doors of Jannah are actually open and the doors to hell are actually closed.
Ask your self, what if I am one of those whom Allah boasts about. This is an amazing opportunity. Sheikh tells us to get used to reflecting on these acts of worship i.e., hearing the Adzaan and repeating after it, saying the dua after the ahzaan, then making your own supplication. Making wudhu and remembering that sins are falling off as the water falls down.
Someone once asked a sahaaba, “How do you attain your Kushoo in prayer?”. The sahaaba answered “I sit for a time, and I think, contemplate before I make my salaah/prayer ”.
This is the end of the 1st aspect of Ramadaan.
The 2nd Aspect of Ramadaan
Goals, Aims, Aspirations and Intentions.
The Sheikh says “The ummah (as a whole) has not truly tasted Ramadhan…….If we had fasted one day in Ramadaan as we are supposed to fast, our situation would have changed”.
We are in desperate need to define our goals for Ramadhan.
What are our goals in Ramadaan?
We have to have the sincere feeling that you are doing it for Allah swt. You must feel this emotion in your hearts, there are many goals we should have for example:
1) The heart should truly yearn for Allah’s rahmah. The rahmah is descending from the sky and will catch certain people. We should want from the bottom of our hearts, for a piece of Allah’s rahmah to envelop us. We must understand, there is no success without Allah’s mercy. We must truly feel that we want Allah’s rahma. When your heart seeks this, then Allah’s rahmah will descend upon you. We must seek this each night in Ramadhan.
RAMADAN INSPIRATIONS AND INTENTIONS
1st Goal For Ramadhan :
The heart should truly yearn for Allah’s rahmah.
The rahmah is descending from the sky and will catch certain people. We should want from the bottom of our hearts, for a piece of Allah’s rahmah to envelop us. We must understand, there is no success without Allah’s mercy. We must truly feel that we want Allah’s rahmah. When your heart seeks this, then Allah’s rahmah will descend upon you. We must seek this each night in Ramadhan. During the month His Rahmah would descend down from the heaven & would 'catch' some people, so we want to be 1 of them. By really feeling the need à feeling that we are so miskin + poor from His Rahmah, because we don't just enter jannah solely by our deeds but most importantly His Rahmah, + truly show that we are needing of His Rahmah by really begging Him + try our best insya-Allah it'll be given to us.
2nd Goal for Ramadhan :
Consciously intent & desire Allah’s forgiveness for our past, present & future sins.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “whoever fast in Ramadhan with eeman & ihtisab, he will be forgiven for all his previous sins ”. we ask Allah to bless us with eeman & ihtisaab this Ramdhan.
Eeman means : I am doing this for the sake of Allah, the King – in obedience & submission to You. I fast because You order me to fast.
Ihtisaab means : an act of worship dealing with the heart. From the word “hisaab” = hold to account . It means you very consciously waiting for reward from Allah. Have high hopes that you will get high reward from Allah. For example : as you are working you remember you will get $$$$ thousand salary at the end of the month. Here you keep in mind the ajer ( reward) from Allah. The key word is consciously i.e. know in your heart that Allah will reward you – do a conscious mental talk to yourself.
Sometime we focus on the big deeds, we should have ihtisaab even on small deeds. With ihtisaab , even small deeds can become huge ; we are miskin…we beg Allah.
The Shaikh said, if person just fast then break fast & fast again & so on , then where is the intention & your ihtisaab. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ whoever do not have intention the night before do not fast ”. Intention ( niyyah) is not to be said with the tongue as it is an innovation to do so. Make intention with you heart only.
The Shaikh said : ihtisaab made him perplexed – he is trying to understand ihtisaab & ikhlas. His confusion was – in order for us to get reward for a deed, is ihtisaab a condition? e.g if a person enters a masjid and sit there but did not make intention to ihtikaaf, does he get the reward for ihtikaaf ? After asking many scholars, the correct opinion is : if a person does not make intention for ihtikaaf, he will NOT get reward for ihtikaaf. This is in line with the hadith “innamal a3malu bin niyyah = the deed is base on the intention ”. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam also said “ you will get reward for whatever you are conscious of ( concentrating /kusyoo) in your salaah ”
Therefore , when you do any action/deed, you must be conscious of the reward from Allah. e.g you say : “Ya Allah am listening to this talk because of You, Ya Allah I am biting my tongue now for You (i.e you hold back your respond ), Ya Allah I am sitting quietly now for You ” etc, etc . So, for Ramadhan fasting we have to do this too.
Also consciously think of your sins & ask Allah’s forgiveness – remember the day you were backbiting, remember the day you yelled at someone, remember the day when you…then think : when you say “Allah forgive me”, it means your sins will be erased , it means in dunya you will not be punished for it, in akhirat it will be shield à you will get maghfirah from Allah. Forgiveness from Allah is more : when you forgive a person, you put it aside , you put it behind you, when satan remind you of it – just tell yourself you have forgiven the person. Forgiveness from Allah is more than this. So we must consciously want Allah to forgive us so that you go out of Ramadhan clear of all sins.
You can make duaà : Ya Allah accept my striving, overlook my errors & shortcomings. Ya Allah, forgive everything I did – whatever I did intentionally or unintentionally. Forgive what I did wrong towards You & towards Your creations, Ya Allah I made all those mistakes….” à long for His full & complete forgiveness
3rd Goal for Ramadhan:
Desire for protection & freedom from the Hellfire.
Hadith : Whoever fast 1 day for the sake of Allah, Allah will place between him & the fire a ditch as far as a distanced between the heaven & the earth.
We got to fully feel the intention to want to be free from the fire.
Hadith : In Ramadhan, some slave of Allah are free from the fire e.g. fulan bin fulan is destined for the fire, you are set free even before you enter ! To be free from the fire, we think as though we are the people of the fire; what if I am destined to be people of fire, we assume we are doomed for the fire – only then we can really beg Allah to free us from the fire – only then you can consciously intent you want to be free from the fire.
Imam Azhabi said : anyone who feels he is not people of the fire, he is conceited…
You have 29/30 nights in Ramadhan, you can’t afford to be lazy, can’t afford to sit back – every night you consciously ask Allah to free you from the fire. It is a great loss if we miss even 1 night in Ramadhan – don’t miss asking Allah to free you from the fire – you desperately want to be emancipated from the fire !
Analogy : You are sent to live imprisonment. Then you are given a chance to be on parole for 1 month. How will you behave ? Will you be at your best ? One will work hard for the dunya – what about for akhirah ? What about being free from the hellfire ??? Here, consciously ask Allah to free you, imagine Allah is looking at you, tell Allah you stay up this Ramdhan nights for Him, you allocate your month for Him à you want His azeemah. Never allow satan to say “ you worked hard, you are free already ” à assume you are NOT free yet, keep begging every night in Ramadhan.
4th Goal for Ramadhan
We want Allah to boast you to His angels.
Hadith : Ramadhan has arrived, the month of barakah, Allah envelopes you with His mercy, He erases the sins, He watches your competition & race for goodness, He boast to His angels about you, so let Allah see the best of you, truly the miserable one is at loss….
Why Allah opens the door of Paradise ?
Why Allah close the doors of Hellfire ?
Why Allah boast to His angels ?
Hadith : when you come walking, Allah comes running, when you come a handspand…à imagine in Ramadhan, this will multiply ! In Ramadhan, its multifold ! So, DO MORE !!!
Imagine Allah call the angels : Ya fulan, come see so & so …your name ! Its an honor - compete for this. Imagine Allah said : look at this miskin …( you & me ) she is standing at night for qiyaam, look at her she is …we want Allah to boast us to His angels.
5th Goal for Ramadhan
We want shafa3ah ( intercession)
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Siyam ( fasting) & Quraan will intercede for His slave on the day of Resurrection. The siyam will come & say : Ya Rabb, I prevented her from food & drink, accept my intercession, The Quraan will say : Ya Rabb, I prevented her from sleeping at night, so accept my intercession. Quraan & siyam will be allowed to intercede for us.
Imagine there is a video recording of you in dunya , every moment is recorded. Then this video will be played infront of you in akhirah – do you remember the day you did not dress properly, do you remember the day you told a lie, do you remember the day where there was free mixing with men & women, do you remember …you will feel doomed ! What are you going to do ? Your siyam & Quraan have great place in the eyes of Allah. You want Allah to overlook all of the above that you have done. Your siyam can say : she fasted the way she should, I kept her from food & drink, I kept her working for You, please forgive her . The Quraan come & say : O Allah, when people were busy talking, she continued reciting me, when people left the masjid she was reading me…please forgive her.
6th Goal for Ramadhan :
Long for the removal of the heart diseases.
You want to elevate yourself beyond the material fulfilment of dunya.
Ibn Qayyim said : fasting is protecting from the diseases of the heart, diseases of the soul & diseases of the body.
Imagine dunya is a quicksand, you are stuck, you get deeper & deeper…we want somebody to yank us out of the dunya & take us to heaven. Ibn Qayyim said, some people, their heart & soul focuses only on heaven ( arash of Allah ) – wanting to be there, focus on seeing the face of Allah. They remove the trivial things in the dunya à we want to be elevated. We want our fasting to elevate us. Dunya is a bottomless pit – we keep wanting more & more . One will say, I just want to have this…then I will be happy, I just want my hubby to be …then I will be happy , I just want a house like...then I will be happy…etc, etc. We want to remove all these from our heart & focus on Allah & Hereafter.
7th Goal for Ramadhan :
The establishment of Allah’s law on our nafs ( desire ) ; on ourself.
Through out our day to day life , most of us live in severe state of ghaflah = heedlessness, unconscious. Most of us are used to follow our nafs except for a few who can control nafs. e.g when one feels I want to eat, she will eat, I want to talk – she will talk, etc – our nafs have a big command on us = spoil brat . Nafs control our life è a transgressor !
Once Ramadhan comes in , the person is preventing his nafs from permissible things i.e eating & drinking the halal between certain hours; the person must feel he is controlling his nafs. Consciously tell that the nafs is NOT controlling you but YOU are controlling YOUR nafs = it is a slave submitting to Allah – when Allah say eat at this time, then you eat, when Allah say stop drinking at this time, you stop drinking – so , O nafs ! You are a nobody ! You are a slave of Allah ! Give your nafs a case for humility, you tell your nafs that it is NOT the King after all è this is a conscious exercise/intention we go through in Ramadhan; consciously tell our nafs/desire to be obedient & submissive to Allahè must not be in a state of ghaflah ( heedlessness) but be in a state of ihtisaab.
Nafs must be trained to obey Allah to the greatest degree and not allow nafs to control you. Don’t feel sorry for your nafs; don’t feel sorry for yourself ! When the “spoil brat ” ( i.e nafs) appear, stop yourself, say NO ! Time out ! The nafs will learn. We put rules & regulations on our kids, now put rules on your nafs. Don’t just control your nafs only when it suits you.
8th Goal for Ramadhan:
Establishment of the complete system of manner as prescribed by Allah.
This will elevate us. Month of Ramadhan is the month of taqwa, it is also the month of manners. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : fasting is a shield…he should not fulfil his desires, not raise your voice, if anyone insult him, just say : I am fasting ” à therefore Ramadhan is a training school for us. Some salaf said : the more you increase in your manners, the more you increase in taqwa. Allah prescribed the complete system of akhlak for us. We should intend to establish the system that Allah has prescribed and Not to the culture we are used to. Don’t give excuse to yourself e.g this is my personality – if its your personality, what is good in you, keep it , what is bad remove it. Personality can be trained, can be checked , can be curbed. Don’t say : this is just how I am ! Can you give this excuse to Allah ??? You get more reward when you fight the negative traits.
In Ramadhan, intent that this is the time to train yourself. Make a scenario/ role model , imagine yourself having that good akhlak. Don’t speak 1 word that oppose Allah, train yourself, bite your tongue, speak only good. Can you imagine 1 whole month the angel on your right only write in your book ! You may be tested – you tell yourself you won’t excuse yourself. Whatever happen around you, you fight it. O nafs ! I am fasting, stop it ! You have a goal – keep yourself busy with the goal. Control your behaviour & your reaction à remind yourself you are fasting & you are training your nafs. Remind yourself you are in the state of ibaadah; keep saying “I am fasting, I am fasting, I am in the state of ibaadah”
** If your advice is going to be an argument, leave it !
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : The beloved deed to Allah is the most consistent even though it is little .
Usually, what happens after Ramadhan ? We make new nice resolutions. Some leave Ramadhan with nothing ! Are we always consistent in our ibaadah ? When a problem arise, we stop this & that – I am too busy, its hard…I’m tired…am too sick…what are we really busy about ??? Don’t we have time to go to class just once a week ??? Not going to class will be a way/a start for you to slip – you NEED reminders ! Some people remind you of Allah, some people remind of dunya è choose who you want to be with !
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : deeds were consistent – don’t stop & start , stop then start. Biggest mistake/calamity is our stopping the deed, bored or tired of it. Ramadhan is opportunity to train ourselves for 30 days – train yourself, train your nafs , commit to this training for yourself. We want consistency, istiqamah ( steadfastness ) – we want to be the worshipper of Allah at ALL times , until we meet Allah.
When you see somebody strong on straight path then you see her astray – there is nothing more scary to a believer. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam always made duaà : YA MUQALIBBAL QULUB, THABBIT QULUBANA ALA DEENEEK. Be consistent – satan will not make a consistent person go astray. People go astray must have left something e.g left classes, left adzkar, left the jamaah, left nawafil prayers…don’t allow yourself to slowly stop this or that – this is the beginning of the end…
In Ramadhan train yourself to be consistent in your ibadaah. Becareful of satan’s trap on Ramadhan e.g last 10 nites of Ramadhan there is always a sale going on. Satan may whisper, you have worked hard-take a break, etc, etc.
*** Check ourselves, after 3 lectures on preparing for Ramadhan, have we actually start preparing for Ramadhan ???
The heart should truly yearn for Allah’s rahmah.
The rahmah is descending from the sky and will catch certain people. We should want from the bottom of our hearts, for a piece of Allah’s rahmah to envelop us. We must understand, there is no success without Allah’s mercy. We must truly feel that we want Allah’s rahmah. When your heart seeks this, then Allah’s rahmah will descend upon you. We must seek this each night in Ramadhan. During the month His Rahmah would descend down from the heaven & would 'catch' some people, so we want to be 1 of them. By really feeling the need à feeling that we are so miskin + poor from His Rahmah, because we don't just enter jannah solely by our deeds but most importantly His Rahmah, + truly show that we are needing of His Rahmah by really begging Him + try our best insya-Allah it'll be given to us.
2nd Goal for Ramadhan :
Consciously intent & desire Allah’s forgiveness for our past, present & future sins.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “whoever fast in Ramadhan with eeman & ihtisab, he will be forgiven for all his previous sins ”. we ask Allah to bless us with eeman & ihtisaab this Ramdhan.
Eeman means : I am doing this for the sake of Allah, the King – in obedience & submission to You. I fast because You order me to fast.
Ihtisaab means : an act of worship dealing with the heart. From the word “hisaab” = hold to account . It means you very consciously waiting for reward from Allah. Have high hopes that you will get high reward from Allah. For example : as you are working you remember you will get $$$$ thousand salary at the end of the month. Here you keep in mind the ajer ( reward) from Allah. The key word is consciously i.e. know in your heart that Allah will reward you – do a conscious mental talk to yourself.
Sometime we focus on the big deeds, we should have ihtisaab even on small deeds. With ihtisaab , even small deeds can become huge ; we are miskin…we beg Allah.
The Shaikh said, if person just fast then break fast & fast again & so on , then where is the intention & your ihtisaab. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ whoever do not have intention the night before do not fast ”. Intention ( niyyah) is not to be said with the tongue as it is an innovation to do so. Make intention with you heart only.
The Shaikh said : ihtisaab made him perplexed – he is trying to understand ihtisaab & ikhlas. His confusion was – in order for us to get reward for a deed, is ihtisaab a condition? e.g if a person enters a masjid and sit there but did not make intention to ihtikaaf, does he get the reward for ihtikaaf ? After asking many scholars, the correct opinion is : if a person does not make intention for ihtikaaf, he will NOT get reward for ihtikaaf. This is in line with the hadith “innamal a3malu bin niyyah = the deed is base on the intention ”. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam also said “ you will get reward for whatever you are conscious of ( concentrating /kusyoo) in your salaah ”
Therefore , when you do any action/deed, you must be conscious of the reward from Allah. e.g you say : “Ya Allah am listening to this talk because of You, Ya Allah I am biting my tongue now for You (i.e you hold back your respond ), Ya Allah I am sitting quietly now for You ” etc, etc . So, for Ramadhan fasting we have to do this too.
Also consciously think of your sins & ask Allah’s forgiveness – remember the day you were backbiting, remember the day you yelled at someone, remember the day when you…then think : when you say “Allah forgive me”, it means your sins will be erased , it means in dunya you will not be punished for it, in akhirat it will be shield à you will get maghfirah from Allah. Forgiveness from Allah is more : when you forgive a person, you put it aside , you put it behind you, when satan remind you of it – just tell yourself you have forgiven the person. Forgiveness from Allah is more than this. So we must consciously want Allah to forgive us so that you go out of Ramadhan clear of all sins.
You can make duaà : Ya Allah accept my striving, overlook my errors & shortcomings. Ya Allah, forgive everything I did – whatever I did intentionally or unintentionally. Forgive what I did wrong towards You & towards Your creations, Ya Allah I made all those mistakes….” à long for His full & complete forgiveness
3rd Goal for Ramadhan:
Desire for protection & freedom from the Hellfire.
Hadith : Whoever fast 1 day for the sake of Allah, Allah will place between him & the fire a ditch as far as a distanced between the heaven & the earth.
We got to fully feel the intention to want to be free from the fire.
Hadith : In Ramadhan, some slave of Allah are free from the fire e.g. fulan bin fulan is destined for the fire, you are set free even before you enter ! To be free from the fire, we think as though we are the people of the fire; what if I am destined to be people of fire, we assume we are doomed for the fire – only then we can really beg Allah to free us from the fire – only then you can consciously intent you want to be free from the fire.
Imam Azhabi said : anyone who feels he is not people of the fire, he is conceited…
You have 29/30 nights in Ramadhan, you can’t afford to be lazy, can’t afford to sit back – every night you consciously ask Allah to free you from the fire. It is a great loss if we miss even 1 night in Ramadhan – don’t miss asking Allah to free you from the fire – you desperately want to be emancipated from the fire !
Analogy : You are sent to live imprisonment. Then you are given a chance to be on parole for 1 month. How will you behave ? Will you be at your best ? One will work hard for the dunya – what about for akhirah ? What about being free from the hellfire ??? Here, consciously ask Allah to free you, imagine Allah is looking at you, tell Allah you stay up this Ramdhan nights for Him, you allocate your month for Him à you want His azeemah. Never allow satan to say “ you worked hard, you are free already ” à assume you are NOT free yet, keep begging every night in Ramadhan.
4th Goal for Ramadhan
We want Allah to boast you to His angels.
Hadith : Ramadhan has arrived, the month of barakah, Allah envelopes you with His mercy, He erases the sins, He watches your competition & race for goodness, He boast to His angels about you, so let Allah see the best of you, truly the miserable one is at loss….
Why Allah opens the door of Paradise ?
Why Allah close the doors of Hellfire ?
Why Allah boast to His angels ?
Hadith : when you come walking, Allah comes running, when you come a handspand…à imagine in Ramadhan, this will multiply ! In Ramadhan, its multifold ! So, DO MORE !!!
Imagine Allah call the angels : Ya fulan, come see so & so …your name ! Its an honor - compete for this. Imagine Allah said : look at this miskin …( you & me ) she is standing at night for qiyaam, look at her she is …we want Allah to boast us to His angels.
5th Goal for Ramadhan
We want shafa3ah ( intercession)
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Siyam ( fasting) & Quraan will intercede for His slave on the day of Resurrection. The siyam will come & say : Ya Rabb, I prevented her from food & drink, accept my intercession, The Quraan will say : Ya Rabb, I prevented her from sleeping at night, so accept my intercession. Quraan & siyam will be allowed to intercede for us.
Imagine there is a video recording of you in dunya , every moment is recorded. Then this video will be played infront of you in akhirah – do you remember the day you did not dress properly, do you remember the day you told a lie, do you remember the day where there was free mixing with men & women, do you remember …you will feel doomed ! What are you going to do ? Your siyam & Quraan have great place in the eyes of Allah. You want Allah to overlook all of the above that you have done. Your siyam can say : she fasted the way she should, I kept her from food & drink, I kept her working for You, please forgive her . The Quraan come & say : O Allah, when people were busy talking, she continued reciting me, when people left the masjid she was reading me…please forgive her.
6th Goal for Ramadhan :
Long for the removal of the heart diseases.
You want to elevate yourself beyond the material fulfilment of dunya.
Ibn Qayyim said : fasting is protecting from the diseases of the heart, diseases of the soul & diseases of the body.
Imagine dunya is a quicksand, you are stuck, you get deeper & deeper…we want somebody to yank us out of the dunya & take us to heaven. Ibn Qayyim said, some people, their heart & soul focuses only on heaven ( arash of Allah ) – wanting to be there, focus on seeing the face of Allah. They remove the trivial things in the dunya à we want to be elevated. We want our fasting to elevate us. Dunya is a bottomless pit – we keep wanting more & more . One will say, I just want to have this…then I will be happy, I just want my hubby to be …then I will be happy , I just want a house like...then I will be happy…etc, etc. We want to remove all these from our heart & focus on Allah & Hereafter.
7th Goal for Ramadhan :
The establishment of Allah’s law on our nafs ( desire ) ; on ourself.
Through out our day to day life , most of us live in severe state of ghaflah = heedlessness, unconscious. Most of us are used to follow our nafs except for a few who can control nafs. e.g when one feels I want to eat, she will eat, I want to talk – she will talk, etc – our nafs have a big command on us = spoil brat . Nafs control our life è a transgressor !
Once Ramadhan comes in , the person is preventing his nafs from permissible things i.e eating & drinking the halal between certain hours; the person must feel he is controlling his nafs. Consciously tell that the nafs is NOT controlling you but YOU are controlling YOUR nafs = it is a slave submitting to Allah – when Allah say eat at this time, then you eat, when Allah say stop drinking at this time, you stop drinking – so , O nafs ! You are a nobody ! You are a slave of Allah ! Give your nafs a case for humility, you tell your nafs that it is NOT the King after all è this is a conscious exercise/intention we go through in Ramadhan; consciously tell our nafs/desire to be obedient & submissive to Allahè must not be in a state of ghaflah ( heedlessness) but be in a state of ihtisaab.
Nafs must be trained to obey Allah to the greatest degree and not allow nafs to control you. Don’t feel sorry for your nafs; don’t feel sorry for yourself ! When the “spoil brat ” ( i.e nafs) appear, stop yourself, say NO ! Time out ! The nafs will learn. We put rules & regulations on our kids, now put rules on your nafs. Don’t just control your nafs only when it suits you.
8th Goal for Ramadhan:
Establishment of the complete system of manner as prescribed by Allah.
This will elevate us. Month of Ramadhan is the month of taqwa, it is also the month of manners. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : fasting is a shield…he should not fulfil his desires, not raise your voice, if anyone insult him, just say : I am fasting ” à therefore Ramadhan is a training school for us. Some salaf said : the more you increase in your manners, the more you increase in taqwa. Allah prescribed the complete system of akhlak for us. We should intend to establish the system that Allah has prescribed and Not to the culture we are used to. Don’t give excuse to yourself e.g this is my personality – if its your personality, what is good in you, keep it , what is bad remove it. Personality can be trained, can be checked , can be curbed. Don’t say : this is just how I am ! Can you give this excuse to Allah ??? You get more reward when you fight the negative traits.
In Ramadhan, intent that this is the time to train yourself. Make a scenario/ role model , imagine yourself having that good akhlak. Don’t speak 1 word that oppose Allah, train yourself, bite your tongue, speak only good. Can you imagine 1 whole month the angel on your right only write in your book ! You may be tested – you tell yourself you won’t excuse yourself. Whatever happen around you, you fight it. O nafs ! I am fasting, stop it ! You have a goal – keep yourself busy with the goal. Control your behaviour & your reaction à remind yourself you are fasting & you are training your nafs. Remind yourself you are in the state of ibaadah; keep saying “I am fasting, I am fasting, I am in the state of ibaadah”
** If your advice is going to be an argument, leave it !
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : The beloved deed to Allah is the most consistent even though it is little .
Usually, what happens after Ramadhan ? We make new nice resolutions. Some leave Ramadhan with nothing ! Are we always consistent in our ibaadah ? When a problem arise, we stop this & that – I am too busy, its hard…I’m tired…am too sick…what are we really busy about ??? Don’t we have time to go to class just once a week ??? Not going to class will be a way/a start for you to slip – you NEED reminders ! Some people remind you of Allah, some people remind of dunya è choose who you want to be with !
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : deeds were consistent – don’t stop & start , stop then start. Biggest mistake/calamity is our stopping the deed, bored or tired of it. Ramadhan is opportunity to train ourselves for 30 days – train yourself, train your nafs , commit to this training for yourself. We want consistency, istiqamah ( steadfastness ) – we want to be the worshipper of Allah at ALL times , until we meet Allah.
When you see somebody strong on straight path then you see her astray – there is nothing more scary to a believer. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam always made duaà : YA MUQALIBBAL QULUB, THABBIT QULUBANA ALA DEENEEK. Be consistent – satan will not make a consistent person go astray. People go astray must have left something e.g left classes, left adzkar, left the jamaah, left nawafil prayers…don’t allow yourself to slowly stop this or that – this is the beginning of the end…
In Ramadhan train yourself to be consistent in your ibadaah. Becareful of satan’s trap on Ramadhan e.g last 10 nites of Ramadhan there is always a sale going on. Satan may whisper, you have worked hard-take a break, etc, etc.
*** Check ourselves, after 3 lectures on preparing for Ramadhan, have we actually start preparing for Ramadhan ???
HOW TO WELCOME RAMADAN
This is an advice that we need because we have a noble, honourable guest coming. What should you do ? Should you rearrange the house ? Should your kids look their best ? Should there be a red carpet !!??
Our grand guest is the blessed month of Ramadhan. We need to magnify the symbol of Allah , glorify Him, change our life for Him.
Jabir Ibn Abdillah said : Do not make the days that you eat be the same as your fasting days. Don’t make them equal è there must be a difference as soon as Ramadhan set foot into our life.
As soon as the cresent/hilal of Ramadhan appear, gates of paradise open, gates of fire closed , therefore there must be a difference if we want to reap the fruits of Ramadhan.
Set the ‘stage’ to welcome Ramadhan. We need to do the following; we need moments of truce = time off = take a break è time for tranquillity.
What should we do as soon as Ramadhan comes ?
1)We need to take a break from ALL SINS
We must be super cautious to cut off sinning in Ramadhan. Some scholars said , if the causes of the sin is great then leaving the sin will get you greater reward. E.g a beautiful rich woman of status seduces a man to zina but he said “I fear Allah”, then his reward is great because the temptation was great too. If the cause/pressure of the sinful act is light/weak, then the person still commits the sinful act , committing this act will lead to great sin – as its would have been easy for that person to just leave the sinful act.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Some people in Yaumul Qiyammah, Allah will not even look at them , Allah will not speak to them out of His anger – this is a great calamity ( musibah) – one of them is an old man that commits zina. Why ? because he is old, he had tasted it all those years, yet he could not control himself.
In Ramadhan all cause of sin is weaken and there is less struggle for us – the devils are chained, most Muslims around us involve in good deeds, masjid more full, more people read Quran. Also your fasting weakens the effect of satan flowing in your blood ( your Qareen – everyone has a satan as an assigned companion). So when you commit a sin , the weight is greater.
When you are fasting, as soon as fajr starts, it’s as though you enter salaah ( prayer) i.e. when you make takbeer , it signify that you start praying. So when fajr comes in, it signifies that your siyam ( fasting ) starts. The Shaikh said when fajr starts, “don’t you dare let your heart go astray – your heart should be focused on Allah, focus on what to do today to please Allah ” à consider yourself standing before Allah who has insights into your hearts.
*** Analyse what are the sins you are most susceptible to & make a determination to curb this – reflect on this & act on it.
Suggestion : make a list of your sin - around who do I gossip most
- what can I do to stop this
- who do I often backbite
riya` - when do I commit this ?
- how can I prevent myself for feeling like this ?
2) We need a break from ALL unnecessary discussions & arguments at home.
If discussion comes up, decide if you can talk about it after Ramadhan. The year has 365 days, just have time out for 29 days in Ramadhan. Try to find a solution to family problems & put it at rest.
There are 2 types of family problem : i) can find solution ii) can’t find solution. Work on the problem that you can make changes; can find a solution. Work on how you can accept the problem. Hope this problem can be put aside till after Ramadhan or try to solve it before Ramadhan. Don’t allow the problem to stop your eeman from growing in Ramadhan.
*** Don’t let anything lingering in your mind/heart – do your best to clear it before Ramadhan. Some things are best to leave it, some things need to be addressed.
Set up the atmosphere of love & closeness in Ramadhan à to make it easy for us & people around us to focus on Ramadhan. Warm the hearts of people around you to focus on Ramadhan i.e. to make the last moment before Ramadhan a nice moment. The man of the house can call for an emergency family meeting ( even the wife can do that or mom call all her kids ) to talk about Ramadhan.
As a family, agree on these :
a) we are going to leave the TV- won’t miss out on anything for just 1 month ! Make incentives for your younger kids – tell them this is a very special month. Make charts put stickers for every act of ibaadah they do e.g every salaah at masjid get a blue star, full blue star in 1 week get…Each day they fast get a green star, straight 1 week get double green star…each salaah on time get…
b) Don’t stay up at night except for ibaadah e.g no late night’s computer games, no PS2 at night, etc.
c) If can avoid having invitations, do so or else make 1 night & invite everyone , maybe for the sake of “ulfa” – love between the believers. If your husband insist, just do it for the sake of pleasing Allah. When you please your husband , you please Allah.
d) No music in the house or in the car, etc, etc
3) We need moment of peace between co-workers
- forgive & forget, overlook & resolve the issues. Compromise the dunya issues for the sake of your Deen à you want to come out of it with a “big prize” ! So what if you have to give in – you are judged by your intentions & your actions.
Be ONE –track mind in Ramadhan – put aside petty things, trivial things. E.g if husband come home late, no issue, just say Alhamdullillah, more ibaadah time for me ! Its Ramadhan !
Don’t enter Ramadhan with hatred for anybody or allow anyone to have negative feelings on you. You want to enter Ramadhan with pure heart & pure mind – beg Allah to help you on this. Make duàa for your sisters & brothers – ask Allah to guide her , ask Allah to forgive her.
Clear yourself from any wrong, clear yourself from any hatred – do you want to take the good deeds of your sisters / brothers. Reward for forgiving is more than reward for taking the person’s good deeds. E.g when Yusouf alayhissalaam forgave his brothers, it was a perfect forgiveness. He didn’t even want to mention the well incident again, he completely forgave them. Infact Yusouf defended his brothers by saying the satan played a part in instilling enmity between him & his brothers. Allah’s forgiveness is even more prefect than this – don’t you want it ? If you want Allah’s most perfect forgiveness, then you must forgive others. Forgiveness is the matter of the heart & its hard to do…
4) We need break from too much eating !
Ramadhan is NOT a month of eating & sleeping. Be simple when it comes to food. Eating too much makes a person lazy, sleep more & less ibaadah.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : The son of Adam will not fill a vessel more than his stomach…fill it 1/3 with air, 1/3 with food, 1/3 with water.
Sahoor should be simple too . Some people take biryani for sahoor ???!!!
*** Sisters ! Take a break from cooking ! Cook minimally, take the short cut. Before Ramadhan, pre cook some food & freeze it.
5) We need to take a break from TALKING !
The Shaikh said , please, in Ramadhan, keep your mouth shut ! Speak minimally. Siyam ( fasting) is an act of worship/ ibaadah , just like salaah /prayer.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : whomever believe in Allah & the last day, should speak minimally.
If normal days we find it hard to practice, start practice minimal talking in Ramadhan.
*** Know that every word that comes out of our mouth is either a reward for us or a punishment for us. – think, is the angel on the right writing or the left writing !
When you speak without thinking , its an invitation to start something wrong or useless or sinful.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : whoever remains silent is safe à adopt these characteristics. Allah create 1 tongue & 2 ears for a reason : talk less, listen more !
*** The more you talk about dunya, this will harden your heart.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : too much laughter will kill your heart.
It’s the same when you talk too much, socialise too much è keep yourself at check.
The Shaikh said : keep the women off the phone. Brothers , don’t linger in masjid to chit chat.
- avoid long conversations becos it tend to slip into talking something inappropriate
- use the phone minimally.
- Use the phone for ibaadah e.g give nasihah, call mother, check in a sick sister, etc.
6) Take a break from your BEDS !
Sleep is a niamah from Allah, if taken to its extremes, it’s a musibah ! Ramadhan is not the time for sleeping.
Story : One of the salaf stopped by a friend’s house late at night in Ramadhan. He found his friend sleeping. His friend said – what are you doing here at this time of the night ? The Salaf said : what are you doing sleeping at this time of the night in Ramadhan !!!
The Shaikh suggest : In Ramadhan, don’t sleep at night more than 4 hours. If you need to take afternoon nap, ok.
Between zohor & Asar is most unproductive, becos you are tired & hungry, can take nap. It all depends on your body , how much it can take less sleep just for Ramadhan. Surveys have been done that shows students can sleep for only 2 hrs during exam period . Some forgo sleep for the good grades they aim for – this is for dunya. Here its Ramadhan, just 1 month !!! You can actually train your body to sleep less, push yourself in Ramadhan.
The Shaikh said : all the above is possible when you have a goal to go for.
When your nafs is calling you to sleep or be lazy, close your eyes & imagine JANNAH…
*** Have a sincere friend who has a high level of “himmah” = motivation & determination who can share , remind & compete with you e.g share new zikr, new duaà, number of pages read in Quraan – not with the intention of riya`but to compete to finish the Quraan in Ramadhan, etc à it a niamah indeed to have such friend. Remember, satan will distract you from these people. Be patient & stay with them – see Soorah Kahf : 28
“ And keep yourself ( O Muhammad ) patiently with those who call on the Lord ( i.e. your companions who remember their Lord with glorification, praising in prayers, and other righteous deeds) morning and afternoon, seeking His Face; and let not your eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp & glitter of the life of the world; made heedless of Our Remembrance, and who follow lusts, and whose affair ( deeds) has been lost ”
7) Take a break from PEOPLE !!!
Usually, in Ramadhan , the opposite will happen because we have the “iftar party” !The Shaikh said most people keep you away from acts of worship. Beware of mixing of the dunya – i.e those into things in this world.
If you mix with people, let it be brief with those who are strong on ibaadah – they can bring you closer to Allah. See what your weaknesses are, see who you mix with – avoid what you need to avoid.
8) We need time of PEACE in Ramadhan by maintaining family ties
- you should feel nobody hate you , nobody has problems with you. If they still have animosity with you – leave it !
- bring love & happiness to people close to you e..g give gifts, make them happy with you. WHY ? The intention is to disallow our hearts & mind being scattered & occupied in Ramadhan – you are trying your best to rectify the situation before Ramadhan à this is for you to have peace & nothing nagging in yr mind, so you pacify everybody before Ramadhan. With this clear mind, inshaallah you can devote your heart & mind to Allah in Ramadhan. Do with ikhlas – when you do good , don’t expect them to do good to you. The ‘3izzah’ is with Allah, Allah elevate us !
9) Take a break from RUNNING AROUND & long hours outside the house – men & women !
Start decreasing our outings from now ( Shaaban ). Buy groceries ( non perishable items) for whole of Ramadhan, so in Ramadhan you just go out quickly to buy fresh things – less time or get a home delivery to minimise shopping time. Buy Eid things before Ramadhan.
10) Give your mind & heart a break from dunya things
e.g school starting, buy things in advance, don’t worry about so & so problems, don’t worry about Eid – the ‘big thing’ is Ramadhan not Eid cos we celebrate Eid for what we have done/accomplished in Ramadhan!
HOW TO DO THE ABOVE ?
i) Just keep your mind focus on Hereafter & our ibaadah
ii) Think of new deed you want to do today e.g. today I have not recited this zikr, I wan to recite this zikr all day from now onwards.
iii) Think how to bring more kushoo
iv) Think of ways you can help & serve other muslims in Ramadhan e.g. how to help so & so family. Story : When Abu Bakr radiallahuanh was Caliph, he used to milk the people’s sheep. Umar radiallahuanh went to a house of an old & weak woman to serve her, he found that someone was there already & beat him to it. The man who came before Umar filled the water jars, clean the woman’s house, etc….who beat Umar radiallahuanh to it ? Abu Bakr radiallahuanh !
v) You start imagine the Hellfire…imagine step by step till you get scared….then you imagine Jannah where you meet Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam, then you meet Aishah radiallahuanh, you meet the sisters you attend classes with, you meet the sisters that you love most, you visit Allah daily while others can only see Allah once a week …it all happen in Al Firdous. Ameen.
vi) What if you are transferred to another country , another city ? Your Deen/religion don’t depend on a single person, find inside you what Allah had given you – the source of guidance is from Allah. When you start thinking of Jannah, others seem so small…
vii) Imagine you have full kushoo in salaah/prayer, what will it be like ? When you recite Quraan in salaah you understand the meaning, you cry as you read the soorah as you glorify Allah, how Quraan will raise you. Ramadhan is a training month for us – focus on what you want. An Imam in Masjid Ibn Taimiyyah in the Emirates made duaà in salaah witr : “ O Allah, make the youth busy with high goals & aspirations and don’t let them be occupied with the trivials of the dunya ”
11)Take a break from withholding
i.e. do more sadaqah – give , give & GI V E !
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam is super generous in Ramadhan. The companions said Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam was giving like ‘the wind ’ in Ramadhan. Don’t be ‘bakhil’/ stingy – give; even if its half a date. Give in secret as much as possible.
Our grand guest is the blessed month of Ramadhan. We need to magnify the symbol of Allah , glorify Him, change our life for Him.
Jabir Ibn Abdillah said : Do not make the days that you eat be the same as your fasting days. Don’t make them equal è there must be a difference as soon as Ramadhan set foot into our life.
As soon as the cresent/hilal of Ramadhan appear, gates of paradise open, gates of fire closed , therefore there must be a difference if we want to reap the fruits of Ramadhan.
Set the ‘stage’ to welcome Ramadhan. We need to do the following; we need moments of truce = time off = take a break è time for tranquillity.
What should we do as soon as Ramadhan comes ?
1)We need to take a break from ALL SINS
We must be super cautious to cut off sinning in Ramadhan. Some scholars said , if the causes of the sin is great then leaving the sin will get you greater reward. E.g a beautiful rich woman of status seduces a man to zina but he said “I fear Allah”, then his reward is great because the temptation was great too. If the cause/pressure of the sinful act is light/weak, then the person still commits the sinful act , committing this act will lead to great sin – as its would have been easy for that person to just leave the sinful act.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Some people in Yaumul Qiyammah, Allah will not even look at them , Allah will not speak to them out of His anger – this is a great calamity ( musibah) – one of them is an old man that commits zina. Why ? because he is old, he had tasted it all those years, yet he could not control himself.
In Ramadhan all cause of sin is weaken and there is less struggle for us – the devils are chained, most Muslims around us involve in good deeds, masjid more full, more people read Quran. Also your fasting weakens the effect of satan flowing in your blood ( your Qareen – everyone has a satan as an assigned companion). So when you commit a sin , the weight is greater.
When you are fasting, as soon as fajr starts, it’s as though you enter salaah ( prayer) i.e. when you make takbeer , it signify that you start praying. So when fajr comes in, it signifies that your siyam ( fasting ) starts. The Shaikh said when fajr starts, “don’t you dare let your heart go astray – your heart should be focused on Allah, focus on what to do today to please Allah ” à consider yourself standing before Allah who has insights into your hearts.
*** Analyse what are the sins you are most susceptible to & make a determination to curb this – reflect on this & act on it.
Suggestion : make a list of your sin - around who do I gossip most
- what can I do to stop this
- who do I often backbite
riya` - when do I commit this ?
- how can I prevent myself for feeling like this ?
2) We need a break from ALL unnecessary discussions & arguments at home.
If discussion comes up, decide if you can talk about it after Ramadhan. The year has 365 days, just have time out for 29 days in Ramadhan. Try to find a solution to family problems & put it at rest.
There are 2 types of family problem : i) can find solution ii) can’t find solution. Work on the problem that you can make changes; can find a solution. Work on how you can accept the problem. Hope this problem can be put aside till after Ramadhan or try to solve it before Ramadhan. Don’t allow the problem to stop your eeman from growing in Ramadhan.
*** Don’t let anything lingering in your mind/heart – do your best to clear it before Ramadhan. Some things are best to leave it, some things need to be addressed.
Set up the atmosphere of love & closeness in Ramadhan à to make it easy for us & people around us to focus on Ramadhan. Warm the hearts of people around you to focus on Ramadhan i.e. to make the last moment before Ramadhan a nice moment. The man of the house can call for an emergency family meeting ( even the wife can do that or mom call all her kids ) to talk about Ramadhan.
As a family, agree on these :
a) we are going to leave the TV- won’t miss out on anything for just 1 month ! Make incentives for your younger kids – tell them this is a very special month. Make charts put stickers for every act of ibaadah they do e.g every salaah at masjid get a blue star, full blue star in 1 week get…Each day they fast get a green star, straight 1 week get double green star…each salaah on time get…
b) Don’t stay up at night except for ibaadah e.g no late night’s computer games, no PS2 at night, etc.
c) If can avoid having invitations, do so or else make 1 night & invite everyone , maybe for the sake of “ulfa” – love between the believers. If your husband insist, just do it for the sake of pleasing Allah. When you please your husband , you please Allah.
d) No music in the house or in the car, etc, etc
3) We need moment of peace between co-workers
- forgive & forget, overlook & resolve the issues. Compromise the dunya issues for the sake of your Deen à you want to come out of it with a “big prize” ! So what if you have to give in – you are judged by your intentions & your actions.
Be ONE –track mind in Ramadhan – put aside petty things, trivial things. E.g if husband come home late, no issue, just say Alhamdullillah, more ibaadah time for me ! Its Ramadhan !
Don’t enter Ramadhan with hatred for anybody or allow anyone to have negative feelings on you. You want to enter Ramadhan with pure heart & pure mind – beg Allah to help you on this. Make duàa for your sisters & brothers – ask Allah to guide her , ask Allah to forgive her.
Clear yourself from any wrong, clear yourself from any hatred – do you want to take the good deeds of your sisters / brothers. Reward for forgiving is more than reward for taking the person’s good deeds. E.g when Yusouf alayhissalaam forgave his brothers, it was a perfect forgiveness. He didn’t even want to mention the well incident again, he completely forgave them. Infact Yusouf defended his brothers by saying the satan played a part in instilling enmity between him & his brothers. Allah’s forgiveness is even more prefect than this – don’t you want it ? If you want Allah’s most perfect forgiveness, then you must forgive others. Forgiveness is the matter of the heart & its hard to do…
4) We need break from too much eating !
Ramadhan is NOT a month of eating & sleeping. Be simple when it comes to food. Eating too much makes a person lazy, sleep more & less ibaadah.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : The son of Adam will not fill a vessel more than his stomach…fill it 1/3 with air, 1/3 with food, 1/3 with water.
Sahoor should be simple too . Some people take biryani for sahoor ???!!!
*** Sisters ! Take a break from cooking ! Cook minimally, take the short cut. Before Ramadhan, pre cook some food & freeze it.
5) We need to take a break from TALKING !
The Shaikh said , please, in Ramadhan, keep your mouth shut ! Speak minimally. Siyam ( fasting) is an act of worship/ ibaadah , just like salaah /prayer.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : whomever believe in Allah & the last day, should speak minimally.
If normal days we find it hard to practice, start practice minimal talking in Ramadhan.
*** Know that every word that comes out of our mouth is either a reward for us or a punishment for us. – think, is the angel on the right writing or the left writing !
When you speak without thinking , its an invitation to start something wrong or useless or sinful.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : whoever remains silent is safe à adopt these characteristics. Allah create 1 tongue & 2 ears for a reason : talk less, listen more !
*** The more you talk about dunya, this will harden your heart.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : too much laughter will kill your heart.
It’s the same when you talk too much, socialise too much è keep yourself at check.
The Shaikh said : keep the women off the phone. Brothers , don’t linger in masjid to chit chat.
- avoid long conversations becos it tend to slip into talking something inappropriate
- use the phone minimally.
- Use the phone for ibaadah e.g give nasihah, call mother, check in a sick sister, etc.
6) Take a break from your BEDS !
Sleep is a niamah from Allah, if taken to its extremes, it’s a musibah ! Ramadhan is not the time for sleeping.
Story : One of the salaf stopped by a friend’s house late at night in Ramadhan. He found his friend sleeping. His friend said – what are you doing here at this time of the night ? The Salaf said : what are you doing sleeping at this time of the night in Ramadhan !!!
The Shaikh suggest : In Ramadhan, don’t sleep at night more than 4 hours. If you need to take afternoon nap, ok.
Between zohor & Asar is most unproductive, becos you are tired & hungry, can take nap. It all depends on your body , how much it can take less sleep just for Ramadhan. Surveys have been done that shows students can sleep for only 2 hrs during exam period . Some forgo sleep for the good grades they aim for – this is for dunya. Here its Ramadhan, just 1 month !!! You can actually train your body to sleep less, push yourself in Ramadhan.
The Shaikh said : all the above is possible when you have a goal to go for.
When your nafs is calling you to sleep or be lazy, close your eyes & imagine JANNAH…
*** Have a sincere friend who has a high level of “himmah” = motivation & determination who can share , remind & compete with you e.g share new zikr, new duaà, number of pages read in Quraan – not with the intention of riya`but to compete to finish the Quraan in Ramadhan, etc à it a niamah indeed to have such friend. Remember, satan will distract you from these people. Be patient & stay with them – see Soorah Kahf : 28
“ And keep yourself ( O Muhammad ) patiently with those who call on the Lord ( i.e. your companions who remember their Lord with glorification, praising in prayers, and other righteous deeds) morning and afternoon, seeking His Face; and let not your eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp & glitter of the life of the world; made heedless of Our Remembrance, and who follow lusts, and whose affair ( deeds) has been lost ”
7) Take a break from PEOPLE !!!
Usually, in Ramadhan , the opposite will happen because we have the “iftar party” !The Shaikh said most people keep you away from acts of worship. Beware of mixing of the dunya – i.e those into things in this world.
If you mix with people, let it be brief with those who are strong on ibaadah – they can bring you closer to Allah. See what your weaknesses are, see who you mix with – avoid what you need to avoid.
- You may want to keep your phones of except for certain matters of ibaadah e.g calling yr mom , calling on a sick sister, sharing a new zikr, etc
8) We need time of PEACE in Ramadhan by maintaining family ties
- you should feel nobody hate you , nobody has problems with you. If they still have animosity with you – leave it !
- bring love & happiness to people close to you e..g give gifts, make them happy with you. WHY ? The intention is to disallow our hearts & mind being scattered & occupied in Ramadhan – you are trying your best to rectify the situation before Ramadhan à this is for you to have peace & nothing nagging in yr mind, so you pacify everybody before Ramadhan. With this clear mind, inshaallah you can devote your heart & mind to Allah in Ramadhan. Do with ikhlas – when you do good , don’t expect them to do good to you. The ‘3izzah’ is with Allah, Allah elevate us !
9) Take a break from RUNNING AROUND & long hours outside the house – men & women !
Start decreasing our outings from now ( Shaaban ). Buy groceries ( non perishable items) for whole of Ramadhan, so in Ramadhan you just go out quickly to buy fresh things – less time or get a home delivery to minimise shopping time. Buy Eid things before Ramadhan.
10) Give your mind & heart a break from dunya things
e.g school starting, buy things in advance, don’t worry about so & so problems, don’t worry about Eid – the ‘big thing’ is Ramadhan not Eid cos we celebrate Eid for what we have done/accomplished in Ramadhan!
HOW TO DO THE ABOVE ?
i) Just keep your mind focus on Hereafter & our ibaadah
ii) Think of new deed you want to do today e.g. today I have not recited this zikr, I wan to recite this zikr all day from now onwards.
iii) Think how to bring more kushoo
iv) Think of ways you can help & serve other muslims in Ramadhan e.g. how to help so & so family. Story : When Abu Bakr radiallahuanh was Caliph, he used to milk the people’s sheep. Umar radiallahuanh went to a house of an old & weak woman to serve her, he found that someone was there already & beat him to it. The man who came before Umar filled the water jars, clean the woman’s house, etc….who beat Umar radiallahuanh to it ? Abu Bakr radiallahuanh !
v) You start imagine the Hellfire…imagine step by step till you get scared….then you imagine Jannah where you meet Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam, then you meet Aishah radiallahuanh, you meet the sisters you attend classes with, you meet the sisters that you love most, you visit Allah daily while others can only see Allah once a week …it all happen in Al Firdous. Ameen.
vi) What if you are transferred to another country , another city ? Your Deen/religion don’t depend on a single person, find inside you what Allah had given you – the source of guidance is from Allah. When you start thinking of Jannah, others seem so small…
vii) Imagine you have full kushoo in salaah/prayer, what will it be like ? When you recite Quraan in salaah you understand the meaning, you cry as you read the soorah as you glorify Allah, how Quraan will raise you. Ramadhan is a training month for us – focus on what you want. An Imam in Masjid Ibn Taimiyyah in the Emirates made duaà in salaah witr : “ O Allah, make the youth busy with high goals & aspirations and don’t let them be occupied with the trivials of the dunya ”
11)Take a break from withholding
i.e. do more sadaqah – give , give & GI V E !
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam is super generous in Ramadhan. The companions said Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam was giving like ‘the wind ’ in Ramadhan. Don’t be ‘bakhil’/ stingy – give; even if its half a date. Give in secret as much as possible.
IBADAH IN RAMADAN
Particularly in Ramadan, we have to be like a business man , where we try to profit as much as possible. Be a smart business man as Ramadan is a month of Barakah !
WUDOO
Intention for wudoo is to purify oneself. What is the reward for making wudoo ?
i) Brightness on the Day of Judgement
Hadith : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ Your faces , hands and feet will be bright on the Day Of Resurrection due to your perfect wudoo. SO whoever is able, should increase the brightness of his forehead, hands & legs ” ~ Sahih Muslim. The more you wudoo , the more light you have, do more , esp in Ramadan !
ii) Removal of sins
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ When the muslim slave of Allah makes wudoo and washes his face, every sin his eyes have seen will be removed from his face with the water or with the last drop of water. And when he washes his hands, every sin his hands touched ( or grabbed) will be removed with the water, or with the last drop of water. And when he washes his feet , every sin he walked to with his feet will be removed with the water, or with the last drop of water. Until he leaves it pure of all sins.” ~ Sahih Muslim
- Heights in Paradise : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam asked Bilal “ O Bilal, how did you surpass me in Jannah ? Yesterday I entered Jannah and I heard your footsteps infront of me !” Bilal replied “ O Messenger of Allah, I never made the azan at all without prying 2 raka’ahs after it, and I never broke my wudoo at all except I made wudoo again at that time.” SO Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “This is the reason ”. ~ Tirmidhee Aboo Daawood, Ibn Majah, sahih Al Jaami 7894
- Become a mu;min ( believer) . Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : “No one maintains a state of wudoo except for a believer ” ~ Sahih Muslim
- Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam makes wudoo before every prayer/salaah even if he already has wudoo.
*** Lets try to practice the above in Ramadan then make duàa that we will continue doing so after Ramadan.
RAWATIB ( sunnah prayer )
i.e.sunnah prayer that is connected to the fard prayer.
i) House in Jannah :
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ No muslim slave pray for Allah – twelve raka’ah everyday – besides the obligatory prayers, except that Allah will build a house for him in Jannah” ~ Sahih Muslim. In another narration, he explained what these raka’ahs ae saying : “They are 4 raka’ah before zuhur and 2 after zuhur, 2 after magrib, 2 raka’ah after ‘ ishaa, and 2 raka’ah before fajr” ~ Tirmidhee & Nasaaèe; authentic
ii) The Fire Prohibited to Touch him :
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “Whoever maintains four raka’ah” before zuhur and 4 raka’ah after it, Allah will make the Hellfire haraam ( prohibited) for him” ~ Tirmidhee, Ibn Majah, Aboo Dawood, An Nasaaèe; authentic
iii) Duàa of the Prophet :
Ibn Umar narrated that Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “May Allah have mercy on a person who prays 4 raka’ah before Asar” ~ Ahmad, Tirmidhee, Aboo Daawood, hadeeth hasan ( authentic) ** Lets do this in Ramadhan !
AD-DUHAA
i) Salaah Al – Ishraaq ( beginning time for salaah ad-duhaa i.e when the sun first rises).
Complete Haj or umrah : It’s a special salaah at the time of Ad Duhaa. Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “ Whoever prays fajr in congregation in masjid & stays there until the Duhaa prayer, he receives the reward of one who made Haj or umrah and whose haj or umrah was complete ” ~ At Tabranee, hadeeth hasan
ii) Duhaa in general ( from sunrise till Zuhur )
Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “Everyday , each one of you owes charity for each joint of his body. And every tasbeeh is a sadaqah, every tahmeed is a sadaqah, every takbeer is a sadaqah, commanding good is a sadaqah, prohibiting evil is a sadaqah. But 2 raka’ah a person prays at the time of Duhaa will suffice all of that ”
Duhaa can be between 2 raka’ah to 12 raka’ah, You gain different title according to the number of raka’ah you do :
· Prayer of the Repentent ( at the hottest time) : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “ The prayer of the repentant (= salahtul Awwabeen) takes place when the baby camels find the sand at its hottest ” ~ At Tabranee,hadeeth Hassan. This is about 1.5 hours before zuhur.
Awwabeen = person who continuously go back to Allah. Lets be an Awwab !
· 2 raka’ah : not of the heedless : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said “ Whoever prays 2 raka’ah of Duhaa, will NOT be recorded to be among the heedless”
· 4 raka’ah : Among the worshipper : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said “ and whoever prays 4 raka’ah of Duhaa will be recorded among the worshippers ”
· 6 raka’ah of Duhaa : “Whoever prays 6 raka’ah of duhaa will be a sufficient prayer for the whole day”
· 8 rakaah of Duhaa : “ And whoever prays 8 raka’’h will be written among the qaaniteen (i.e. devoutly obedient) ”
· 12 rakaah of Duhaa : “ And whoever prays 12 raka’ah, Allah will build a house for him in Jannah”
** The above hadeeth are from At Tabranee, hadeeth hasan from book ‘ Saheeh At Targheeb wat Tarheeb, vol 1, p 279 ’
2 RAKA’AH OF WUDOO
i) Jannah obligatory for him : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “ No muslim makes wudoo, perfecting his wudoo, then gets up to pray 2 raka’ah – in which he turns to Allah with his heart & his face – except that Jannah becomes obligatory for him” ~ Sahih Muslim
ii) Forgiveness of ALL previous sins : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said “ Whoever makes wudoo like this wudoo of mine, then prays 2 raka’ah – in which he does not talk to himself – will have his previous sins forgiven” ~ Sahih Bukhari & Sahih Muslim
ANSWER THE AZAN
i) Entrance to Jannah. Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said that if one repeats after the Muadhdhin, from his heart, he will enter Jannah ~ Sahih Muslim
ii) Intercession of the Prophet : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said that whoever says after the azan ( the duàa) , will have his intercession on the Day of Resurrection ~ Sahih Bukhari
iii) Duàa between azan & iqaamah : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said, “ Duàa ( supplication) between azan & iqaamah will NOT be rejected ”
FEEDING A FASTING PERSON
Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : When you feed a fasting person, you get the reward of that person’s fasting.
SADAQAH IN GENERAL
Do lots of sadaqah daily in Ramadan. Can cook a little extra pack & ask your kids to give to the poor around your area. Make it an activity for the kids , let them have a feeling of giving & sharing. Or can just pack s few dates & a pack of drink for your sons to give out.
WUDOO
Intention for wudoo is to purify oneself. What is the reward for making wudoo ?
i) Brightness on the Day of Judgement
Hadith : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ Your faces , hands and feet will be bright on the Day Of Resurrection due to your perfect wudoo. SO whoever is able, should increase the brightness of his forehead, hands & legs ” ~ Sahih Muslim. The more you wudoo , the more light you have, do more , esp in Ramadan !
ii) Removal of sins
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ When the muslim slave of Allah makes wudoo and washes his face, every sin his eyes have seen will be removed from his face with the water or with the last drop of water. And when he washes his hands, every sin his hands touched ( or grabbed) will be removed with the water, or with the last drop of water. And when he washes his feet , every sin he walked to with his feet will be removed with the water, or with the last drop of water. Until he leaves it pure of all sins.” ~ Sahih Muslim
- Some scholars said , it depends on what is your intention when you make wudoo, if you intent the removal of sins then you will get it. Safest is to make the intention that you want your sins to wash away. Perhaps as a reminder , put a sign at your bathroom door that says “BRIGHTNESS AT YAUMUL QIYAMAH!”
- Shaikh Mohd. Hussain Yaacob said : Try going out into Cairo ( or any place ) for 3 hours, can you come home without committing any sin ? Its impossible because we are commititing sins unawaringly ( wihout realising it ) . Thus, taking wudoo often helps to wash the sins away inshaallah
- Heights in Paradise : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam asked Bilal “ O Bilal, how did you surpass me in Jannah ? Yesterday I entered Jannah and I heard your footsteps infront of me !” Bilal replied “ O Messenger of Allah, I never made the azan at all without prying 2 raka’ahs after it, and I never broke my wudoo at all except I made wudoo again at that time.” SO Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “This is the reason ”. ~ Tirmidhee Aboo Daawood, Ibn Majah, sahih Al Jaami 7894
- Become a mu;min ( believer) . Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : “No one maintains a state of wudoo except for a believer ” ~ Sahih Muslim
- Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam makes wudoo before every prayer/salaah even if he already has wudoo.
*** Lets try to practice the above in Ramadan then make duàa that we will continue doing so after Ramadan.
RAWATIB ( sunnah prayer )
i.e.sunnah prayer that is connected to the fard prayer.
i) House in Jannah :
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ No muslim slave pray for Allah – twelve raka’ah everyday – besides the obligatory prayers, except that Allah will build a house for him in Jannah” ~ Sahih Muslim. In another narration, he explained what these raka’ahs ae saying : “They are 4 raka’ah before zuhur and 2 after zuhur, 2 after magrib, 2 raka’ah after ‘ ishaa, and 2 raka’ah before fajr” ~ Tirmidhee & Nasaaèe; authentic
ii) The Fire Prohibited to Touch him :
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “Whoever maintains four raka’ah” before zuhur and 4 raka’ah after it, Allah will make the Hellfire haraam ( prohibited) for him” ~ Tirmidhee, Ibn Majah, Aboo Dawood, An Nasaaèe; authentic
- When you pray these have hope & intention that the Hellfire will NOT touch you – don’t be over confident but just hav yaqiin in your heart & you beg Allah to grant you as He had promised.
- Salaahtul Zawwal : At Tirmidhee, graded authentic/sahih by Albani , narrated that : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam used to pray 4 raka’ah after sun rise, before zuhur i.e when the sun passess the zenith = this is the time when the doors of Paradise opens.
iii) Duàa of the Prophet :
Ibn Umar narrated that Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “May Allah have mercy on a person who prays 4 raka’ah before Asar” ~ Ahmad, Tirmidhee, Aboo Daawood, hadeeth hasan ( authentic) ** Lets do this in Ramadhan !
AD-DUHAA
i) Salaah Al – Ishraaq ( beginning time for salaah ad-duhaa i.e when the sun first rises).
Complete Haj or umrah : It’s a special salaah at the time of Ad Duhaa. Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “ Whoever prays fajr in congregation in masjid & stays there until the Duhaa prayer, he receives the reward of one who made Haj or umrah and whose haj or umrah was complete ” ~ At Tabranee, hadeeth hasan
ii) Duhaa in general ( from sunrise till Zuhur )
Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “Everyday , each one of you owes charity for each joint of his body. And every tasbeeh is a sadaqah, every tahmeed is a sadaqah, every takbeer is a sadaqah, commanding good is a sadaqah, prohibiting evil is a sadaqah. But 2 raka’ah a person prays at the time of Duhaa will suffice all of that ”
Duhaa can be between 2 raka’ah to 12 raka’ah, You gain different title according to the number of raka’ah you do :
· Prayer of the Repentent ( at the hottest time) : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “ The prayer of the repentant (= salahtul Awwabeen) takes place when the baby camels find the sand at its hottest ” ~ At Tabranee,hadeeth Hassan. This is about 1.5 hours before zuhur.
Awwabeen = person who continuously go back to Allah. Lets be an Awwab !
· 2 raka’ah : not of the heedless : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said “ Whoever prays 2 raka’ah of Duhaa, will NOT be recorded to be among the heedless”
· 4 raka’ah : Among the worshipper : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said “ and whoever prays 4 raka’ah of Duhaa will be recorded among the worshippers ”
· 6 raka’ah of Duhaa : “Whoever prays 6 raka’ah of duhaa will be a sufficient prayer for the whole day”
· 8 rakaah of Duhaa : “ And whoever prays 8 raka’’h will be written among the qaaniteen (i.e. devoutly obedient) ”
· 12 rakaah of Duhaa : “ And whoever prays 12 raka’ah, Allah will build a house for him in Jannah”
** The above hadeeth are from At Tabranee, hadeeth hasan from book ‘ Saheeh At Targheeb wat Tarheeb, vol 1, p 279 ’
2 RAKA’AH OF WUDOO
i) Jannah obligatory for him : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : “ No muslim makes wudoo, perfecting his wudoo, then gets up to pray 2 raka’ah – in which he turns to Allah with his heart & his face – except that Jannah becomes obligatory for him” ~ Sahih Muslim
ii) Forgiveness of ALL previous sins : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said “ Whoever makes wudoo like this wudoo of mine, then prays 2 raka’ah – in which he does not talk to himself – will have his previous sins forgiven” ~ Sahih Bukhari & Sahih Muslim
ANSWER THE AZAN
i) Entrance to Jannah. Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said that if one repeats after the Muadhdhin, from his heart, he will enter Jannah ~ Sahih Muslim
ii) Intercession of the Prophet : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said that whoever says after the azan ( the duàa) , will have his intercession on the Day of Resurrection ~ Sahih Bukhari
iii) Duàa between azan & iqaamah : Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said, “ Duàa ( supplication) between azan & iqaamah will NOT be rejected ”
FEEDING A FASTING PERSON
Rasullullah Sallahu’alayhiwassallam said : When you feed a fasting person, you get the reward of that person’s fasting.
SADAQAH IN GENERAL
Do lots of sadaqah daily in Ramadan. Can cook a little extra pack & ask your kids to give to the poor around your area. Make it an activity for the kids , let them have a feeling of giving & sharing. Or can just pack s few dates & a pack of drink for your sons to give out.
REAPING THE FRUITS OF RAMADAN
Imagine a tree with delicious fruits – you can take any or all of them. Some fruits are really very special, would you go for it ? Yes, your target ought to be these special ones.
In Ramadhan, besides siyam ( fasting ) there are other ibaadahs that you really want to focus on.
QURAAN
Allah said in Al Baqarah 2: 185 “The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Quraan ”
Allah connect Ramadan with Quraan because it’s the month the Quran was sent down – its like we are celebrating the revelation of this great book. Why is it in Ramadan in particular people attach themselves to the Quraan ? In 2: 2 Allah said “This is the Book…where there is NO doubt… ” – this is a very special where there is solution to anything & everything, it’s the guidance to mankind. Quraan speak to the heart of the people and brings life to them.
Shaikh Mohd Hussain Yaacob said : our ummah is living far from the Quraan. Why ? Because we don’t feel this book is for human; for mankind from the Creator of the Heavens & the Earth.
Imagine the time before Quran was revealed. The Makkan pagans were living in total darkness where zina , divorce, alcohol, woshipping idols were rampant. Out of this total darkness, a few were transformed and out came – Abu Bakr radiallahuanh, Umar radiallahuanh, Aali radiallahuanh, Uthman radiallahuanh, etc etc.
These days there are some practicing muslims i.e those who are careful about the Islamic creed, halal & haram , they are busy reading the aqeedah, fiqh , seerah books yet they forgot to study the Quraan !!! The Quraan will create a ‘battle’ inside a person when he is studying it – Quraan is Furqaan – it takes us out from any was-was ( doubts) . It is a cure for everything – evil thoughts, stress, sadness,pshychological problems, etc etc. It’s the most potent ‘medication’.
Quraan is the ‘food’ that will keep you on the right path. Those who were misguided are people who don’t live with the Quraan. You keep the Quraan in you and Allah will guide you on the straight path.
Quraan = Nuur. Imagine you live in a darkroom, Quraan is the light & it comes out of your face, your tongue your words.
In Soorah An Nuur 24: 35 , Allah said “ Allah is the Light of the heavens & the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche & within it a lamp: the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree , an olive tree neither of the east ( i.e neither it gets sun-rays only in the morning ) nor of the west ( i.e. nor it gets sun-rays only in the afternoon, but its exposed to the sun all day long ), whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself ), though no fire touched it. Light upon light ! Allah guides to His Light whom He wills. And Allah set forth parables for mankind, and Allah is All Knower of everything ”.
The niche = the believer
The glass = the believer’s heart , glass is clear & pure. It is true that a believer’s heart is clear & pure ; no stain, no dark spot to prevent the believer from seeing the truth. The glass is fragile – the believer’s heart is soft & full of mercy & compassion to other believers. But glass, though fragile, its also solid. Believers don’t change according to surroundings; the believer’s heart is strong and not softening this way or that way – the believer’s heart is strong & tough. The zikr is in the believer’s heart.
The light = represent eeman of the believer.
The tree ( where the oil is taken from ) = is Allah’s revelation i.e. the Quraan & Sunnah – here the tree is from the best planted in the middle of the field. The Quraan takes the middle path & farthest away from deviation. Believer’s eeman is strengthen with the revelation from Allah – as you put in more oil, it lights brighter & stays longer. Thus you take more from the Quraan and you inshaAllah become stronger. Quraan feed the eeman – quickest way to increase eeman is through the Quraan.
Allah said – the verses of Allah contains in the believer’s heart – you can choose to fill it ¼, 1/3 , ½, or full, then it will over flow. When it starts to overflow, it shows in their face, their limbs, their behaviour, etc – the person will be a walking light, Subhanallah. In Yaumul Qiamah, this will be the light on our siraat that is thinner than our hair ! Light from Allah is most fair - there are those who crawl on the siraaat , run on the siraat, some ride a horse on the siraat, some move like a lightening – it all depends on how you were on this world – now , you assess yourself ! This is a book that will save us in dunya & akhirah.
Quraan is a mercy , in Soorah Al Ankabuut : 51 “ Is not sufficient for them that We sent down to you ( Muhammad) the Book ( the Quraan ) which is recited to them ? Verily, herein is mercy and a reminder ( or an admonition ) for a people who believe ”
In Soorah Ash Shura : 52 “ and thus we have sent to you (O Muhammad) , Rùh ( Revelation & Mercy) of Our command….We have made it ( the Quraan ) a light where We guide whomsoever of Our slaves We will…and indeed you ( O Muhammad) are guiding to the Straight Path ” Thus Quraan is soul for your heart & soul; without it your heart & soul is ‘dead’…The more Quraan you put in, the more guidance you get , when you leave the Quraan , its is the beginning of your end…
It is not befitting for a muslim who love Allah and not have in her heart : I want to memorise the whole quraan, I want to learn tafseer of the Quraan so that any instant in your life there will be an ayah ( a verse) to help you, to steer you, to comfort you. Live with the Quraan ( memorise day time, recite at night in your Qiyamulayl – this is a hidayah from Allah.
Ramadan is the time for Quraan – set a ‘stage’ how quraan is going to be in your life à devote yourself to Quraan in Ramadan – start NOW in SHAABAN and magnify in Ramadan. Quraan elevate a person; saviour for dunya & akhirah…may it start in Ramadan.
Scholars have said that one of the reasons to learn & memorise the Quraan is to stand at night reciting Quraan in your qiyamulayl – many verses in the quraan about the believer waking up at night to recite Quraan. Of its only juz Amma & juz Tarabarak that we memorise, is not enough. You want to stand longer in your Qiyamulayl to recite whatever you have memorized – this gives us the ‘azeemah’ = determination to keep going. Each year in Ramadan , you your Quraan should be better, ameen.
Is there a proposed Quraan schedule in Ramadan ?
è your WHOLE day is QURAAN with the exceptions of salaah/prayer, minimal cooking time, taraweeh, etc. You schedule every moment for Quraan then you slot in other things into it.
The scholar Imam Sufyan At Thawry : left everything in Ramadan for Quraan.
Imam Malik : stop reading hadith or attend halaqah in Ramadan to focus on Quraan.
Qatadah ( a tabiin ) : Normal days he finish the Quraan every week. He had a job , he had a family , he teach, he is busy but he made time for Quraan bcos these scholars take Quraan as a necessity in life. In Ramadan, Qatadah complete the entire Quraan every 3 days but the last 10 nites of Ramadan he complete the entire Quraan EVERY night !
Hadith : cannot complete the Quraan in less than 3 days
à Scholars have agreed that Ramadan is an exception to this hadith as they advice to finish the Quraan as much as possible in Ramadan. These scholars live with the Quraan, know the tafseer yet in Ramadan they intensify it.
*** Every thing has a specific time and Ramadan is the time for Quraan.
Many recite Quraan but don’t know the meaning but can qatam the Quraan more than once in Ramadan. Its different when you know the meaning – you feel the difference when you recite the Quraan WITH meaning in Ramadan.
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF QURAAN :
i) Have wudhoo : leave the fiqh issue aside, make it a point to have wudhoo because the Quraan is shi3ar of Allah – it’s the words of Allah, its Allah talking to you – have taqwa ( fear Allah) !
ii) Sit in a humble manner even though its ok for you to lie or or lean. Imagine you are reciting Quraan to Allah, how would it be ???
iii) Remind yourself before you start - whose words are you going to recite – its from Allah. He give me this & that, this & that remember Allah’s names and feel blessed. You can make duàa before you start reciting : “O Allah, let me taste the beauty of the Quraan, let me taste the sweetness of the Quraan, make me understand the Quraan as the companions did…”
iv) Make istiazah, make sujood when you recite a verse of sajadah.
v) In Ramadan, you may recite Quraan fast to finish more but it is PREFERABLE to recite slowly & melodiously with tajweed & tarteel. Imagine Allah ‘speaking’ to you : “Ya fulan bint fulan, listen to me…I know you, I created you, take what I have to say to you…” with this in mind, you will listen& recite with particular attention. Sons of scholars in the past, when they recite a verse with no focus, they regard as though they have not read it. They will go back to it .
vi) Live & interact with the Quraan : When you come to a verse about Jannah, pause and imagine Jannah then duàa for Jannah. When you read about the Hellfire, pause & seek refuge from it. When you read about the Muttaquun, pause and make duàa you be one of them. When you read about the Greatness of Allah, stop, make takbeer ! When you read about the Prophets, make duàa you be amongst them, take lessons from what you read.
vii) Can have a note book as you recite the Quraan, make note of the verses you like, a good reminder – then you can check the tafseer or use the verse as reference in future.
viii) If you can read the Quraan fluently, understand bits & pieces – you can qatam ( complete entire Quraan ) the Quraan as many times as you like. But try something different ! Read the ayah in Arabic then the translation in your mother tongue. If you give Quraan more time daily in Ramadan inshaallah you can finish a lots in Ramadan – maybe finish the entire Quraan in Arabic + know the meaning. You must feel, you badly want to achieve this & grab this opportunity in Ramadan. Have patience & go for it ! If you are blessed with time, read tafseer Ibn Kathir – aim for 1 juz a day of tafseer. If you desperately want it, make duàa & Allah will grant it to you. If you cannot recite Quraan fluently – use tape recorder to help you recite verse by verse. After 1 juz, read the translation to know the meaning. If you cannot recite quraan at all, beg Allah that you will not be in the same situation the next Ramadan. You should listen to Quraan tape or cd or whatever then read the translation, this person has more time as they are not personally reciting the Quraan, so do read the tafseer.
QIYAMMULAYL / TARAWEEH / TAHAJJUD = PRAYING AT NIGHT
Approach qiyam with intentions & goal – a means of erasing all your sins. You can be frustrated with your sins , Ramadan is the month to get out of it. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam gave us solution = qiyam.
Hadith : Whoever prays night prayer in Ramadan, with firm belief & expecting a reward for it, his previous sins are forgiven ~ Al Bukhari & Muslim
You will also be emulating the righteous people, Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam, his companions, the salaf, etc. It is the mannerism & etiquette of these people to pray Qiyam regularly. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : hold fast to Qiyamulayl , truly it’s the mannerism of the righteous, it is an expiation of your sins, get you closer to Allah.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam explained that a believer will not be somebody with honour & dignity unless you are the people of qiyammulayl.
Hadith : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said qiyammulayl expels sickness/ diseases from your body ~ At Tirmithi, sahih by Albani
Qiyamulayl is a means to get Allah’s love.
Hadith : 3 people who Allah love & happy with them, He smile/laugh ( yad huilayna) at them ( = indicates His approval towards them ) à a man who has a beautiful wife & nice comfortable bed & he gets up to pray at night. Allah said “ look my angels, this man has a nice bed, beautiful wife yet he left them” Then this person praise & praise Allah ( yatta ma laqqni ) He say the most beautiful things about Allah, beg Allah – you force yourself to get up, Allah see this & boast to His angels.
Hadith : If a person get up to pray at night & his eyes over taken by sleep in his sujood, Allah say to His angels “look My angels, this is My slave, his soul is with Me & his body is before Me, record his qiyam for him & count his sleep as a sadaqah from Me to him ” à see how generous Allah is !
If Allah is going to call you by a name, what name do you want ? MUQANTEER = person with heavy goodness or MUQALID or GHAFIL ?
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said those who pray at night reciting :
10 verses from the Quraan , he will be written as the one who is not heedless, those who pray with 100 verses, they will be written as QANITEEN = the devout one, those who pray with 1000 verses, they will be written as MUQANTEER = those with mountain of good deeds. Choose which name you want Allah to call you.
*** Women : up to whether you want to pray in the masjid or at home – whichever that will help you get more kushoo.
When you pray at the masjid :
- go to masjid early, aim to arrive by the time azan is called – after iftar leave the dishes, do when you return from masjid – no harm – just for Ramadan !
- recite duàa on the way to masjid – beautiful duàa requesting Allah to give you Nuur
- answer the azan, duàa between azan & after azan until iqaamah
- find a quiet spot where you can get maximum kushoo & sit by yourself, don’t socialise /chit chat. Use every minute to duàa , you are in the house of Allah in Ramadan, maximise time.
- When imam start prayer, imagine you stand before Allah in Yaumul Qiyammah – try to concentrate as much as you can. Listen, reflect everything you recite in prayer/salaah. When you know which juz the imam is reciting that night, review it day time, read the meaning if you don’t understand Arabic.
- Make duàa , make istighfar in between – every second counts.
- Make duàa of leaving the masjid
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : there is an hour of the night where no muslim make duàa, Allah will answer it. à this happen every night – the closest the slave is to his Lord is when he is in sujood and Allah descends to the lowest sky the last 1/3 of the night to answer His slave’s duàa. Yet , some people after they pray taraweeh, they go to bed till fajr !!! They don’t get up don’t stay up for ibaadah in Ramadan. Get up especially last 1/3 of the night – Ramadan is the time to intensify your ibaadah. When you pray at night/qiyam, choose what name you want Allah to call you: Muqanteer ? Muqalid? Ghafil ?
Try to do your qiyam alone – its your time to ‘khalwah’ with Allah = be alone with Allah; your secret moment with Allah away frm riya’, ujub but you can feel the pleasure of being with Allah. Pacify your heart with zikr, make lots of duàa, ask Allah to give you kushoo in your salaah, its as though you flee from the dunya – ask Allah to give you refuge, cry & cry before Allah, persist with your duàa and let it all out to Allah.
“May Allah put in our heart the sweetness of venting to Him & there is no need to vent to a human. ” Why you vent to a human, you want sympathy ? Allah give you EVERYTHING !
So in Ramadan we are night owls – we are alive & awake at night in Ramadan. The righteous people when they finish salaah at night, they continue with istighfar. Make istighfar with rùh = with life in it ! Imagine a child begging for forgiveness from you, you beg & beg & beg for Allah’s forgiveness so you can come out of Ramadan cleansed from all sins.
*** Start preparing for Ramadan NOW, make duàa ask Allah to help you get the most out of this Ramadan, make it easy for you to stay up at night, finish the Quraan, etc. Allah will not make those you prepare for Ramadan equal to those who did not prepare for it.
DUÀA = SUPPLICATION
In Soorah Al Baqarah Allah said : “ And if My slaves asks you about Me, truly I am near. I answer the duàa of the one who asks me when he makes duàa to Me. So, let them respond to Me & believe in Me, so that they can be rightly guided”
What is the intent of this ayah/verse ? You are suppose to feel in your heart the closeness & peace to Allah and that Allah is caring – have certainty ( yaqiin) , have husnudzon of Allah when you hear this ayah à you should feel automatically close & bond to Allah. In this verse Allah used the word “fainni qariib ” which means truly I am near & He did not say ‘I am near’ , the word truly shows it’s a certainty. Scholars said, it means He directly answers our duàa , there is no ‘go between’ – Allah chose His words very carefully - this particular word for this reason , that word for that reason – so, to understand the Quraan, must learn tafseer. As slave of Allah, we should call upon Allah with sabr, don’t be haste, don’t give up…the more we ask Allah the more He loves it, if we stop, He gets angry.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ Whoever does not ask Allah, Allah becomes angry with him ”, he also said “ Indeed Allah is Shy & Generous. He is shy when a person raises his hands to Him, to return them empty and disgraced ”.
How do we make duàa ?
Some people feel tired if duàa not answered , Allah angry at this people because their duàa became “luke warm” , they gave up…Allah don’t want duàa from a heedless heart i.e just utterance of the tongue – duàa is not a mechanical thing. Everyone has a need : need for Allah’s guidance, we want Allah’s Nuur in our heart, we need to beg for our Quraan, for our akhirah, we want Allah to take away our obstacles, relieve us from our dunya problems, duaà for husband, kids, parents, siblings, jiran, duàa for Laylatul Qadr, duàa for Al Firdous without hisaab, ask for kushoo in salaah, ask ikhlas, ask for barakah of your time, concealment of your sins, free from the fire, duàa for your Arabic language, put the Quraan & Sunnah in the hearts of all muslims, make Islam rise & shine in this world, duàa for the oppressed, muslims in general, etc etc à don’t limit your duàa !
How the righteous made duàa:
Prophet Musa accidently killed somebody, then he helped 2 women , then he made duàa so passionately “Ya Allah, I am fakir for anything, I am in need, I am poor…”this is how we should make duàa, we really have to humble ourselves , duaà can change qadar ( destiny) imagine life without duàa ? Duàa is a wonderful gift from Allah Azawajall. The Salaf ( righteous predecessor) made duàa with most beautiful praises for Allah e.g. O Allah You are Most Generous, O Allah, You are All Knower, O Allah You are Most Forgiving, O Allah you are…then only they ask for what they want. Show Allah you are in need, you are begging Him, put your heart & soul in your duàa, make duàa with humility + yaqiin Allah will answer it.
Best time is to make duàa in Ramadan because we are in complete obedience to Allah day & night & the doors of Paradise is open, His rahmah descends…
1) Seeking at the times of acceptance
i) last 1/3 of the night
Hadith : There is an hour of the night, no muslim who ask Allah for any good, Allah will give.
ii) sleep with wudoo & last word on tongue is zikr & getting up at night to ask/duàa
Hadith : No muslim while in a state of taharah & zikr & asking for anything from the affairs of the dunya or akhirah, Allah will give him à this is a promise from Allah
iii) in sujood
Hadith : In suhood, exert yourself in duàa because it will be answered
iv) During & After azan
Hadith : If a call for salaah is given the door of heaven is open & duàa is accepted
v) Duàa between azan & iqaamah
Hadith : Duàa between azan & iqaamah will not be rejected à believe this with strong eeman,
more you believe , more you will get. Have full eeman that Allah will answer your duàa.
vi) Duàa during rain & during iqaamah & during Ramadan
vii) The last hour on Friday : between asar & magrib
viii) Immediately after fard salaah/prayer
ix) Duàa of the traveller, the oppressed, the parent, the fasting person
x) When one completes reciting the Quraan as sakiinah descends when one is reciting Quraan , the angels are there thus duàa likely to be accepted
xi) Duàa by a person for his fellow muslim brother/sister , in their absence, the angels will say “ ameen, and for him too”.
2) Face the qiblah. Raise your hands – show Allah the best from you and that you are begging Him to answer your duàa.. Begin by praising Allah, the more you praise the better, end with salawat on Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Every duàa is held back by a partition until salawat on Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam is said.
3) Be persistent in your duàa – repeat & repeat & repeat. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam often repeat 3 times.
Ibn Masud said : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam used to repeat his duàa 3 times, he asked for a lot because he is asking from his Rabb ( Lord). His Lord gave him tarbiyyah, bestow him niamah, gave him ihsan – so magnify his hope & ask for a lot …we are miskeen…we ask with yaqiin in our hearts that Allah will grant it and that Allah will give even though we don’t deserve it ! Ask for anything big or small, the sahabah even made duàa for new shoe lace ! Tho its something small, the act of asking Allah is something big – it shows you are in need of Allah for anything & everything.
4) Be certain, your duàa is accepted. Sufyan As Saiyya ( student of Sufyan At Thawry ) said : none of you should allow whatever he knows about himself to prevent him from making duàa i.e if you feel you have many sins , don’t feel shy to make duàa.
Duàa in Ramadan…
- make duàa at every accepted time : wait for the azan to make duàa, sleep with wudoo to get up & duàa, duàa before tasleem in every salaah, on the way to masjid, leaving masjid , etc etc thro out the day make duàa !
- Make a list of duàa before Ramadan start ( at least 30 duàa) , so each day besides your regular duàa, you have this special duàa you are focussing on,
- About 20 mins or so before breaking fast, lock yourself away to make duàa intensify duàa at this time – your time alone with Allah, bring some dates & water with you go to your room to make duàa. You focus on “a duàa a day ” besides other duàa – be systematic as you want to maximise duàa in Ramadan.
- Every Friday between Asar & magrib do the same
- Last 1/3 of the night in ALL your sujood – ask .ask…ask…beg…beg…beg !
- When you go to masjid for taraweeh, between azan of isha & iqamah
- Last 10 night of Ramadan, do your daily duàa, then your most important ones from your list ( if you want take the whole list ! ) Is repeated every night the last 10 nights so that it catches the Laylatul Qadr.
ZIKR = those who remember Allah a LOT!
Are you in the habit of making zikr in your tongue ? Many times in the Quraan Allah mention about making lots zikr, if you are not used to it, start now.
In Soorah Al Ahzaab : 41-44 Allah said “ O you who believe ! Remember Allah with a lot of zikr. And glorify Him ( say Subhanallah ) in the morning & evening. He is the One who sends salaah ( salawat/praise ) on you, as do His angels, in order to remove you from darkness into light. And He is merciful with the believers. Their greetings on the day they will meet Him will be ‘Salaam’. And Allah prepared for them a generous reward”
From the verse above you can see that Allah promised a lot to those who made lots of zikr :
i) He makes salaah ( salawat/praise) on you : Ibn Abas said :this verse means when you make lots of zikr, as a consequence, Allah give you salaah/praise i.e Allah will mention you to His angels then His angels will make salaah on you too ! What does this mean ? Allah will praise you in the highest gathering à mention you by name in the gatherings of angels , this means the angels will also make istighfar for you, when you make taubah, the angels that is holding the arash ( throne ) of Allah will make istighfar for you, so angels will make duàa for you only when you are making lots of zikr – thus, with the knowledge, make an intention to concentrate as you zikr.
ii) The phrase ‘…remove you from darkness…’ means Allah take you out of many darkness of sins, darkness of dunya, etc and take you into His Nuur…yaqni, from the ocean of darkness your are snatched into the Light of Allah Azawajalla
iii) Allah promised us His rahmah _ He is raheem to His belivers. Those who get Allah’s rahmah have nothing to worry about…
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ Not an hour passes by the son Aadam in which he does not remember ( or mention) Allah, except that he will deeply regret it on the Day of Resurrection ”
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam also said : “Should I not inform you the best of deeds, , before your Master , the purest of them, the most elevated of them, it is better for you than spending in gold & silver, better than you meeting your enemy & striking them & their striking you ? They said , Of course oh Messenger of Allah. He said, Remembreance of Allah ” - keep zikr of Allah moist on your tongue.
What are these adzkar (= plural for zikr )?
Hadith : To sit with people who remember Allah in their prayers ( after fajr) is more beloved to me than anything in this world & what the sun has shone , and those who remember Allah in the evening is better than freeing 8 slaves of Bani Ismail…
Note : the above hadith said about sitting with these people, imagine if you are the one doing the remembrance of Allah ! It is indeed an honour & the reward is great !
which Allah has chosen for His angels & His slaves , “ Subhanallah wa bihamdih ”
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : “ Two words, that are beloved to Ar Rahman, light on
the tongue and heavy on the scale, Subhanallah wa bihamdih, Subhanallah Al Adheem”
My slave has submitted submit & surrender ( to Me) ”
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Toobaa ( a special tree in Paradise) is for he who finds
in his pages ( book) a lot of istighfar
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam also said ; Whoever said Astaghfirullah aladhee laa ilaaha illa
huwa atoobu ilayh, Allah will forgive him, even if he fleed from the enemies ( at the battle)
Shaikh Mohd. Hussain Yaacob said : Imagine a man who is tall, has a mansion, a field full of treasures. You are allowed to get a truck to fill up your truck with the treasures in just 2.5 minutes. You were dumb-founded, you were in a daze and suddenly 2.5 minutes is up ! You get nothing…foolish person ! In dunya this is what happens to us !!! So you have to think of zikr & other ibaadah this way, grab the opportunity , grab every miute of it, make zikr while you walk, while you cook, as you wash dishes, while you drive, we want zikr to be automatic on our tongue.
Story : Propeht Yunus Alayhisallam, he was in the belly of the whale, he made zikr, made duàa “Laillah haillah anta subha naka inni kuntu minazdholimiin”, because of this zikr, he was saved from the sorrow & misery of being in the belly of the whale.
In Ramadhan, besides siyam ( fasting ) there are other ibaadahs that you really want to focus on.
QURAAN
Allah said in Al Baqarah 2: 185 “The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Quraan ”
Allah connect Ramadan with Quraan because it’s the month the Quran was sent down – its like we are celebrating the revelation of this great book. Why is it in Ramadan in particular people attach themselves to the Quraan ? In 2: 2 Allah said “This is the Book…where there is NO doubt… ” – this is a very special where there is solution to anything & everything, it’s the guidance to mankind. Quraan speak to the heart of the people and brings life to them.
Shaikh Mohd Hussain Yaacob said : our ummah is living far from the Quraan. Why ? Because we don’t feel this book is for human; for mankind from the Creator of the Heavens & the Earth.
Imagine the time before Quran was revealed. The Makkan pagans were living in total darkness where zina , divorce, alcohol, woshipping idols were rampant. Out of this total darkness, a few were transformed and out came – Abu Bakr radiallahuanh, Umar radiallahuanh, Aali radiallahuanh, Uthman radiallahuanh, etc etc.
These days there are some practicing muslims i.e those who are careful about the Islamic creed, halal & haram , they are busy reading the aqeedah, fiqh , seerah books yet they forgot to study the Quraan !!! The Quraan will create a ‘battle’ inside a person when he is studying it – Quraan is Furqaan – it takes us out from any was-was ( doubts) . It is a cure for everything – evil thoughts, stress, sadness,pshychological problems, etc etc. It’s the most potent ‘medication’.
Quraan is the ‘food’ that will keep you on the right path. Those who were misguided are people who don’t live with the Quraan. You keep the Quraan in you and Allah will guide you on the straight path.
Quraan = Nuur. Imagine you live in a darkroom, Quraan is the light & it comes out of your face, your tongue your words.
In Soorah An Nuur 24: 35 , Allah said “ Allah is the Light of the heavens & the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche & within it a lamp: the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree , an olive tree neither of the east ( i.e neither it gets sun-rays only in the morning ) nor of the west ( i.e. nor it gets sun-rays only in the afternoon, but its exposed to the sun all day long ), whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself ), though no fire touched it. Light upon light ! Allah guides to His Light whom He wills. And Allah set forth parables for mankind, and Allah is All Knower of everything ”.
The niche = the believer
The glass = the believer’s heart , glass is clear & pure. It is true that a believer’s heart is clear & pure ; no stain, no dark spot to prevent the believer from seeing the truth. The glass is fragile – the believer’s heart is soft & full of mercy & compassion to other believers. But glass, though fragile, its also solid. Believers don’t change according to surroundings; the believer’s heart is strong and not softening this way or that way – the believer’s heart is strong & tough. The zikr is in the believer’s heart.
The light = represent eeman of the believer.
The tree ( where the oil is taken from ) = is Allah’s revelation i.e. the Quraan & Sunnah – here the tree is from the best planted in the middle of the field. The Quraan takes the middle path & farthest away from deviation. Believer’s eeman is strengthen with the revelation from Allah – as you put in more oil, it lights brighter & stays longer. Thus you take more from the Quraan and you inshaAllah become stronger. Quraan feed the eeman – quickest way to increase eeman is through the Quraan.
Allah said – the verses of Allah contains in the believer’s heart – you can choose to fill it ¼, 1/3 , ½, or full, then it will over flow. When it starts to overflow, it shows in their face, their limbs, their behaviour, etc – the person will be a walking light, Subhanallah. In Yaumul Qiamah, this will be the light on our siraat that is thinner than our hair ! Light from Allah is most fair - there are those who crawl on the siraaat , run on the siraat, some ride a horse on the siraat, some move like a lightening – it all depends on how you were on this world – now , you assess yourself ! This is a book that will save us in dunya & akhirah.
Quraan is a mercy , in Soorah Al Ankabuut : 51 “ Is not sufficient for them that We sent down to you ( Muhammad) the Book ( the Quraan ) which is recited to them ? Verily, herein is mercy and a reminder ( or an admonition ) for a people who believe ”
In Soorah Ash Shura : 52 “ and thus we have sent to you (O Muhammad) , Rùh ( Revelation & Mercy) of Our command….We have made it ( the Quraan ) a light where We guide whomsoever of Our slaves We will…and indeed you ( O Muhammad) are guiding to the Straight Path ” Thus Quraan is soul for your heart & soul; without it your heart & soul is ‘dead’…The more Quraan you put in, the more guidance you get , when you leave the Quraan , its is the beginning of your end…
It is not befitting for a muslim who love Allah and not have in her heart : I want to memorise the whole quraan, I want to learn tafseer of the Quraan so that any instant in your life there will be an ayah ( a verse) to help you, to steer you, to comfort you. Live with the Quraan ( memorise day time, recite at night in your Qiyamulayl – this is a hidayah from Allah.
Ramadan is the time for Quraan – set a ‘stage’ how quraan is going to be in your life à devote yourself to Quraan in Ramadan – start NOW in SHAABAN and magnify in Ramadan. Quraan elevate a person; saviour for dunya & akhirah…may it start in Ramadan.
Scholars have said that one of the reasons to learn & memorise the Quraan is to stand at night reciting Quraan in your qiyamulayl – many verses in the quraan about the believer waking up at night to recite Quraan. Of its only juz Amma & juz Tarabarak that we memorise, is not enough. You want to stand longer in your Qiyamulayl to recite whatever you have memorized – this gives us the ‘azeemah’ = determination to keep going. Each year in Ramadan , you your Quraan should be better, ameen.
Is there a proposed Quraan schedule in Ramadan ?
è your WHOLE day is QURAAN with the exceptions of salaah/prayer, minimal cooking time, taraweeh, etc. You schedule every moment for Quraan then you slot in other things into it.
The scholar Imam Sufyan At Thawry : left everything in Ramadan for Quraan.
Imam Malik : stop reading hadith or attend halaqah in Ramadan to focus on Quraan.
Qatadah ( a tabiin ) : Normal days he finish the Quraan every week. He had a job , he had a family , he teach, he is busy but he made time for Quraan bcos these scholars take Quraan as a necessity in life. In Ramadan, Qatadah complete the entire Quraan every 3 days but the last 10 nites of Ramadan he complete the entire Quraan EVERY night !
Hadith : cannot complete the Quraan in less than 3 days
à Scholars have agreed that Ramadan is an exception to this hadith as they advice to finish the Quraan as much as possible in Ramadan. These scholars live with the Quraan, know the tafseer yet in Ramadan they intensify it.
*** Every thing has a specific time and Ramadan is the time for Quraan.
Many recite Quraan but don’t know the meaning but can qatam the Quraan more than once in Ramadan. Its different when you know the meaning – you feel the difference when you recite the Quraan WITH meaning in Ramadan.
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF QURAAN :
i) Have wudhoo : leave the fiqh issue aside, make it a point to have wudhoo because the Quraan is shi3ar of Allah – it’s the words of Allah, its Allah talking to you – have taqwa ( fear Allah) !
ii) Sit in a humble manner even though its ok for you to lie or or lean. Imagine you are reciting Quraan to Allah, how would it be ???
iii) Remind yourself before you start - whose words are you going to recite – its from Allah. He give me this & that, this & that remember Allah’s names and feel blessed. You can make duàa before you start reciting : “O Allah, let me taste the beauty of the Quraan, let me taste the sweetness of the Quraan, make me understand the Quraan as the companions did…”
iv) Make istiazah, make sujood when you recite a verse of sajadah.
v) In Ramadan, you may recite Quraan fast to finish more but it is PREFERABLE to recite slowly & melodiously with tajweed & tarteel. Imagine Allah ‘speaking’ to you : “Ya fulan bint fulan, listen to me…I know you, I created you, take what I have to say to you…” with this in mind, you will listen& recite with particular attention. Sons of scholars in the past, when they recite a verse with no focus, they regard as though they have not read it. They will go back to it .
vi) Live & interact with the Quraan : When you come to a verse about Jannah, pause and imagine Jannah then duàa for Jannah. When you read about the Hellfire, pause & seek refuge from it. When you read about the Muttaquun, pause and make duàa you be one of them. When you read about the Greatness of Allah, stop, make takbeer ! When you read about the Prophets, make duàa you be amongst them, take lessons from what you read.
vii) Can have a note book as you recite the Quraan, make note of the verses you like, a good reminder – then you can check the tafseer or use the verse as reference in future.
viii) If you can read the Quraan fluently, understand bits & pieces – you can qatam ( complete entire Quraan ) the Quraan as many times as you like. But try something different ! Read the ayah in Arabic then the translation in your mother tongue. If you give Quraan more time daily in Ramadan inshaallah you can finish a lots in Ramadan – maybe finish the entire Quraan in Arabic + know the meaning. You must feel, you badly want to achieve this & grab this opportunity in Ramadan. Have patience & go for it ! If you are blessed with time, read tafseer Ibn Kathir – aim for 1 juz a day of tafseer. If you desperately want it, make duàa & Allah will grant it to you. If you cannot recite Quraan fluently – use tape recorder to help you recite verse by verse. After 1 juz, read the translation to know the meaning. If you cannot recite quraan at all, beg Allah that you will not be in the same situation the next Ramadan. You should listen to Quraan tape or cd or whatever then read the translation, this person has more time as they are not personally reciting the Quraan, so do read the tafseer.
QIYAMMULAYL / TARAWEEH / TAHAJJUD = PRAYING AT NIGHT
Approach qiyam with intentions & goal – a means of erasing all your sins. You can be frustrated with your sins , Ramadan is the month to get out of it. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam gave us solution = qiyam.
Hadith : Whoever prays night prayer in Ramadan, with firm belief & expecting a reward for it, his previous sins are forgiven ~ Al Bukhari & Muslim
You will also be emulating the righteous people, Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam, his companions, the salaf, etc. It is the mannerism & etiquette of these people to pray Qiyam regularly. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : hold fast to Qiyamulayl , truly it’s the mannerism of the righteous, it is an expiation of your sins, get you closer to Allah.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam explained that a believer will not be somebody with honour & dignity unless you are the people of qiyammulayl.
Hadith : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said qiyammulayl expels sickness/ diseases from your body ~ At Tirmithi, sahih by Albani
Qiyamulayl is a means to get Allah’s love.
Hadith : 3 people who Allah love & happy with them, He smile/laugh ( yad huilayna) at them ( = indicates His approval towards them ) à a man who has a beautiful wife & nice comfortable bed & he gets up to pray at night. Allah said “ look my angels, this man has a nice bed, beautiful wife yet he left them” Then this person praise & praise Allah ( yatta ma laqqni ) He say the most beautiful things about Allah, beg Allah – you force yourself to get up, Allah see this & boast to His angels.
Hadith : If a person get up to pray at night & his eyes over taken by sleep in his sujood, Allah say to His angels “look My angels, this is My slave, his soul is with Me & his body is before Me, record his qiyam for him & count his sleep as a sadaqah from Me to him ” à see how generous Allah is !
If Allah is going to call you by a name, what name do you want ? MUQANTEER = person with heavy goodness or MUQALID or GHAFIL ?
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said those who pray at night reciting :
10 verses from the Quraan , he will be written as the one who is not heedless, those who pray with 100 verses, they will be written as QANITEEN = the devout one, those who pray with 1000 verses, they will be written as MUQANTEER = those with mountain of good deeds. Choose which name you want Allah to call you.
*** Women : up to whether you want to pray in the masjid or at home – whichever that will help you get more kushoo.
When you pray at the masjid :
- go to masjid early, aim to arrive by the time azan is called – after iftar leave the dishes, do when you return from masjid – no harm – just for Ramadan !
- recite duàa on the way to masjid – beautiful duàa requesting Allah to give you Nuur
- answer the azan, duàa between azan & after azan until iqaamah
- find a quiet spot where you can get maximum kushoo & sit by yourself, don’t socialise /chit chat. Use every minute to duàa , you are in the house of Allah in Ramadan, maximise time.
- When imam start prayer, imagine you stand before Allah in Yaumul Qiyammah – try to concentrate as much as you can. Listen, reflect everything you recite in prayer/salaah. When you know which juz the imam is reciting that night, review it day time, read the meaning if you don’t understand Arabic.
- Make duàa , make istighfar in between – every second counts.
- Make duàa of leaving the masjid
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : there is an hour of the night where no muslim make duàa, Allah will answer it. à this happen every night – the closest the slave is to his Lord is when he is in sujood and Allah descends to the lowest sky the last 1/3 of the night to answer His slave’s duàa. Yet , some people after they pray taraweeh, they go to bed till fajr !!! They don’t get up don’t stay up for ibaadah in Ramadan. Get up especially last 1/3 of the night – Ramadan is the time to intensify your ibaadah. When you pray at night/qiyam, choose what name you want Allah to call you: Muqanteer ? Muqalid? Ghafil ?
Try to do your qiyam alone – its your time to ‘khalwah’ with Allah = be alone with Allah; your secret moment with Allah away frm riya’, ujub but you can feel the pleasure of being with Allah. Pacify your heart with zikr, make lots of duàa, ask Allah to give you kushoo in your salaah, its as though you flee from the dunya – ask Allah to give you refuge, cry & cry before Allah, persist with your duàa and let it all out to Allah.
“May Allah put in our heart the sweetness of venting to Him & there is no need to vent to a human. ” Why you vent to a human, you want sympathy ? Allah give you EVERYTHING !
So in Ramadan we are night owls – we are alive & awake at night in Ramadan. The righteous people when they finish salaah at night, they continue with istighfar. Make istighfar with rùh = with life in it ! Imagine a child begging for forgiveness from you, you beg & beg & beg for Allah’s forgiveness so you can come out of Ramadan cleansed from all sins.
*** Start preparing for Ramadan NOW, make duàa ask Allah to help you get the most out of this Ramadan, make it easy for you to stay up at night, finish the Quraan, etc. Allah will not make those you prepare for Ramadan equal to those who did not prepare for it.
DUÀA = SUPPLICATION
In Soorah Al Baqarah Allah said : “ And if My slaves asks you about Me, truly I am near. I answer the duàa of the one who asks me when he makes duàa to Me. So, let them respond to Me & believe in Me, so that they can be rightly guided”
What is the intent of this ayah/verse ? You are suppose to feel in your heart the closeness & peace to Allah and that Allah is caring – have certainty ( yaqiin) , have husnudzon of Allah when you hear this ayah à you should feel automatically close & bond to Allah. In this verse Allah used the word “fainni qariib ” which means truly I am near & He did not say ‘I am near’ , the word truly shows it’s a certainty. Scholars said, it means He directly answers our duàa , there is no ‘go between’ – Allah chose His words very carefully - this particular word for this reason , that word for that reason – so, to understand the Quraan, must learn tafseer. As slave of Allah, we should call upon Allah with sabr, don’t be haste, don’t give up…the more we ask Allah the more He loves it, if we stop, He gets angry.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ Whoever does not ask Allah, Allah becomes angry with him ”, he also said “ Indeed Allah is Shy & Generous. He is shy when a person raises his hands to Him, to return them empty and disgraced ”.
How do we make duàa ?
Some people feel tired if duàa not answered , Allah angry at this people because their duàa became “luke warm” , they gave up…Allah don’t want duàa from a heedless heart i.e just utterance of the tongue – duàa is not a mechanical thing. Everyone has a need : need for Allah’s guidance, we want Allah’s Nuur in our heart, we need to beg for our Quraan, for our akhirah, we want Allah to take away our obstacles, relieve us from our dunya problems, duaà for husband, kids, parents, siblings, jiran, duàa for Laylatul Qadr, duàa for Al Firdous without hisaab, ask for kushoo in salaah, ask ikhlas, ask for barakah of your time, concealment of your sins, free from the fire, duàa for your Arabic language, put the Quraan & Sunnah in the hearts of all muslims, make Islam rise & shine in this world, duàa for the oppressed, muslims in general, etc etc à don’t limit your duàa !
How the righteous made duàa:
Prophet Musa accidently killed somebody, then he helped 2 women , then he made duàa so passionately “Ya Allah, I am fakir for anything, I am in need, I am poor…”this is how we should make duàa, we really have to humble ourselves , duaà can change qadar ( destiny) imagine life without duàa ? Duàa is a wonderful gift from Allah Azawajall. The Salaf ( righteous predecessor) made duàa with most beautiful praises for Allah e.g. O Allah You are Most Generous, O Allah, You are All Knower, O Allah You are Most Forgiving, O Allah you are…then only they ask for what they want. Show Allah you are in need, you are begging Him, put your heart & soul in your duàa, make duàa with humility + yaqiin Allah will answer it.
Best time is to make duàa in Ramadan because we are in complete obedience to Allah day & night & the doors of Paradise is open, His rahmah descends…
1) Seeking at the times of acceptance
i) last 1/3 of the night
Hadith : There is an hour of the night, no muslim who ask Allah for any good, Allah will give.
ii) sleep with wudoo & last word on tongue is zikr & getting up at night to ask/duàa
Hadith : No muslim while in a state of taharah & zikr & asking for anything from the affairs of the dunya or akhirah, Allah will give him à this is a promise from Allah
iii) in sujood
Hadith : In suhood, exert yourself in duàa because it will be answered
iv) During & After azan
Hadith : If a call for salaah is given the door of heaven is open & duàa is accepted
v) Duàa between azan & iqaamah
Hadith : Duàa between azan & iqaamah will not be rejected à believe this with strong eeman,
more you believe , more you will get. Have full eeman that Allah will answer your duàa.
vi) Duàa during rain & during iqaamah & during Ramadan
vii) The last hour on Friday : between asar & magrib
viii) Immediately after fard salaah/prayer
ix) Duàa of the traveller, the oppressed, the parent, the fasting person
x) When one completes reciting the Quraan as sakiinah descends when one is reciting Quraan , the angels are there thus duàa likely to be accepted
xi) Duàa by a person for his fellow muslim brother/sister , in their absence, the angels will say “ ameen, and for him too”.
2) Face the qiblah. Raise your hands – show Allah the best from you and that you are begging Him to answer your duàa.. Begin by praising Allah, the more you praise the better, end with salawat on Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Every duàa is held back by a partition until salawat on Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam is said.
3) Be persistent in your duàa – repeat & repeat & repeat. Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam often repeat 3 times.
Ibn Masud said : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam used to repeat his duàa 3 times, he asked for a lot because he is asking from his Rabb ( Lord). His Lord gave him tarbiyyah, bestow him niamah, gave him ihsan – so magnify his hope & ask for a lot …we are miskeen…we ask with yaqiin in our hearts that Allah will grant it and that Allah will give even though we don’t deserve it ! Ask for anything big or small, the sahabah even made duàa for new shoe lace ! Tho its something small, the act of asking Allah is something big – it shows you are in need of Allah for anything & everything.
4) Be certain, your duàa is accepted. Sufyan As Saiyya ( student of Sufyan At Thawry ) said : none of you should allow whatever he knows about himself to prevent him from making duàa i.e if you feel you have many sins , don’t feel shy to make duàa.
Duàa in Ramadan…
- make duàa at every accepted time : wait for the azan to make duàa, sleep with wudoo to get up & duàa, duàa before tasleem in every salaah, on the way to masjid, leaving masjid , etc etc thro out the day make duàa !
- Make a list of duàa before Ramadan start ( at least 30 duàa) , so each day besides your regular duàa, you have this special duàa you are focussing on,
- About 20 mins or so before breaking fast, lock yourself away to make duàa intensify duàa at this time – your time alone with Allah, bring some dates & water with you go to your room to make duàa. You focus on “a duàa a day ” besides other duàa – be systematic as you want to maximise duàa in Ramadan.
- Every Friday between Asar & magrib do the same
- Last 1/3 of the night in ALL your sujood – ask .ask…ask…beg…beg…beg !
- When you go to masjid for taraweeh, between azan of isha & iqamah
- Last 10 night of Ramadan, do your daily duàa, then your most important ones from your list ( if you want take the whole list ! ) Is repeated every night the last 10 nights so that it catches the Laylatul Qadr.
ZIKR = those who remember Allah a LOT!
Are you in the habit of making zikr in your tongue ? Many times in the Quraan Allah mention about making lots zikr, if you are not used to it, start now.
In Soorah Al Ahzaab : 41-44 Allah said “ O you who believe ! Remember Allah with a lot of zikr. And glorify Him ( say Subhanallah ) in the morning & evening. He is the One who sends salaah ( salawat/praise ) on you, as do His angels, in order to remove you from darkness into light. And He is merciful with the believers. Their greetings on the day they will meet Him will be ‘Salaam’. And Allah prepared for them a generous reward”
From the verse above you can see that Allah promised a lot to those who made lots of zikr :
i) He makes salaah ( salawat/praise) on you : Ibn Abas said :this verse means when you make lots of zikr, as a consequence, Allah give you salaah/praise i.e Allah will mention you to His angels then His angels will make salaah on you too ! What does this mean ? Allah will praise you in the highest gathering à mention you by name in the gatherings of angels , this means the angels will also make istighfar for you, when you make taubah, the angels that is holding the arash ( throne ) of Allah will make istighfar for you, so angels will make duàa for you only when you are making lots of zikr – thus, with the knowledge, make an intention to concentrate as you zikr.
ii) The phrase ‘…remove you from darkness…’ means Allah take you out of many darkness of sins, darkness of dunya, etc and take you into His Nuur…yaqni, from the ocean of darkness your are snatched into the Light of Allah Azawajalla
iii) Allah promised us His rahmah _ He is raheem to His belivers. Those who get Allah’s rahmah have nothing to worry about…
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “ Not an hour passes by the son Aadam in which he does not remember ( or mention) Allah, except that he will deeply regret it on the Day of Resurrection ”
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam also said : “Should I not inform you the best of deeds, , before your Master , the purest of them, the most elevated of them, it is better for you than spending in gold & silver, better than you meeting your enemy & striking them & their striking you ? They said , Of course oh Messenger of Allah. He said, Remembreance of Allah ” - keep zikr of Allah moist on your tongue.
What are these adzkar (= plural for zikr )?
- Adzkar of morning & evening – mentioned many times in the Quraan, see ayah above. See these adzkar in Hisnul Muslim ( Fotress of the Muslim). These adzakar inshaallah protect one from sihr, hasad, satan, etc à when you say it, reflect the meaning.
Hadith : To sit with people who remember Allah in their prayers ( after fajr) is more beloved to me than anything in this world & what the sun has shone , and those who remember Allah in the evening is better than freeing 8 slaves of Bani Ismail…
Note : the above hadith said about sitting with these people, imagine if you are the one doing the remembrance of Allah ! It is indeed an honour & the reward is great !
- You can choose whichever zikr you want to focus on for the day. Find out the reward for this particular zikr then yearn for the reward , feel it as you make the zikr.
- Tasbeeh ( Subhanallah) :
which Allah has chosen for His angels & His slaves , “ Subhanallah wa bihamdih ”
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : “ Two words, that are beloved to Ar Rahman, light on
the tongue and heavy on the scale, Subhanallah wa bihamdih, Subhanallah Al Adheem”
- Tahleel : Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said “The best zikr is Laa illaaha illallaah , and the best duàa is Alhamdulillaah ”
- Laa hawla wa laa quwata illaa billaah
My slave has submitted submit & surrender ( to Me) ”
- Istighfar
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam said : Toobaa ( a special tree in Paradise) is for he who finds
in his pages ( book) a lot of istighfar
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam also said ; Whoever said Astaghfirullah aladhee laa ilaaha illa
huwa atoobu ilayh, Allah will forgive him, even if he fleed from the enemies ( at the battle)
Shaikh Mohd. Hussain Yaacob said : Imagine a man who is tall, has a mansion, a field full of treasures. You are allowed to get a truck to fill up your truck with the treasures in just 2.5 minutes. You were dumb-founded, you were in a daze and suddenly 2.5 minutes is up ! You get nothing…foolish person ! In dunya this is what happens to us !!! So you have to think of zikr & other ibaadah this way, grab the opportunity , grab every miute of it, make zikr while you walk, while you cook, as you wash dishes, while you drive, we want zikr to be automatic on our tongue.
Story : Propeht Yunus Alayhisallam, he was in the belly of the whale, he made zikr, made duàa “Laillah haillah anta subha naka inni kuntu minazdholimiin”, because of this zikr, he was saved from the sorrow & misery of being in the belly of the whale.
- Sending salaah/salawat to Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam – when we say salaah/salawat to Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam, Allah will make salawat ( praise ) on us 10 times. Jibreel said, he will also make salawat ( praise) whoever say salawat to Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam. Whoever forgets to make salawat to Rasullullah sallahualayhiwasallam, he missed the way to Jannah…
FAREWELL RAMADAN
Assuming we have gone thru Ramadan the way we have learned in the last few lectures…now the last 10 nights of Ramadan has come… you will feel that Ramadan has gone so quickly like the blink of an eye and the last 10 nights will go even faster…
Shaikh Mohd Hussain Yaacob said : Now is the time you really have to “roll up your sleeves ” ; to abandon the sweetness of sleeping & follow the example of Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam gave special care & attention to the last 10 nights of Ramadan. He will do acts of ibaadah that he did not do the previous 20 nights e.g itikaf, make entire night alive with ibaadah. Aishah said : In Ramadan Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam exert himself even more, his nights are full of ibaadah , left all his wives, made lots duàa, etc. The salaf ( righteous predecessor) , also increase level of motivation & aspiration, their last 10 nights in Ramadan is more like “sprinting” in the last few meters of a race. Consider the last 10 nights of Ramadan is like the end of a race – you will sprint EVERY ENERGY you have , be patient – talk to your nafs – its only 10 nights out of 365 nights !
Allah said in Al Imran 3 : 133 , “wasari 3uu…” = And race to forgiveness of your Lord and for Paradise as vast as Heaven & the earth prepared for the Muttaquun i.e those who have taqwa = the pious .
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam told us “ NO uncertain terms in this last 10 nights is Laylatul Qadr ”
How to fulfil the purpose of the Last Ten Nights of Ramadan :
1) Have an honest assessment of yourself before Allah. We have to sit honestly with ourselves before Allah and ask :
- Did I fulfill my ibaadahs the way I was suppose to have ?
- Did I live Ramadan, truly, as Allah lives and is pleased with ?
- Did my heart taste the sweetness of the ibaadah ?
- Did I achieve taqwa ( or did my taqwa increase) , as is the purpose of fasting ?
- Did the Quraan bring life to my dead heart ?
- Did the change in me cause my household to go through any changes ?
- Did you feel, after this reforming experience, determined to leave the sins you’re committing & come closer to Allah?
Shaikh Mohd Hussain Yaacob said , be honest when doing this assessment : you should answer yes to a few of the above and some no ( minus )
Assuming a person did their best but still get minus i.e realise there is a deficiency & feel frustrated – tell yourself, there is still a chance – you have the last 10 nights, time to salvage & compensate any deficiency the previous 20 days of Ramadan. Take this last chance & run with it ! If you can make itikaf, go for it, even if its just 1 night ! Itikaf is NOT time for socialising/sleeping/chatting. Follow rules on itikaf – NO laughter, NO talking, cut off from entire world, DEVOTE yourself to the utmost . If you can’t make itikaf, its ok, make the most of whatever situation Allah had willed for you.
Aali radiallahuanh said : be more concern about your deed being accepted than the actual deed itself. Exert yourself in duàa & ibaadah.
2) Continually make istighfar. Haven’t we noticed how Allah ordered us to conclude our Haj with istighfar ?
In Soorah Al Baqarah 2 : 199 “ Then depart from the place whence all people depart & ask Allah for His Forgiveness…”.
Allah also said a few times in the Quraan, the ’abideen ( = the worshipper) conclude their night prayer with istighfar , as in Soorah Az zaaariyat 51: 17-18 : “ They used to sleep little by night ( invoking their Lord, Allah) and praying, with fear & hope. And in the hours before dawn, they were found asking Allah for forgiveness.”
Al Hassan said : they used to pray till before dawn they sit to make istighfar e.g as soon as they end their salaah, they make istighfar – they understood that we are required to exert ourselves & work but we also have weaknesses & deficiency in the ibaadah that we do, thus they made istighfar for shortcomings. Day & night in Ramadan we make istighfar because we are lacking in our ibaadah.
3) Concentrate on seeking & asking Allah’s ’Afw i.e overlook/pardon as though it never happened! Don’t you want Allah to look only at the things you did right & overlook your mistakes. Why we concentrate on ’Afw ? When ’Aaishah asked Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam what should I say in Laylatul Qadr? He said “Say : Allahumma innaka ’afwwun tuhibbul ’afwa fa’fu ’annee. = O Allah, you are all Pardoning ( or forgiving) You love to pardon, so pardon me. ”
4) Exert our utmost on our ibaadah & good deeds. WHY ?
5) Beware of ‘ujb ( conceit) = self satisfaction, thinking we are ok. Ujb is a disease of the heart. Allah give us a great month to do more ibaadah, NOT for us to feel ujb = self admiration. Hard to get rid of ujb, just beware of your nafs wanting to get pride, ego, elevate ourself – put your nafs at its place. Ujb destroy the deed !
LAYLATUL QADR
This the night of great merit,a magnitude of khayr ( goodness) , full of barakah(blessings), great virtue – Quraan come down to the lowest Heaven all at once
Better than a thousand nights = 83+ years
It’s the night where the Qadar (destiny) for the next year will be determined. Thus we want Allah to see us in our best state, make lots duàa. Whoever wants goodness make lots of zikr this night – this can be seen in the person’s Qiyam, zikr, duàa. This night Jibreel comes down, imagine your salaah /pray with Jibreel next to you, watching you, also many angels come down.
The Prophet(s) said,”Whoever prays the night prayer on Laylatul-Qadr,with eemaan and ihtisaab,will be forgiven all his sins.”
Whoever is granted the Laylatul Qadr he is given all of the good & whoever don’t get laylatul Qadr, he experience great loss…
There is wisdom in Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam being caused to forget it – so we exert ourselves & keep striving till the end, similarly Allah conceald time of our death & the Last Day.
‘Aa’ishah reported, he(s) used to stay away from his wives, revive the whole night with prayer,and awaken his family(to do the same).”
The Salaf said : this night it will be complete peace & security ( from harm or illness on the person ) & satan don’t do any harm ( satan powerless on Laylatul Qadr) & Allah accept the person’s repentance.
The Salaf also decorated themselves internally and externally. Thabit Al Banani ( a tabiin) , he used to wear best clothes & perfume on last 10 nights. He also perfumed the masjid because he knows special guests coming. Some Salaf bought special thobe ( jubah) for Laylatul Qadr because many angels coming down & many deeds going up – they also decorate themselves internally by making lots of taubah & duàa.
Those ladies who have menstruation/haid or nifas :
If she had done her best up to that time, inshaallah Allah will not deprive her the reward of Laylatul Qadr. These ladies can still stay up, do everything just don’t do salaah/pray. Laylatul Qadr is a gift from Allah, many angels will come ; more than the pebbles in the earth.
Sunnah of Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam – he did not sleep last 10 nights of Ramadan, he slept after fajr ( day time) but not all day. He stay up all night especially the odd nights, until fajr.
Increase the good you were already doing:Qur’aan,qiyaam,dhikr and du’aa,with special focus on du’aa.
In conclusion:
Remember this is your last chance! The doors of Heaven is open , your duàa answered. So beware of any time wasters or anything which may preoccupy you or laziness or tiredness or excuses…beware of the Ramadan sale, the Eid preparation !
How do believers bid farewell to Ramadan ?
You need to realise that you are saying goodbye to the month of barakah, month of peace, month of security, month of Nuur, month which is an enjoyable companion to the believers…
Live Ramadan to the fullest potential & it will reform us - We ask Allah to free us from the Fire, to accept Ramadaan from us, to accept our siyaam, qiyaam, our zikr, and other righteous deeds. O Allah, let it turn to us for many years to come.
We say “Allahumma lakalhamd ” ( Ya Allah, all praise belong to You ) at the end of Ramadan
Praise Allah for giving us tawfeeq to fast and pray Ramdaan, pray Laylatul-Qadr, for eemaan, Islam and Qur’aan for fasting, qiyaam, sadaqah and ihsan.
What is Eid about ?
They are celebrating & rejoicing because Allah give them Ramadan & they grab it & make the most of Ramadan !
Shaikh Mohd Hussain Yaacob said : Now is the time you really have to “roll up your sleeves ” ; to abandon the sweetness of sleeping & follow the example of Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam.
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam gave special care & attention to the last 10 nights of Ramadan. He will do acts of ibaadah that he did not do the previous 20 nights e.g itikaf, make entire night alive with ibaadah. Aishah said : In Ramadan Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam exert himself even more, his nights are full of ibaadah , left all his wives, made lots duàa, etc. The salaf ( righteous predecessor) , also increase level of motivation & aspiration, their last 10 nights in Ramadan is more like “sprinting” in the last few meters of a race. Consider the last 10 nights of Ramadan is like the end of a race – you will sprint EVERY ENERGY you have , be patient – talk to your nafs – its only 10 nights out of 365 nights !
Allah said in Al Imran 3 : 133 , “wasari 3uu…” = And race to forgiveness of your Lord and for Paradise as vast as Heaven & the earth prepared for the Muttaquun i.e those who have taqwa = the pious .
Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam told us “ NO uncertain terms in this last 10 nights is Laylatul Qadr ”
How to fulfil the purpose of the Last Ten Nights of Ramadan :
1) Have an honest assessment of yourself before Allah. We have to sit honestly with ourselves before Allah and ask :
- Did I fulfill my ibaadahs the way I was suppose to have ?
- Did I live Ramadan, truly, as Allah lives and is pleased with ?
- Did my heart taste the sweetness of the ibaadah ?
- Did I achieve taqwa ( or did my taqwa increase) , as is the purpose of fasting ?
- Did the Quraan bring life to my dead heart ?
- Did the change in me cause my household to go through any changes ?
- Did you feel, after this reforming experience, determined to leave the sins you’re committing & come closer to Allah?
Shaikh Mohd Hussain Yaacob said , be honest when doing this assessment : you should answer yes to a few of the above and some no ( minus )
Assuming a person did their best but still get minus i.e realise there is a deficiency & feel frustrated – tell yourself, there is still a chance – you have the last 10 nights, time to salvage & compensate any deficiency the previous 20 days of Ramadan. Take this last chance & run with it ! If you can make itikaf, go for it, even if its just 1 night ! Itikaf is NOT time for socialising/sleeping/chatting. Follow rules on itikaf – NO laughter, NO talking, cut off from entire world, DEVOTE yourself to the utmost . If you can’t make itikaf, its ok, make the most of whatever situation Allah had willed for you.
Aali radiallahuanh said : be more concern about your deed being accepted than the actual deed itself. Exert yourself in duàa & ibaadah.
2) Continually make istighfar. Haven’t we noticed how Allah ordered us to conclude our Haj with istighfar ?
In Soorah Al Baqarah 2 : 199 “ Then depart from the place whence all people depart & ask Allah for His Forgiveness…”.
Allah also said a few times in the Quraan, the ’abideen ( = the worshipper) conclude their night prayer with istighfar , as in Soorah Az zaaariyat 51: 17-18 : “ They used to sleep little by night ( invoking their Lord, Allah) and praying, with fear & hope. And in the hours before dawn, they were found asking Allah for forgiveness.”
Al Hassan said : they used to pray till before dawn they sit to make istighfar e.g as soon as they end their salaah, they make istighfar – they understood that we are required to exert ourselves & work but we also have weaknesses & deficiency in the ibaadah that we do, thus they made istighfar for shortcomings. Day & night in Ramadan we make istighfar because we are lacking in our ibaadah.
- Not just istighfar on the tongue – say it with the tongue & the heart & make taubah with determination NOT to repeat the sins.
- Last 10 days in Ramadan do more istighfar in between salaah( prayer) & Quraan – allocate special time for istighfar with your heart.
3) Concentrate on seeking & asking Allah’s ’Afw i.e overlook/pardon as though it never happened! Don’t you want Allah to look only at the things you did right & overlook your mistakes. Why we concentrate on ’Afw ? When ’Aaishah asked Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam what should I say in Laylatul Qadr? He said “Say : Allahumma innaka ’afwwun tuhibbul ’afwa fa’fu ’annee. = O Allah, you are all Pardoning ( or forgiving) You love to pardon, so pardon me. ”
- note that Aaishah knows lots of duàa but she asked Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam “what should I specifically say on this special night ”
- ‘Afw is Allah’s name – it means Allah put your sin aside , as tho it never happened! When you commit a sin, your eeman goes down, there will be punishment in dunya & akhirah but when Allah ‘Afw, there is NO consequence to your sins.
- “…tuhibbu ‘afwa ”= He loves to forgive His slaves à this is the time to ask for it with your heart & hope Allah give it to you. This also means He loves His slaves to forgive one another & let go à when you have ‘Afw, its closer to taqwa. Allah did say an eye for an eye but He love it when His slaves ‘afw. Last 10 nights is the time we ask Allah for His ‘afw – beg for it !
- Can also mention/duàa : O Allah accept my striving & overlook my shortcomings
4) Exert our utmost on our ibaadah & good deeds. WHY ?
- Because of special merits of Laylatul Qadr , great reward
- We are bidding farewell to Ramadan & we don’t know if we can see Ramadan again…
- Sad to see people have high motivation early Ramadan & towards the end they feel tired, bored è apathy ! Becareful with traps of satan & your nafs.
- Have ‘tunnel vision’ to maximise last 10 nights, becareful, some work hard only up to 27th night, we should persist even untill 29th night ; right up to last moment till Ramadan confirm end.
5) Beware of ‘ujb ( conceit) = self satisfaction, thinking we are ok. Ujb is a disease of the heart. Allah give us a great month to do more ibaadah, NOT for us to feel ujb = self admiration. Hard to get rid of ujb, just beware of your nafs wanting to get pride, ego, elevate ourself – put your nafs at its place. Ujb destroy the deed !
- One of the sign your deed is accepted is you feel like a fakir ( poor) before Allah, increase your taqwa. Therefore we should hope that Allah accept our deed & He forgive us; we should feel small before Allah & feel others have done more than you.
- Ujb can make you look down on other muslims, you feel arrogant, feel good & blow yourself up ! Becareful!
- Allah is Kareem, You are generous O Allah, accept my deeds – keep telling yourself that others do more than you.
- Have hope for Allah’s ‘afw.
LAYLATUL QADR
This the night of great merit,a magnitude of khayr ( goodness) , full of barakah(blessings), great virtue – Quraan come down to the lowest Heaven all at once
Better than a thousand nights = 83+ years
It’s the night where the Qadar (destiny) for the next year will be determined. Thus we want Allah to see us in our best state, make lots duàa. Whoever wants goodness make lots of zikr this night – this can be seen in the person’s Qiyam, zikr, duàa. This night Jibreel comes down, imagine your salaah /pray with Jibreel next to you, watching you, also many angels come down.
The Prophet(s) said,”Whoever prays the night prayer on Laylatul-Qadr,with eemaan and ihtisaab,will be forgiven all his sins.”
Whoever is granted the Laylatul Qadr he is given all of the good & whoever don’t get laylatul Qadr, he experience great loss…
There is wisdom in Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam being caused to forget it – so we exert ourselves & keep striving till the end, similarly Allah conceald time of our death & the Last Day.
‘Aa’ishah reported, he(s) used to stay away from his wives, revive the whole night with prayer,and awaken his family(to do the same).”
The Salaf said : this night it will be complete peace & security ( from harm or illness on the person ) & satan don’t do any harm ( satan powerless on Laylatul Qadr) & Allah accept the person’s repentance.
The Salaf also decorated themselves internally and externally. Thabit Al Banani ( a tabiin) , he used to wear best clothes & perfume on last 10 nights. He also perfumed the masjid because he knows special guests coming. Some Salaf bought special thobe ( jubah) for Laylatul Qadr because many angels coming down & many deeds going up – they also decorate themselves internally by making lots of taubah & duàa.
- ladies , do not decorate or perfume yourself when you go to masjid for taraweeh
Those ladies who have menstruation/haid or nifas :
If she had done her best up to that time, inshaallah Allah will not deprive her the reward of Laylatul Qadr. These ladies can still stay up, do everything just don’t do salaah/pray. Laylatul Qadr is a gift from Allah, many angels will come ; more than the pebbles in the earth.
Sunnah of Rasullullah sallahualayhiwassalam – he did not sleep last 10 nights of Ramadan, he slept after fajr ( day time) but not all day. He stay up all night especially the odd nights, until fajr.
Increase the good you were already doing:Qur’aan,qiyaam,dhikr and du’aa,with special focus on du’aa.
In conclusion:
Remember this is your last chance! The doors of Heaven is open , your duàa answered. So beware of any time wasters or anything which may preoccupy you or laziness or tiredness or excuses…beware of the Ramadan sale, the Eid preparation !
How do believers bid farewell to Ramadan ?
You need to realise that you are saying goodbye to the month of barakah, month of peace, month of security, month of Nuur, month which is an enjoyable companion to the believers…
Live Ramadan to the fullest potential & it will reform us - We ask Allah to free us from the Fire, to accept Ramadaan from us, to accept our siyaam, qiyaam, our zikr, and other righteous deeds. O Allah, let it turn to us for many years to come.
We say “Allahumma lakalhamd ” ( Ya Allah, all praise belong to You ) at the end of Ramadan
Praise Allah for giving us tawfeeq to fast and pray Ramdaan, pray Laylatul-Qadr, for eemaan, Islam and Qur’aan for fasting, qiyaam, sadaqah and ihsan.
What is Eid about ?
They are celebrating & rejoicing because Allah give them Ramadan & they grab it & make the most of Ramadan !
RAMADAN IS OVER, NOW WHAT
Ramadan came , and Ramadan left…some people profit from Ramadan, some… The true Mumin will feel pain when Ramadan leave…
Some struggle to achieve Ramadan goals; some fell in the course of striving, then got up & push himself. All of us are blessed in Ramadan. Those not blessed are those who commit sins in Ramadan.
In Ramadan, if we did as was mentioned in previous lectures, we smell the ‘scent’ of the life of the righteous predecessor from afar. Shaikh Hussain Yaakob said : Ramadan left and the masjids are empty again – back to its old state except for those who truly love the masjid.
Why, after Ramadan people go back to the life before Ramadan à go backwards ? They tasted the sweetness of qiyam ( taraweeh daily & more sunnah prayers), sweetness of Quraan ( lots recitation) – such people are not true worshippers; they are just followers – follow others doing the ibaadah.
When Rasulullah died, Abu Bakar said, “ And now, to he who worships Muhammad , he should know that Muhammad is dead. But he who worships Allah ( the Lord of Muhammad sallahualayhiwassallam) He is Ever Living and He never dies. Allah says (in Soorah Al Imran 3 : 144) : Muhammad (SAW) is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? And he who turns back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allâh, and Allâh will give reward to those who are grateful” Ibn Abbas said : “By Allah, it was as if people have never heard this Quranic verse till Abu Bakar recited it as a reminder. So people started saying it till there was no man who did not recite it ”.
Therefore from the above scenario, we conclude that, whoever worships Ramadan, truly Ramadan has ended. Whoever worship Allah, truly Allah is the Greatest! It is the same Rabb ( Lord) that one worships on Ramadan and outside Ramadan. This is the life of the righteous. Our Deen is the Deen of istiqamah ( steadfastness) – we recite Al Faatihah in our salaah, we ask for straight path – mustaqeem. Thus,it is unbecoming for us to be fickle ! We should come out of Ramadan with our hearts attached to ibaadah. Analogy : if you love your children, you want to spend more time with them, and they will get more attached to you.
These ibaadah in Ramadan should be like air & water is to you. Do not cling to the earth; the worldly matters. Allah raised your rank in Ramadan, WHY do you want to remain LOW and cling to the earth/world ??? In Soorah An Nahl 16:92, Allah says : “And be not like her who undo the thread which she has spun after it has become strong, by taking your oaths a means of deception among yourselves, lest a nation may be more numerous than another nation. Allâh only tests you by this [i.e who obeys Allâh and fulfills Allâh's Covenant and who disobeys Allâh and breaks Allâh's Covenant]. And on the Day of Resurrection, He will certainly make clear to you that wherein you used to differ ”.
So, you don’t be like the one who untwisted her spun thread i.e after she made it into garments ( that she had woven), she undo the gament to be like thread again ! WHY do you want to do this??? Why undo what you did/achieved in Ramadan ? It is a gift from Allah. You cried, you made duàa, you recite lots of Quraan, you did lots of nawafil salaah…why??? Why undo…Is it just to feel good for the moment ? What was it all about? A journey? Just a ‘trip’ ?! – like a getaway, then go back to the normal life ?!
For sure all of you are blessed in Ramadan ( to varying degree) – the fasting, the qiyam, the zikr, the good akhlak, being with those righteous ones, the Quraan recitation – those are BIG NIMAH from Allah. When we get blessing, we are obliged to do something with those blessings. Whatever good you feel in Ramadan , we want to protect it; whatever not good – put it aside. We don’t know who amongst us are accepted in Ramadan.
Imam Aaly r.a. said : we wish we know who are the blessed ( accepted) ones in Ramadan – we can go congratulate, and those who are not accepted, we give condolences ! Note that he used the word ‘condolences’ – we use this word upon the demise of someone.
Whatever good we experienced in Ramadan, there is a follow through to it, The salaf ( righteous predecessors) used to make duàa for 6 months following/after Ramadan – “O Allah, accept our deeds in last Ramadan ( they cry & beg Allah to accept their deeds) then 6 months before Ramadan they make duàa that Allah permit them to experience the next Ramadan. ”
Rights & requirements are like seat belts in the car à if we ‘slip’ ( i.e. our eeman decrease), we don’t crash & destroy ourself !
Gratefulness/gratitude :
If we don’t show gratefulness, Allah may punish a person with the nimah/blessings. E.g in Soorah Al Khaf – the person with the garden – Allah punished him with the garden itself ( the garden was a nimah Allah gave him). When Firawn boasted about rivers flowing underneath him Allah made the water destroy him – he was drowned by what he boasted.
How do we thank Allah for the blessings/nimah? Gratitude has 3 pillars :
(i) Feel in the heart – feel very thankful…Allah says in Soorah Al Maidah 5: 7 “And remember Allâh's Favour upon you and His Covenant with which He bound you when you said: "We hear and we obey." And fear Allâh. Verily, Allâh is All Knower of the secrets of (your) breasts” : …remember the nimah. In your heart, have a deep feeling of gratitude : “ O Allah, only with Your blessings I was able to fast, only with Your blessings I could do Qiyam, itikaaf, recite the whole Quraan,..only by Your Mercy Ya Allah…Only You who enabled me to do all those…Ya Allah, You opened this door for me then that door for me then You gave me …and You gave me…” Thus, you reflect , you recall the moments you experienced in Ramadan – moments you get most khushoo in salaah, moments you feel so humbled, moments you feel so close to Allah, moments you struggle hard to fight the desire to sleep…all these are from Allah. Beg from Allah, “ O Allah, preserve for me these nimah; increase these nimah for me, Ameen Allahumma Ameen ”.
(ii) Inkisaar : = humblenessà ‘break’ yourself up before Allah = complete degree of humilty & humbleness. We should have tasted the Adheem of Allah ( the Greatness of Allah). The person whose deeds are accepted by Allah, he feels happy Allah gave me this , Allah gave me that…he reflect the nimah Allah gave. Recognise that ALL the good that we received , its COMPLETELY from Allah. Maybe you set 3 alarm clocks to wake you up but only by the permission of Allah, you will wake up and do the qiyam. Don’t think highly of yourself that you are able to wake up every night for qiyam. You must feel humble as it is all from Allah. The time you wasted ; the chit chat , the text messages – the negative things, that’s from us, our weakness. The ibadaah you did, its all from Allah. Ya Allah , you are the Al Adheem; you gave me all the goodness, its all form You Ya Allah…when you truly feel EVERYTHING is from Allah, then this is the feeling of gratitude. In Soorah Al Anam 6: 162 “Say (O Muhammad ): "Verily, my Salât (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists).”: Feel humble & humbled – feel Allah’s greatness, Allah’s complete power ( Soorah Al Kahf 18: 39– Laquwwata illa billlah = There is no power but with Allâh ! ) In every deed, see two things : (a) the good in it is from Allah (b) any shortcomings are from us.
(iii) Al Muhasabah : = holding yourself to account. Ramadan is our measuring stick e.g. is my heart like it was in Ramadan? Is my salaah like it was in Ramadan ? Is my protecting my tongue like it was in Ramadan? Is my ‘guarded/good’ character like it was in Ramadan? IMAGINE, Allah says : My slave, after all I let you taste the sweetness of Ramadan, I gave you light, I removed you from the shackle…took you out of the darkness ( i.e woke you up to pray at night)…how can you turn away from it ? If you were ignorant , maybe you are excused, but you were given the nimah !
How can a person who held the mushaf ( Quraan), recite it, understood its meaning, live with it in Ramadan, then leave it ( after Ramadan) ??? How can a person who took time to stand at night alone for qiyam, tasted the sweetness of standing at night talking to Allah, and then abandon it…let it all go away…After Ramadan, you spend your nights laughing, sleeping, watching TV ??? Life in Ramadan & after Ramadan should not be any different – that is a sample of how life should be !
(iv) Ikhlas : our hearts has to maintain certain purity = sincerity. If a person lived Ramadan with ikhlas, they can’t go backward. For example, if you are fasting, you have dates & water in front of you, somebody asked you to eat & drink it. Some may say , “I can’t mess up my siyam ? fasting! ” while another may say “ I don’t eat or drink until my Master ( Allah) order me to do so ! ( time for breaking fast comes ) ” – see the difference ?
(v) Continuity ( steadfastness/istiqamah), firm. The Mumin will continue, to be steadfast & firm in her ibaadah. Fasting – its not only in Ramadan. There are many other sunnah days to fast : six days in Shawwal, first 10 days in Zulhijjah, every Monday & Thursday, 3 days in middle of Islamic months, more fasting in the month of Muharram, etc. Quran – has it disappear ?! Quraan only in Ramadan ? One should never abandon Quran after Ramadan ends. Must have daily sitting with the Quraan. Quraan makes us steadfast, inshaAllah. Suggestion: 1 hour a day with the Quraan – maybe to learn to read correctly, read meaning, read the tafseer, have a memorization programme. After a while, you can increase this 1 hour to more. When Allah opens the door of His Rahmah for you, don’t let it go. Story : Urwah bin Zubayr , read one quarter (1/4) of the quraan daily, then reflects/looking into it. One day, his leg had to be cut off, so he requested that they cut it while he is praying i.e in complete kushoo. He never left this ¼ recitation of Quraan, except for the night his leg was cut off – he fainted after the prayer. He truly lived the Quraan. He said : Alhamdullillah, Allah gave me 2 legs, He took only 1 back, Allah gave me 4 children, He took back only 1 – this is a person who understood what he recited daily from the Quraan , MashaAllah.
(vi) Qiyam – continue even after Ramadan. How can a person who has tasted the sweetness of Qiyam at night, the sweetness of begging to Allah in your sujood, then go back to zero?! Story: Hassan ibn Soleh sold a slave girl to a family. She called up the family in the middle of the night by saying : Salaah ! Salaah! ( Pray! Pray!) The people ( new master) asked: is it fajr already? The slave girl said : You only pray the fard? This slave girl went back to Hassan ibn Solah and told him “you sold me to a family that only prays the fard , take me back !” Rasulullah and the Salaf never leave the qiyammulayl. One day, Aaly r.a. led the salaah and when the salaah finished, he turned around to face the congregation, he had a very distressed look. He said : he used to spend time with the Companions of Rasulullah and now he sees none of them ( he was talking to the tabiin- the generation that met the Companions of Rasulullah ) Aaly r.a. said, the Companions of Rasulullah ‘rest’ between their feet & forehead ! ( Here he meant, they prayed a lot; prayer is like resting for them as they feel at peace during prayer ). Note : Going to sleep early. Sleeping straight after ‘Ishaa’ is the advice of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and a good and healthy habit. One of the ahaadeeth that describe its virtues was narrated by Abu Barzah al-Aslami (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to prefer to delay ‘Ishaa’, and he did not like to sleep before it or talk after it. (Reported by al-Bukhaari ). Thus, it is advised that we continue to do qiyam even after Ramadan, inshaAllah.
(vii) Zikr : continue to make zikr even after Ramadan
(viii) Masjid : we know that the hadith says a woman’s salaah is better at home : ProphetSAWS (Peace & Blessings of Allah beupon Him) said:
"Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque, eventhough their houses are better for them." (Reported by Abu Dawud). So for the ladies to rekindle the sweetness of Qiyam in Ramadan, once in a while she can go to the masjid to pray – re live the experience of the sweetness of hearing the adhan live & loud, making lots duàa between the adhan & iqamaah, standing shoulder to shoulder & feet to feet with other sisters in eeman, etc
(ix) Nawafi prayers : do it à its like a ‘protective ground’ for you.
(x) Isti’anah : seeking Allah’s help. Isti’anah towards Allah means RELIANCE upon Allah to give you the good & be SURE he will give it to you what you are asking for = reliance + trust + sure + confidence (yaqeen)! When you ask Allah then have doubt - its not isti’anah. Not ibaadah. Isti’anah has got a lot to do with tawakkul. When is the significance of isti’anah in ibaadah? This is the way to achieve happiness in this world.
Basically, just continue to do those righteous deed that you did in the blessed moth of Ramadan. After Ramadan, you should be in a state where, when satan comes to whisper we can say “No, I have protected my heart, Allah saved me in Ramadan, I will not go back to it ! ” Also continue to make tawbah ( repent). Quickly repent when you commit a sin.
Ya Allah, I am weak, You are Most Powerful, Ya Allah, help me to live in the ways that is pleasing to you, accept my Ramadan Ya Allah.
Beware of going back to right back before Ramadan. Life DO NOT end after Ramadan. Continue to worship the Rabb of Ramadan ALL YEAR ROUND. He is the Rabb you cried to in Ramadan and after Ramadan ! Allahmustaan.
Some struggle to achieve Ramadan goals; some fell in the course of striving, then got up & push himself. All of us are blessed in Ramadan. Those not blessed are those who commit sins in Ramadan.
In Ramadan, if we did as was mentioned in previous lectures, we smell the ‘scent’ of the life of the righteous predecessor from afar. Shaikh Hussain Yaakob said : Ramadan left and the masjids are empty again – back to its old state except for those who truly love the masjid.
Why, after Ramadan people go back to the life before Ramadan à go backwards ? They tasted the sweetness of qiyam ( taraweeh daily & more sunnah prayers), sweetness of Quraan ( lots recitation) – such people are not true worshippers; they are just followers – follow others doing the ibaadah.
When Rasulullah died, Abu Bakar said, “ And now, to he who worships Muhammad , he should know that Muhammad is dead. But he who worships Allah ( the Lord of Muhammad sallahualayhiwassallam) He is Ever Living and He never dies. Allah says (in Soorah Al Imran 3 : 144) : Muhammad (SAW) is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? And he who turns back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allâh, and Allâh will give reward to those who are grateful” Ibn Abbas said : “By Allah, it was as if people have never heard this Quranic verse till Abu Bakar recited it as a reminder. So people started saying it till there was no man who did not recite it ”.
Therefore from the above scenario, we conclude that, whoever worships Ramadan, truly Ramadan has ended. Whoever worship Allah, truly Allah is the Greatest! It is the same Rabb ( Lord) that one worships on Ramadan and outside Ramadan. This is the life of the righteous. Our Deen is the Deen of istiqamah ( steadfastness) – we recite Al Faatihah in our salaah, we ask for straight path – mustaqeem. Thus,it is unbecoming for us to be fickle ! We should come out of Ramadan with our hearts attached to ibaadah. Analogy : if you love your children, you want to spend more time with them, and they will get more attached to you.
These ibaadah in Ramadan should be like air & water is to you. Do not cling to the earth; the worldly matters. Allah raised your rank in Ramadan, WHY do you want to remain LOW and cling to the earth/world ??? In Soorah An Nahl 16:92, Allah says : “And be not like her who undo the thread which she has spun after it has become strong, by taking your oaths a means of deception among yourselves, lest a nation may be more numerous than another nation. Allâh only tests you by this [i.e who obeys Allâh and fulfills Allâh's Covenant and who disobeys Allâh and breaks Allâh's Covenant]. And on the Day of Resurrection, He will certainly make clear to you that wherein you used to differ ”.
So, you don’t be like the one who untwisted her spun thread i.e after she made it into garments ( that she had woven), she undo the gament to be like thread again ! WHY do you want to do this??? Why undo what you did/achieved in Ramadan ? It is a gift from Allah. You cried, you made duàa, you recite lots of Quraan, you did lots of nawafil salaah…why??? Why undo…Is it just to feel good for the moment ? What was it all about? A journey? Just a ‘trip’ ?! – like a getaway, then go back to the normal life ?!
For sure all of you are blessed in Ramadan ( to varying degree) – the fasting, the qiyam, the zikr, the good akhlak, being with those righteous ones, the Quraan recitation – those are BIG NIMAH from Allah. When we get blessing, we are obliged to do something with those blessings. Whatever good you feel in Ramadan , we want to protect it; whatever not good – put it aside. We don’t know who amongst us are accepted in Ramadan.
Imam Aaly r.a. said : we wish we know who are the blessed ( accepted) ones in Ramadan – we can go congratulate, and those who are not accepted, we give condolences ! Note that he used the word ‘condolences’ – we use this word upon the demise of someone.
Whatever good we experienced in Ramadan, there is a follow through to it, The salaf ( righteous predecessors) used to make duàa for 6 months following/after Ramadan – “O Allah, accept our deeds in last Ramadan ( they cry & beg Allah to accept their deeds) then 6 months before Ramadan they make duàa that Allah permit them to experience the next Ramadan. ”
Rights & requirements are like seat belts in the car à if we ‘slip’ ( i.e. our eeman decrease), we don’t crash & destroy ourself !
Gratefulness/gratitude :
If we don’t show gratefulness, Allah may punish a person with the nimah/blessings. E.g in Soorah Al Khaf – the person with the garden – Allah punished him with the garden itself ( the garden was a nimah Allah gave him). When Firawn boasted about rivers flowing underneath him Allah made the water destroy him – he was drowned by what he boasted.
How do we thank Allah for the blessings/nimah? Gratitude has 3 pillars :
(i) Feel in the heart – feel very thankful…Allah says in Soorah Al Maidah 5: 7 “And remember Allâh's Favour upon you and His Covenant with which He bound you when you said: "We hear and we obey." And fear Allâh. Verily, Allâh is All Knower of the secrets of (your) breasts” : …remember the nimah. In your heart, have a deep feeling of gratitude : “ O Allah, only with Your blessings I was able to fast, only with Your blessings I could do Qiyam, itikaaf, recite the whole Quraan,..only by Your Mercy Ya Allah…Only You who enabled me to do all those…Ya Allah, You opened this door for me then that door for me then You gave me …and You gave me…” Thus, you reflect , you recall the moments you experienced in Ramadan – moments you get most khushoo in salaah, moments you feel so humbled, moments you feel so close to Allah, moments you struggle hard to fight the desire to sleep…all these are from Allah. Beg from Allah, “ O Allah, preserve for me these nimah; increase these nimah for me, Ameen Allahumma Ameen ”.
(ii) Inkisaar : = humblenessà ‘break’ yourself up before Allah = complete degree of humilty & humbleness. We should have tasted the Adheem of Allah ( the Greatness of Allah). The person whose deeds are accepted by Allah, he feels happy Allah gave me this , Allah gave me that…he reflect the nimah Allah gave. Recognise that ALL the good that we received , its COMPLETELY from Allah. Maybe you set 3 alarm clocks to wake you up but only by the permission of Allah, you will wake up and do the qiyam. Don’t think highly of yourself that you are able to wake up every night for qiyam. You must feel humble as it is all from Allah. The time you wasted ; the chit chat , the text messages – the negative things, that’s from us, our weakness. The ibadaah you did, its all from Allah. Ya Allah , you are the Al Adheem; you gave me all the goodness, its all form You Ya Allah…when you truly feel EVERYTHING is from Allah, then this is the feeling of gratitude. In Soorah Al Anam 6: 162 “Say (O Muhammad ): "Verily, my Salât (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists).”: Feel humble & humbled – feel Allah’s greatness, Allah’s complete power ( Soorah Al Kahf 18: 39– Laquwwata illa billlah = There is no power but with Allâh ! ) In every deed, see two things : (a) the good in it is from Allah (b) any shortcomings are from us.
(iii) Al Muhasabah : = holding yourself to account. Ramadan is our measuring stick e.g. is my heart like it was in Ramadan? Is my salaah like it was in Ramadan ? Is my protecting my tongue like it was in Ramadan? Is my ‘guarded/good’ character like it was in Ramadan? IMAGINE, Allah says : My slave, after all I let you taste the sweetness of Ramadan, I gave you light, I removed you from the shackle…took you out of the darkness ( i.e woke you up to pray at night)…how can you turn away from it ? If you were ignorant , maybe you are excused, but you were given the nimah !
How can a person who held the mushaf ( Quraan), recite it, understood its meaning, live with it in Ramadan, then leave it ( after Ramadan) ??? How can a person who took time to stand at night alone for qiyam, tasted the sweetness of standing at night talking to Allah, and then abandon it…let it all go away…After Ramadan, you spend your nights laughing, sleeping, watching TV ??? Life in Ramadan & after Ramadan should not be any different – that is a sample of how life should be !
(iv) Ikhlas : our hearts has to maintain certain purity = sincerity. If a person lived Ramadan with ikhlas, they can’t go backward. For example, if you are fasting, you have dates & water in front of you, somebody asked you to eat & drink it. Some may say , “I can’t mess up my siyam ? fasting! ” while another may say “ I don’t eat or drink until my Master ( Allah) order me to do so ! ( time for breaking fast comes ) ” – see the difference ?
(v) Continuity ( steadfastness/istiqamah), firm. The Mumin will continue, to be steadfast & firm in her ibaadah. Fasting – its not only in Ramadan. There are many other sunnah days to fast : six days in Shawwal, first 10 days in Zulhijjah, every Monday & Thursday, 3 days in middle of Islamic months, more fasting in the month of Muharram, etc. Quran – has it disappear ?! Quraan only in Ramadan ? One should never abandon Quran after Ramadan ends. Must have daily sitting with the Quraan. Quraan makes us steadfast, inshaAllah. Suggestion: 1 hour a day with the Quraan – maybe to learn to read correctly, read meaning, read the tafseer, have a memorization programme. After a while, you can increase this 1 hour to more. When Allah opens the door of His Rahmah for you, don’t let it go. Story : Urwah bin Zubayr , read one quarter (1/4) of the quraan daily, then reflects/looking into it. One day, his leg had to be cut off, so he requested that they cut it while he is praying i.e in complete kushoo. He never left this ¼ recitation of Quraan, except for the night his leg was cut off – he fainted after the prayer. He truly lived the Quraan. He said : Alhamdullillah, Allah gave me 2 legs, He took only 1 back, Allah gave me 4 children, He took back only 1 – this is a person who understood what he recited daily from the Quraan , MashaAllah.
(vi) Qiyam – continue even after Ramadan. How can a person who has tasted the sweetness of Qiyam at night, the sweetness of begging to Allah in your sujood, then go back to zero?! Story: Hassan ibn Soleh sold a slave girl to a family. She called up the family in the middle of the night by saying : Salaah ! Salaah! ( Pray! Pray!) The people ( new master) asked: is it fajr already? The slave girl said : You only pray the fard? This slave girl went back to Hassan ibn Solah and told him “you sold me to a family that only prays the fard , take me back !” Rasulullah and the Salaf never leave the qiyammulayl. One day, Aaly r.a. led the salaah and when the salaah finished, he turned around to face the congregation, he had a very distressed look. He said : he used to spend time with the Companions of Rasulullah and now he sees none of them ( he was talking to the tabiin- the generation that met the Companions of Rasulullah ) Aaly r.a. said, the Companions of Rasulullah ‘rest’ between their feet & forehead ! ( Here he meant, they prayed a lot; prayer is like resting for them as they feel at peace during prayer ). Note : Going to sleep early. Sleeping straight after ‘Ishaa’ is the advice of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and a good and healthy habit. One of the ahaadeeth that describe its virtues was narrated by Abu Barzah al-Aslami (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to prefer to delay ‘Ishaa’, and he did not like to sleep before it or talk after it. (Reported by al-Bukhaari ). Thus, it is advised that we continue to do qiyam even after Ramadan, inshaAllah.
(vii) Zikr : continue to make zikr even after Ramadan
(viii) Masjid : we know that the hadith says a woman’s salaah is better at home : ProphetSAWS (Peace & Blessings of Allah beupon Him) said:
"Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque, eventhough their houses are better for them." (Reported by Abu Dawud). So for the ladies to rekindle the sweetness of Qiyam in Ramadan, once in a while she can go to the masjid to pray – re live the experience of the sweetness of hearing the adhan live & loud, making lots duàa between the adhan & iqamaah, standing shoulder to shoulder & feet to feet with other sisters in eeman, etc
(ix) Nawafi prayers : do it à its like a ‘protective ground’ for you.
(x) Isti’anah : seeking Allah’s help. Isti’anah towards Allah means RELIANCE upon Allah to give you the good & be SURE he will give it to you what you are asking for = reliance + trust + sure + confidence (yaqeen)! When you ask Allah then have doubt - its not isti’anah. Not ibaadah. Isti’anah has got a lot to do with tawakkul. When is the significance of isti’anah in ibaadah? This is the way to achieve happiness in this world.
Basically, just continue to do those righteous deed that you did in the blessed moth of Ramadan. After Ramadan, you should be in a state where, when satan comes to whisper we can say “No, I have protected my heart, Allah saved me in Ramadan, I will not go back to it ! ” Also continue to make tawbah ( repent). Quickly repent when you commit a sin.
Ya Allah, I am weak, You are Most Powerful, Ya Allah, help me to live in the ways that is pleasing to you, accept my Ramadan Ya Allah.
Beware of going back to right back before Ramadan. Life DO NOT end after Ramadan. Continue to worship the Rabb of Ramadan ALL YEAR ROUND. He is the Rabb you cried to in Ramadan and after Ramadan ! Allahmustaan.
