Fasting on the Day of Arafah
By Bilal Philips | 2026-01-15T17:08:45.211607+00:00 | Topic: Ramadan
How to Increase Your Emaan - Dr. Bilal Philips
Opening
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Khutbat al-Hajah (Sermon of Necessity)
Indeed all praise is due to Allah and as such we should praise Him, seek His help, seek His forgiveness, and seek refuge in Allah from the evil which is within ourselves, and the evil which results from our deeds. For whomsoever Allah has guided, none can misguide, and whomsoever Allah has allowed to go astray, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship but Allah, who is alone and without partner.
And I bear witness that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is the last messenger of Allah.
Indeed the most truthful form of speech is the book of Allah. And the best source of guidance was the guidance brought by Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. And the worst of all affairs are the innovations in religion. For every innovation in religion is cursed. It is a source of misguidance and it leads ultimately to the hellfire.
Introduction: Reflecting on Ramadan
Brothers and sisters, as we reach the middle of Ramadan, we need to reflect on what has passed and what is to come. We need to renew our intentions.
As the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had told us, whoever doesn't set his intention prior to the fast has no fast. So the intentions remain the most important and the most basic element of fasting as it is for any righteous deed whose reward we seek from Allah. In this month, a month of the Quran, a month of righteous deeds, a month of controlling our appetites, our desires, controlling our thoughts and our behavior.
In this month, there still remains a question in the minds of many of us. How to increase our Iman? The most common question I receive from Muslims from all around the world. My Iman is low.
It's going down. How to increase my Iman? And it is of course a question which should be important to each and every one of us. Because for us to die in a state of low Iman is very dangerous.
That is a very bad sign for what is to come. Ideally, the best way to die is to die in a state of high Iman. When Iman is at its peak.
This is the state we want to be able to leave this world in. We should be striving to leave this world in that state. And for many of us, this issue of increasing Iman seems so complex, so difficult, so philosophical, so complicated that we can't find the means ourselves.
The Simplicity of Islam
When in fact, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
Religion is easy. It's not complicated.
Our concept of God is simple. It's not like Christianity where God has a father, he had a son, holy ghost, three gods in one. God the father is God the son. And God the Holy Spirit. Yet, God the son was praying to him and sits beside him in the heavens now. But he is the same.
This is mind-boggling. This is weird philosophy. So to figure out anything after that, if you don't know who God is, if God is so complicated to you, then how do you figure out anything after that? What do you do with the rest of your religion? So it boils down to just salvation.
You believe, you are saved. Otherwise, it's just too complicated. Whereas in Islam, Alhamdulillah, we believe in the same God of Jesus.
The same God of Moses, Abraham, of Adam. One God. Simple.
No relatives, just one God. And he is the only one that we worship. Simple.
No intermediaries. No special friends will do favors for you. No.
You have to go to him directly. That's the simplicity.
It is simple to understand. Its principles are made simple by Allah because it is the truth. The truth is simple.
The truth is self-evident. It's not complicated.
The Simple Formula for Increasing Iman
So when we go back and look at the issue of how to increase my iman, especially in these times where we have so many challenges, whether political or social, ideological, economical, whatever.
So many challenges. The solution remains the same. It doesn't change.
What it took to increase iman in the time of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلمin the time of Isa عليه السلام in the time of Musa and the Anbiya عليهم السلامis the same thing it takes to increase iman now. Our times are not special. No more special than they were in the time of the Sahaba or the time of Prophet Isa عليه السلام etc.
The formula is a very simple formula: Increase good deeds, increase iman. Decrease bad deeds, increase iman.
Simple. You want to increase iman? Do more good? Give up evil? Simple. And this is the month which is supposed to help us achieve that goal, to help strengthen that awareness and consciousness that we live in an environment where there is plenty of opportunity to do good, where there's plenty of opportunity to give up evil.
It is there. Wherever we are, that opportunity is there for us. Simple formula.
Practical Application: Planning Good Deeds
Do more good. So, how do we turn that into practical terms? Very simple. When we get up in the morning or at the time of suhoor, we think about some good we can do today.
What happens is that we just make the suhoor, we eat, we go pray, and we go to sleep, and then we go to work, etc. We don't stop to think, what good can we do today? Now, we say it's automatic, you know. There should be good somewhere, somehow.
You know, as they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Simple. If you fail to make a plan about doing some good, then the likelihood is you become so busy with all of the requirements of your job situation, you're out there, and all the things that are going on around you, you forget it.
Then comes iftar and you say, Ah, I didn't do any good today. The day is gone. A day which we can't bring back.
It's gone. We missed the chance. So, it's very simple.
And even if you missed it at suhoor, it doesn't mean it's gone all day. As long as we haven't hit iftar, we still have the chance. So, that is something we should take away from today.
On our way back home, when we get back home, think, reflect, What good can I do today? What good deed or deeds can I do today? And a good deed, of course, is not necessarily a deed which is good for us, because we
don't judge things simply by whether it's good for us or not good for us. Right? We judge things according to what is pleasing to Allah. Simple criterion.
That's what the real good is. Real good is whatever is pleasing to Allah. So, we just have to reflect on something we can do today.
Maybe even plan for the days to come. To start something that you can do regularly every day, that's wonderful. That's the best kind of good deed.
Not one every day you have to sit and think. But one which you have thought out, you put it in place, and every day you're there doing it. Good deeds.
Reading the Quran in Ramadan
Very simple. And of course, among the good deeds of Ramadan is the reading of the Quran. It's one of the good deeds.
Now, Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم didn't say to us, you need to read Quran in Ramadan. He didn't say to us, if you read the whole Quran in Ramadan, you will get this reward, that reward, a house in Jannah, etc. No, he didn't.
No hadith like that. If you heard it, you know it's false. It's fake.
No such hadith. He revised the Quran in Ramadan with Jibreel. But Allah connected the two.
The month of Ramadan in which Allah revealed the Quran. Allah linked the two together. And the essence, the foundation of our deen is the word of Allah.
Nothing more basic than that. That is the essence of Islam. What Allah said to us.
Understanding the Quran: Allah Speaking to Us
The Quran is Allah speaking to us. And we need to understand the Quran that way. It's not a storybook.
A lot of non-Muslims, when they pick up the Quran, they start reading in it. They find it's going here, there, and everywhere. This book is confusing.
As it's translated, obviously. It's confusing. It's not a real book.
Because they're used to reading the Bible, which is a bunch of stories. It's a storybook. Story after story after story.
With great details about these stories. That's what they're used to. So when they pick up the Quran, and most books, when you get it, if it's a book with some kind of a message, not a science book, but a book with some kind of a message, it's a story.
It's coming in some kind of story form. We're used to stories. From where children, what do we like? Bedtime story.
What kind of books do we like to read? Books with stories in it. We're raised on that. We're inclined to stories.
So when they pick the book up, it's not following the story pattern. It's just confusion. I'm expecting a story.
I'm looking for a story. I mean, yes, there is the story of Prophet Yusuf. It's there, one story.
But is there another chapter that we can say that whole chapter is a story? One story? Can't find it. So then what? This is the point that is lost on many, that the Quran is talking to us. It is Allah speaking to us.
He is communicating with us. And just as when you sit down and communicate, if you listen to two people talking, do they talk in stories? They sit down for half an hour and they just tell one big long story? No. They will start something, then something else comes up, and this one adds this one and that one.
That's how we speak. We don't speak in stories. But this is the Quran talking to us.
So Allah talks to us and to all of our needs, whether psychological, whether emotional, whether spiritual, whether material. Allah talks to us through the Quran. This is the word of Allah.
Misplaced Focus: Hasanat vs. Understanding
So what better foundation for our faith than Allah, God Almighty, speaking to us directly. That is the Quran. But unfortunately, for most of us we haven't grasped that.
The Quran is a book of barakah. It's a barakah book. You read it for the 10 hasanat you get for every letter.
It's not about communication. You're not thinking in those terms. You're just thinking about hasanat.
And it's a good thing to think about hasanat. It's not bad. But if thinking about hasanat causes you to miss out on the real message of the Quran, then that's very dangerous.
That's very dangerous. We have misplaced our connection with the Quran. It's become misplaced.
We're focusing on the wrong things. And that's why for most of us the Quran remains for 11 months on the top of the shelf. We keep it the highest point.
Above all the other books we put it on the top of the shelf. That's where the dust collects. At the end of the 11 months when Ramadan comes around we take it off.
The True Purpose of Reading Quran
When the Prophet ﷺ said to the Sahaba, yes. There are 10 good deeds for every letter you read. And I don't mean Alif, Laam, Meem is a letter but Alif is a letter. Laam is a letter. Meem is a letter. He was saying it to people who understood that the purpose of reading the Quran was guidance.
Guidance for those who fear Allah.
Guidance. Guidance for those who fear Allah. So what we need to do? We want to increase Iman? Let's get back to the Quran the way it was supposed to be read.
It's not important to complete the Quran in Ramadan. It's not important. What is important is to read the Quran and receive the message of guidance from Allah and to implement that guidance in our lives.
The Sahaba's Understanding of Hafidh
A great goal. So great that Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said that the one who had learned Surah Al-Baqarah, among us, among the Sahaba, 60-odd thousand, 80-odd thousand when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died, he was called Hafidh. He was called Hafidh.
Today, if you call somebody who learned Surah Al-Baqarah Hafidh, people say, Ah, audhubillah. That's sacrilege. The Hafidh is the one who has memorized the whole Quran from Fatiha to Nas.
That is Hafidh. Don't call anybody else Hafidh. That is the attitude people have today.
But that wasn't the understanding of the Sahaba. The one who had learned Surah Al-Baqarah was called Hafidh. Because Hafidh didn't mean simply memorizing.
Hafidh didn't mean memorizing. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said what?
The best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it to others.
(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 5027)
We turn that into another statement: خَيْرُكُمْ مَنْ حَفِظَ الْقُرْآنَ وَحَفَّظَهُ . The best of you are those who memorize the Quran and make other people memorize it.
These are two different things. Learning the Quran may involve memorizing also. But memorizing the Quran doesn't necessarily involve learning it.
The message of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was to learn the Quran. Memorizing was a way to help you to learn it. Not a ritual of just memorizing the text.
The Danger of Memorization Without Understanding
Where for example in Pakistan the common practice and this is nothing against Pakistanis. One of my wife is Pakistani. Children who are half Pakistanis.
So don't take this out of context. People say, ah look he talked about Pakistanis. Why? Because this is something I've experienced in Pakistani culture.
That parents will choose out of their children one. Male. They will say, listen your job is to memorize Quran.
The rest of us will go and we'll deal with the dunya. We'll do whatever it takes. Don't worry about anything.
We will take care of you. You just memorize Quran. Just you.
Why? Because they believe that if one memorizes Quran he can take so many family members along with him into Jannah. So we ensure that we are going to Jannah. We have that one given the job of just memorizing the Quran.
A couple of months ago one Pakistani family contacted me from Canada. And they asked me, what should we do? Our son who memorized the Quran dutifully. Practiced Islam.
Fasted. Prayed. Everything.
15 years old. He came home and told us, I don't believe in God. What? I don't believe in God.
This was just so shocking. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in Islam.
I'm not a Muslim. He memorized the Quran. How could he say that? Should we kick him out of the house? Because he would affect the other children.
Infect them. Pass his disease on to them. What should we do? Should we keep him in the house or kick him out?
Big trial.
A huge trial. What do you do? But the lesson. The lesson in it.
He memorized the Quran and he left Islam. Now, there may be many factors involved. That's a whole lecture and discussion in and of itself.
A khutbah all by itself. But enough to know that the memorizing of Quran did not protect him. It didn't protect him.
Because he didn't know what the Quran was actually saying. That's the reality.
How to Read the Quran Properly
So, we need in this month to get back to the Quran as it was intended to be read. To read the Quran with understanding. As Abdullah bin Mas'ud had said, We used to learn the Quran 10 verses at a time. And we did not move on to the next 10 until we learned and understood everything which was in those 10.
We tried to practice it, then we went on. That's how they learned the Quran. And I ask Allah to bring us back to the Quran.
And to read it in this month as it deserves to be read. And I ask Allah to give us the reality of that message. The message of the Quran.
A reality which should transform our lives into lives pleasing to Allah.
Second Khutbah
All praise is due to Allah and may Allah's peace and blessings be on the last Prophet and his family and companions and all those who follow his way in righteousness until the last day.
So the beginning point for increasing Iman is to read the Quran. To read the Quran as much as we can. If we can do it daily.
If we can do it weekly. However much we are able we should try our best to read it. But to read it with that consciousness.
Not to read it like parrots. To read it with that consciousness where we are seeking to understand the message that Allah is communicating to us with. If we are able to do that then the Quran will change us.
We cannot help it. Without us even deciding and thinking yes I want to change with the Quran it will change us. That is the power of the word of God.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It will change. Cause change.
But we need to read it with understanding. That is the key.
Reading with Translation and Tafsir
So though I don't say to my non-Arab brothers and sisters don't read the Arabic Quran. No. Read the Arabic Quran. But whatever you read, read along with it the translation.
Read along with it the translation. To my Arab brothers and sisters I say read the Quran with tafsir. Yes you understand the Arabic words and maybe some of them you don't.
But to understand what is being conveyed we have tafsir. We have no end of tafsirs. Tafsir Ibn Kathir is one of the best.
So this is the key that we should focus on. To read the Quran with tafsir. The English that we are reading is tafsir.
Some of you might say oh we don't have tafsir in English maybe not so easy to get. No no the English is tafsir. Know that the Quran cannot be translated.
We say translation of the Quran we call it that. But it's not a translation of the Quran. It is an explanation of the meanings of the Quran as understood by the translator.
That's what it is. The best thing is to be able to read the Quran. Understand the words of Allah.
And understand the message with the help of the tafsir etc. That is best. So that's why I say still keep reading the Arabic.
Don't lose track of the Arabic because the Quran is an Arabic Quran. And this is not because some people say well you know the language in Jannah is Arabic. This is why you should learn Arabic.
No. There is no authentic hadith which says that the language in Jannah is Arabic. Or some people say Allah is going to speak to you on the day of judgement.
He is going to talk to you in Arabic. And the angels in the tomb. They are going to speak to you in Arabic.
They are not going to ask you who is your God. They will say. No.
This is a misunderstanding. You will be communicated with. And you will understand.
At that time you will understand. Everyone will understand. In the grave everyone will know.
Those questions will be clear. We don't need any translators. In this life we need translators.
Helpers. So we make the best of it here. We try to read and understand.
Continuing Beyond Ramadan
And our practice here in Ramadan where we have found time to read the Quran. Outside of Ramadan we should keep going. Don't put it on that top of the shelf.
Keep it close at hand. Don't think that it is a form of disrespect to the Quran. To put the Quran on your desk.
Because some people will say, Ah! Quran on your desk. Put it on the top. That's where the Quran is supposed to be.
On top of everything. So the physical Quran becomes the focus. If the Quran falls, they pick it up.
Hearts Locked from the Quran
And that's why Allah said:
Will they not reflect on the meaning of the Quran? Or are their hearts locked up?
That's our state today. Our hearts are locked up. And that's why we are where we are.
We have been disconnected from the Quran. So how can we succeed? How can we progress? How can our Iman grow? When the spring, the spring waters of Iman are the Quran. And we are disconnected from it.
This is a very sad state that we are in. The Ummah. And it's not just here.
It is across the Ummah. From one end to the other.
The Problem of Child Abuse in Quran Schools
And to make matters worse, to make matters worse, we have inherited a tradition of child abuse around the Quran.
Child abuse. We call it memorization of Quran. Ta'feez schools.
But these, to a large degree, are schools of abuse. Child abuse. I know some of you might say, this is terrible.
Why is he saying that? This is reality. And we have to correct it. The stories of those who went to these Ta'feez schools, they will tell you.
The torture that they went through. And I personally have 5 kids who memorized the Quran in these schools. So I'm not just talking from hearsay.
And these were the best of the schools. Torture. I went into the school, one of the best in the Gulf.
And I saw the ustad sitting with the students around him. They're reciting the Quran, rocking and all those things. And beside him I saw an array of what looked like weapons.
Stick, hose, chain. I said, what are these things for? I asked the ustad. I said, what are these? So these are for the children, if they get out of line, etc.
I asked my son, what's going on? He said, he tells us to choose the stick we want to be hit by. You choose the chain or the hose, whatever. Whichever you think is going to be the lightest on you.
You choose it and he whacks you with it. What is this? Is this how the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) taught the Sahaba Quran? Is this how the Sahaba taught the Tabi'in Quran? Surely not.
And if the child, the student, is a little unruly, whatever, then they have them do all kinds of contortions. Really it's another form of abuse. The child is asked to stoop, put his hands under his legs and hold his ears. They call it the chicken, because you're crouched up like a chicken holding your ears.
In that position, you have to stay in that position. This is abuse. This is physical abuse.
No less. And worse. I'm just talking about some of the common ones, which many of my friends, they say, yeah, we went through it, you know.
Because Alhamdulillah, I accepted Islam, I was already an adult, so I didn't experience this at all. But so many of my friends say, yeah, yeah, we know it, yes, yes. We remember those days, you know.
Some of them tell me, you know, I ran away from the school. My parents couldn't get me back into that school. So I just ran.
The Cost of Abuse
So many of the students, they say, well, look at so-and-so, he's hafiz and so-and-so. But how many, to get that one, out of 25 or 50, the other 49 or 24, who now hate the Quran. They hate the Quran because they associate the Quran with abuse.
Physical abuse. And if you read, you go to the website apostatesfromislam.com murtaddeenminalislami.com You will find in their stories these things. We used to be tortured in the Quran schools.
They used to do this, twist our ears, break our feet, and all this kind of. This is the Quran. And I remember in one of the countries, we gathered the huffadh together who were teaching Quran and presented to them that they needed to learn how to teach without violence.
There are other ways to get the kids to be quiet, to settle, etc. Without inflicting on them violence. Unanimously they said, No, you cannot teach the Quran without the stick.
This is the book of Allah. This is the book of Allah. Which we have reached this stage, that we are forcing this thing down the throats of our children with violence.
And then we wonder why young people are rejecting, moving away from, unwilling to practice the way, and we wonder why. Of course a lot of the ummah are just silent. But I see when I mention this torture, so many of you smile.
You all know it. Most of you have experienced it. But we need to stop it.
Protecting the Quran Through Proper Teaching
We need to protect the Quran. This is the heft of the Quran. Protecting it.
Putting it in its proper place. Ensuring that it is taught in a way which is going to touch the hearts of the children. That it would change them and make them among those who will change the ummah.
That's what we need to be producing. So as a good deed, a good deed this Ramadan, those of us who are connected, most of us have some connections with Quran schools, etc. We should strive to make a change.
To stop this. To develop Quran schools where the teachers of Quran are trained educators. They know classroom management.
They know how to handle children, child psychology. They are not going to blame everything on the jinn. The child just won't listen.
So they say, he's covered in the jinn. The jinn has taken him. We need to beat it out of him.
They say, no. There is child psychology. Certain ages, children display certain behavior.
It's common all around the world. They need to know child psychology. You're dealing with children.
You are a teacher. You have a responsibility to convey the message of the Quran in the best way. So let this be a resolution for those here today to use your influence to put a stop to this travesty.
To this disrespect of the Quran. This misuse of the Quran. And change for generations to come.
Let us be the ones to step up and say, yes, we need to stop it now.
Closing Dua
And I ask Allah to forgive our sins. In this month of fasting and prayer, to increase our iman.
To give us, through inspiration, righteous deeds that we can make a part of our lives from today onwards. I ask Allah to forgive our parents. Those who have passed away, to give them gardens from paradise instead of pits from hell as a grave.
And I ask Allah to make our last words before leaving this world, la ilaha illallah.
آمین
وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ