Purifying Your Heart in Ramadan

Purifying Your Heart in Ramadan

Imam Khalid Latif | Jummah Reflection

Opening

"(I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan)"

"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

"All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds."

"And there is no power nor strength except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great."

"And may the peace and blessings be upon the noblest of the prophets and messengers, and upon his family and all of his companions."

"And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner."

"And we bear witness that our master Muhammad is His servant and messenger."

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful, all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, the Master of the Day of Judgment.

Opening Praise

I bear witness and testimony to the oneness of Allah, to His magnificence, His omnipotence, His might, His glory, to His being the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the Giver of life, the Guider of hearts, the Master of the Day of Judgment.

And I bear witness to the fact that Muhammad ibn Abdullah ﷺ is a servant and final messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and upon all those who choose to tread on his path until the last day.

Main Khutbah Body

Allah Chooses the Best Heart

It is said that when Allah Azawajal looks to see who would be His last messenger to all of mankind, He looks into the hearts of His creation.

And we find within the prophetic tradition and narration that says:

"Indeed, Allah Azawajal, He looked into the hearts of His servants."

"And He finds that the best of hearts is the heart of Muhammad."

"He chooses him for Himself, that He is known as Al-Mustafa, the Chosen One."

Reference: General meaning from various hadith on the Prophet's selection

And He endows him with the responsibility of being the last messenger for all of mankind.

Preparing for Ramadan

And for us to understand is we are just mere days away from the blessed month of Ramadan. May Allah allow for us to reach it and benefit from it. But we have just moments where InshaAllah ta'ala Allah will grant us the tawfiq to be able to be present in that month of reflection, that month of mercy, that month of compassion, that month of blessing. May Allah make us from amongst those who gain from it.

When Allah looks and sets criteria for who will be endowed with the responsibility of being His last messenger to this world, He starts not based off of any external metrics or measurements. It's not based off of class or culture or country of origin, the shade of skin color or texture of hair, languages spoken, accents, present or absent.

And Allah wants to pick who will be given that responsibility. He looks to see who has the best heart. And for us just days out from this month, you don't want to start anywhere else other than where our Creator started.

Starting with the Heart

You begin by not looking external but looking internal. The month is not meant to be a month that just becomes mechanical, a ritual that's meant to be in ends without it serving a purposeful means to the acquisition of something. And the difficulty when we hear things over and over and over is that the novelty of it starts to lose its impact upon us.

So where you and I might become exposed to ideas and concepts for the first time, where from amongst us there are individuals who will be fasting for the very first time in their life. May Allah make it easy for all of you. There are those who have not experienced a Ramadan ever in their life.

And so every single word is held on to a little bit differently. And for many of us where we have the admonition and the advice to be those who renew our intentions, to be people who revisit the purpose of why we do what

we do, but in a world at times that is devoid of meaning and purpose, not because it's not there, but because we're not looking at it through hearts, we're just seeing it through the eyes that are on our faces.

We don't aspire to find depth or purpose, but we are people who have become just people of the physical, feeding our bodies, inundating ourselves with drink to make decisions purely for the acquisition of that which is materialistic, wealth and affluence that gives us nothing other than more agitation.

And our gaze, let alone being lower, just elevates itself to places it should never be and all we seek to do is satiate a sexual appetite that cannot ever be fulfilled because we feed it with what is not really substantive.

Beyond the Mechanical

Ramadan is supposed to be about something different. And you might have heard verses over and over and over that talk to you about fasting being something that was given to you and I as a means that perhaps we might attain this thing called taqwa.

You might have heard hadith upon hadith, narration upon narration that talks about the benefits of this practice, the importance of it. But you gotta get to a place where you break away from the clutter and try to hear it as if you never heard it before. Be in a place where your openness, your conviction is so rooted in sincerity that you're willing to take those words the way that you might cling onto them as somebody who actually believes that their message is true.

The Two Joys of Fasting

You wanna revisit words from that messenger who had that amazing heart that he was denoted as al-Mustafa and he says to us:

"For the one who is fasting, there are two farhas, two joys. There is a joy when they break their fast and there is a joy when they meet their Lord."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 1904, Sahih Muslim 1151

And so starting with the former as opposed to the latter, the obvious rejoicement for the one who breaks their fast is that you get to eat again. And that's not about validating or justifying an uncontrollable animalistic tendency to just binge eat from the time the sun set until the time the sun rises again. If you are in a space where you are not in control of the appetite, where you're not strategically thinking about what you put into your body as a means to fuel you with real energy so you have spiritual growth, think about it now.

Drawing Closer to God

But more so the latter, where he says that joy comes for the fasting person when they meet their Lord. Your fast has to be about bringing you closer to God. And you think about, well, how is that possible? And how do I gain

that? You can't gain something if you don't believe it's possible.

And you can't believe something is possible if you don't have it in your mind ever. And if you're in a place where the thoughts are fleeting or they're just mechanical or your mind right now is thinking about someplace else you need to be, fight the thoughts. Iblis is looking for whatever way possible to take control in these last moments between this day and the first day of that blessed month to detract you and put you steps behind.

Recognizing Internal Struggles

The challenge is going to come where you can mindfully say that there are elements at play that are not just about things that are tangible that you can hold but things that exist that seek to deter you from being in a space of real gain beyond just this world but in terms of the world that exists beyond this one.

So if you already think that somehow you are not privy to the waswasa of Shaitan, may Allah protect us from the whispers of Satan, that you don't have a nafs, a lower self, a base desire, an ego that seeks to make you and render you lazy just like it wants to be because the ego does not want you to be forgiving, it does not want you to be compassionate, it does not want you to be merciful, it does not want you to have confidence, it does not want you to be positive, it wants you to sit back and point the flaw out and everything else around you rear a deep arrogance that says everything else has a problem as opposed to embracing with gratitude and confidence the God-given talents you've been endowed with to allow for yourself to live your Islam in such a way where you don't have to answer or seek the validation of any part of creation because you know you believe in a God that believes in you.

Fasting for God's Sake

And you fast for that God's sake, you go to a place where you start to think deeply about how my living, my breathing, my sustaining of myself, my movement forward, my waking, my sleeping, my eating, my drinking, everything just goes back to the divine and I start to figure for myself as to how I will captivate my internal being in this day as important as it is so that I meet that first day of Ramadan better than my best.

What Kind of Heart Do You Want?

What do you want to achieve my sisters and brothers? Do you want to have the heart that when you walk down the street and you see somebody in need your mind tells you that that's somebody who's just seeking money for drugs and alcohol? Do you want to have the heart that beats within a body that hesitates in extending its hand to somebody else because that hand does not match the other hand in skin color?

Do you want to have the heart that is so drawn and entangled in worldly acquisition that it leaves behind things that are beneficial and good? That it justifies not spending time with your loved ones and children? You want that heart? That it somehow validates breaking promises and telling lies, speaking ill of people and gossiping and backbiting?

Do you want to have the heart that is afraid to live with audacity and boldness, to be courageous, to be beautiful and not in a normative understanding that is rooted in ugliness, that materialistic, capitalistic greed imposes upon us that says here's the standard of beauty rooted in patriarchy and supremacy but a beauty that's real, husan man, inward and outward that says every day that I am in this world and every tomorrow that I walk upon this earth I'm going to live every day as best as I can in pursuit of a relationship with a creator that only wants the best from me.

Cutting Out Distractions

What fasting is teaching us amongst its many lessons is how to cut out the distractions, to get rid of the unnecessary, to say and stand in the face of whatever it is that creates within us that anxiety and agitation I don't really need it as much as I believe that I do. That you start with a space that says that you know what, I don't have to eat as much as I do, I don't have to drink as much as I do, my consumption doesn't have to be at the level that I think it has to be at.

And so too I start to build and I say that I don't have to litter my language with vulgar atrocious words. I don't have to be in a place where I put in my presence company and companions that are not hearts that are tender and gentle but those that call me to atrocity and ugliness. I can cut off relationships, I can cut off things that are bringing me down because I want to feel real contentment, real rida and I want to utilize the opportunity of Ramadan to gain an increase in those parameters.

Self-Reflection Questions

So on this blessed day of Jummah, just sit down and think, who am I today and how is the person that I am today no longer going to be afraid of the person I can be tomorrow. How will I sit and be honest and acknowledging not just where I have non-strengths but also my own strengths that I will pay attention to everything that I have been endowed with to be able to understand that the world in and of itself is filled with a lot of distractions.

But I have an aspiration to feel real bounty and feel real goodness and the most important part within me, that's my heart. And so my fast is not going to be about an empty stomach but it's going to be about a full heart and it's going to be in a place where I allow for myself to understand and traverse all of the spiritual stations that an action like fasting can only do, that a month like Ramadan can only bring.

Planning Your Days

Think about how you will augment your days. How will you be in a place where it's not going to be sleep that's going to be the catalyst for your inability to gain. And when you make statements, make them in positive frames. So when you are talking to yourself right now, understand that it takes very little to be able to justify and validate inaction.

The Hadith of Ramadan's Blessings

Our Prophet ﷺ, he says in this blessed month:

"The gates of Jannah are opened, they're waiting for you and I to walk through them. The gates of Jahannam, they're closed. May Allah protect us from those places. The shayateen, they're chained."

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1899, Sahih Muslim 1079)

It's just me taking on me. I want to be able to just stand up to myself with an acknowledgement that it was given to me as a blessing for me to elevate and move forward in the best of ways.

Ramadan is For Everyone

You want to have practical places to start. I would say first and foremost, understand that the blessing of the month of Ramadan across the board categorically is not simply attached to the action of fasting.

And so that there are many of us who are in this space because of medical conditions, both emotional and physical illnesses that we might have. Pregnancy, nursing. We are elderly. It's just not something we are able to do for whatever reason. The month of Ramadan is still there for you.

And you understand if you have people like that in your life, whether you are conscious of it or not, don't allow for this experience to be one that is exclusive, but create opportunities for your sisters and brothers to be able to engage in whatever ways that they can.

Building Relationship with the Quran

You want to utilize a part of the month to be able to build the relationship with the Quran. Many of us know, in this room, not in a way to throw our back in the wall and defend ourselves because it's coming not from that place, it's coming from a place of love. We just don't read that book and draw meaning from it and lessons from it. It can be scary, it can be intimidating.

A lot of it is just habitual. That our relationship with religion becomes about identity and not necessarily identity rooted in conviction. You can have pillars of practice and engage in ritual. You can even have tangential relationships with belief and conviction.

But the distinction between the individual who has Islam and Iman, practice and faith, and the one who has Ihsan, inward and outward recognition of beauty, the acquisition and the harnessing of it, understands that you can rotely memorize theology, you can pray the way somebody else prays. Your heart, man, is your heart.

True Transformation

What you're going to get on it is going to be based off of what you put into it. So that ability to have depth is going to come from recognizing that there's no book that memorizing it alone is going to be what's transformative of what's inside. But the barriers that cast themselves at walls, that have to be torn down to allow for us to understand and acknowledge the existence of an Akhira in everything that we do.

And even beyond that, more importantly, the creator of that Akhira. May Allah make us all people of Jannah. You got to want it, purposefully and consciously. And you have to set for yourself no standard other than that.

So you read that Quran and then you take its message and its guidance and its lessons and you seek to apply it to you because you're only in competition with you. And you start to move forward and you understand growth is gradual.

Using Your Weekends Wisely

Plan if you can't, during the course of your week, how you will lose your weekends. That if the days are long

and it's hard to be in a space where you can pray into the late parts of the nights on weeknights then don't clog up your weekends with gatherings that are purely based on the acquisition of socializing. But be the distraction that creates that for people.

Because as much as I love each of you and would love to spend time with you, the nights of Ramadan were not about you and I talking to each other. But it's about me talking to my Creator and letting myself understand that that's a place that I'm entitled to stand in.

So how are you going to use those weekends if the weekdays are heavy and hard?

Don't Miss Suhoor

Don't miss the Suhoor meal before Fajr. There is barakah and blessing in it. And that doesn't mean that you have a Suhoor meal after you wake up. Or somebody said to me, if I didn't look outside and see the sun up, can I just eat? And I said, no, it doesn't work like that.

Train your body to wake up. Even if it's a sip of water, our teacher ﷺ says to drink it. Pick a buddy that you're seated with and say, hey man, you need to wake me up so I don't miss that meal.

You were blessed with a companion, a spouse in your life, then lean on them. There's no shame in it. If you haven't ever prayed with somebody like that before, let it be the first time you do it. But make a point to yourself and commit that you will not let yourself miss that Suhoor meal.

Even on a physical level, you don't want to turn a 17-hour fast into a 24-hour fast. Then you start building habits and they're going to be more problematic.

Mindful Eating at Iftar

Then where you can, in your iftar, be mindful and smart about what you're consuming after your stomach has not eaten anything all day. Put pure substances into your body. Drink a lot of water and stay hydrated.

Make sure you're sleeping at times that make sense. You fill your body with greasy, oily food, then there's going to be greasy, oily food that's fueling you. But you put substances that are natural, substances that are pure, and you learn to control your stomach.

Simply not eating because you want to eat whatever you feel like eating, but eat because you know that there's a purpose to it and it's going to give you something through it.

Spend Time with Good People

And then lastly, spend time with good people in Ramadan. People who you know are going to bring your hearts up and allow for us to spend time with you.

I want you to think about this through the prism of a paradigm shift. Because a lot of who we are is shaped by the people that's around us. And many of us, may Allah protect us from it, have a very subtle arrogance, especially around Ramadan times where we say, look at all the people who are coming in Ramadan and they don't come in the rest of the year.

It's Ramadan, man, that's why they're coming. There's barakah in it. But you got to understand that the presence of certain individuals creates opportunity for our increase in gain.

And you might think that you're better because you stayed the entire year and they only came at a certain point in time. I'm saying shift the paradigm and understand that they coming at a certain time is likely what's making you better at that time than you want to really allow for yourself to understand. And when they're gone in the rest of the year, still doing everything that they know that they're doing, we'll retreat back to where we are because we didn't do what we could to ensure that they would stay with people like us.

So smile a little bit differently at the person who came that first time and the one that wasn't there the rest of the year. Because you might not realize how their presence is increasing your growth. Let somebody stand in the role that they might not ever think they could stand in before.

Good Character and Conduct

Just revisit every teaching that is not about anything other than good conduct, ethics, and morals. So you come to eat with us here, which you should, to break your fast. Let the elders eat first.

Give your seats up to the women who are expecting. You know that there's going to be children running around, then be ready to engage them in moments that allow for them to feel happy and good. People that you're going to see at different events, already be ready to give them just small gifts and allow for them to feel positivity from you.

Visit the sick. Go to the hospitals. Go to the pantries and the soup kitchens.

Wake up your physical body by allowing for your spiritual heart to be as alive as possible through the engagement of all of these things.

Writing Down Your Goals

You go home on this blessed day of Jummah, open up a notebook, and just write down three things you want to leave Ramadan with in terms of your personal growth, your spiritual growth, your emotional growth, your physical growth. Write down the names of three people that you know can be your partners, your friends, your buddies in the acquisition of those goals.

Write down a couple of places that you can go to and frequent that you know are just going to be good for your heart. Nothing else, just good for your heart. And then if you have the capacity, do the same, but in the opposite frame.

The places you know you shouldn't be frequenting, write them down so your eyes bear witness. The people that you know are not going to bring you to good things, let yourself see it so that your entire being recognizes it. And the things that you want to let go of, the things that are going to pull you back, be honest with yourself.

And put pen to paper and let yourself see it. And say, I'm committing right here and right now to a self-recognition that says that this is not going to be who I will be when I leave from this month. It's just for you, your eyes, your being, and your heart to see. And just try it. That's all.

You see that there's a distinction in how the month is something that gives you gain.

Your Personal Ramadan

It's your Ramadan, not anybody else's. You can't practice mine for me as much as I can't practice yours for you. My prayer is that each one of us gains through this blessed month immensely to our full capacity and potential.

What we get out of it will be based off of what we put into it. And if you haven't started thinking about that yet, now is definitely the time to do so, so that we need it as best as we can.

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Closing and Announcements

I say this and ask forgiveness of Allah for me and you and the Muslims. So ask forgiveness. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

[Announcements about community programs, Ramadan iftars, domestic violence shelter fundraising, religious holiday policy, Black Muslim Symposium, convert brunch, Islamic Center picnic, and shahadah ceremony]

Dua Requests

We have a few dua requests to make:

• Many people in the community have asked that we make specific dua for the people of Sri Lanka, where atrocious acts of violence are taking place. Please keep them in your continued prayers.

• Her younger cousin, Morteza, passed away this week in Pakistan at the age of 20

• An anonymous sister diagnosed with severe mental health condition

• A brother's brother diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and brain cancer, and father who had kidney removed due to cancer

• Sister Hara Mohamed's husband Mohamed Rohan's baby nephew who is very ill

• Her mother, Rukhsana Mohamed, who had minor surgery

• Brother Osama Sorhan's brother-in-law's brother, Abdullah, who passed away from liver tumor in Egypt

• Sister Saira Rafi who is very ill and bedridden in Bangladesh

• Surya Bhatti's grandfather who passed away in Ethiopia

• Saad Al-Ansari's father who passed away in Iraq

• Sister Rumeysa Wadood's mother, Shagufta Nazneen, who passed away last week

Please make dua that Allah grants them all the healing that they seek. For those who have passed, that He grants them ease and entrance into Jannah without any judgment.

Main Dua

"O Most Merciful of those who show mercy"

"O Allah, You are Forgiving, Generous, You love to forgive, so forgive us."

(Sunan Ibn Majah 3850, authenticated)

"O Turner of the hearts, make our hearts firm upon Your religion."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2140)

"O Allah, make us among the sincere ones, O Allah, make us among the sincere ones, O Allah, make us among the sincere ones."

We begin this supplication in your name, Ya Allah, and beseech you to send your choiceless salutations upon your most beloved ﷺ. We ask that you shower your infinite mercy upon this gathering, granting each and everyone who is present herein and our loved ones, only the best in this world and the best in the next.

We ask, Ya Allah, that if all of us are meant to be together only at this time, at this place, whether we are young or old, male or female, regardless of our race, our ethnicity, our social class, our country of origin, our cultural heritage, whether we are Muslim or come from a different walk of life, Ya Rabbi, if our individual hearts are meant to be in the presence of all other hearts that are gathered here only at this time, at this place, then gather us all together again in the best of places in the world beyond this one.

Increase us, Ya Allah, in all that is good. And make us from amongst those who reach your blessed month of Ramadan. Make us from amongst those who benefit from its days and its nights.

And through it, Ya Allah, give us a sound understanding of ourselves so that we might understand you better. Allow through that blessed month, Ya Allah, to make us those who connect deeply to your Quran.

Enable us to hear its words be recited as they were meant to be recited. And let that recitation penetrate the hardest and darkest parts of our insides so that we might be illuminated and move forward as a source of light in this world that is desperately in need of it. Grant us a deep understanding of its meanings. And give us a character that embodies its teachings.

Help us, Ya Allah, through that blessed month of Ramadan to overcome any of our insecurities and anxieties. Through its barakah, Ya Allah, heal our hearts. And help us in our own self-healing to then be the means of healing for those that are around us.

Through it, Ya Allah, draw hearts together that have been pushed away. That for those of us who have fights and arguments with our loved ones and family members, friendships that we have walked away from, arguments and quarrels that have deep meaning or are totally baseless, through that month, Ya Rabb, bring us healing and help us to come together again.

Help us, Ya Allah, through that month to recognize our potential to be catalysts of good and benefit in this world. And to go out and be the change that this world is in need of. Through the month, Ya Rabb, open for us door upon door of goodness.

And every opportunity that comes our way to be a means of benefit, grant us the tawfiq to seize that opportunity and not let the sun set upon us on any day without us achieving that which we have the potential to achieve. Make us, Ya Allah, a means of benefit for your creation. And allow for us to draw closer to you through every moment of it.

Ya Allah, for those who find themselves in pain and conflict in any part of this world, make things easy for them. And help us to be the means through which that ease is delivered. Forgive us when we forget. Forgive us for our mistakes. And in these days leading up to that blessed month, help us to be as ready and prepared as possible.

Protect us always from hearts that are not humble, tongues that are not wise, and eyes that have forgotten how to cry.

Forgive us for our shortcomings and guide and bless us all.

"May Allah forgive me and you, so seek forgiveness from Him. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful."

"And may Allah send blessings and peace upon the best of His creation, Muhammad, and his family and all of his companions."

"Indeed, You are the Accepter of repentance, the Merciful, and turn to us, O our Master."

"O Most Merciful of those who show mercy, and establish prayer."

End of Khutbah