Ismail ibn Musa Menk Ramadhan Begins 2018
By Mufti Menk | 2026-01-12T06:19:50.028561+00:00 | Topic: Quran
Ramadan Begins 2018 - Mufti Menk
Opening and Greetings
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, all praise is indeed due to Allah. Was-salatu was-salamu ala rasulillah. Blessings and salutations upon Muhammad, peace be upon him, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in, his household, his companions.
We ask Allah to bless them, to bless every single one of us, to grant us goodness, to open the doors of ease for every one of us, to fulfill all our needs, to grant us ease through all our difficulties, and to bless us during this beautiful upcoming month of Ramadan. Ameen.
The Approach of Ramadan
My brothers and sisters, we all know that Ramadan is around the corner. Am I right? Which corner? Subhanallah. We all know that Ramadan is around the corner. And we all want the forgiveness of Allah.
Every one of us would like to achieve forgiveness, closeness to Allah. We want the tranquility, the peace that Allah is promising. I promise you my brothers and sisters, we have goodness in our hearts.
Recognizing the Good Within Us
We have goodness within our systems. It's just that sometimes shaitan, the devil, the accursed makes us forget that there is a lot of goodness within us. And we become overpowered at times by the evil force.
And this is why reminders of this nature are extremely important. Reminders of this nature are extremely important because they should make us feel like, yes indeed we are good people. I have goodness in me. I'm convinced about it. And I'm convinced that every one of you there is some good within you that we need to try and enhance. We need to try and develop and grow.
The Purpose of Life
And that is what life is all about. The growth of the goodness, the diminishing of the evil, and the living of this beautiful life in a way that as we pass through its days, its months, its years, we become closer to the Almighty. So that when we pass away, we're actually very very close to Allah. The closest we ever were. So, I'm excited about this beautiful month. Are you? MashaAllah.
Food Preparations vs Spiritual Preparations
So I guess that excitement must be meaning the freezers are all full, mashaAllah. You know all the pies and everything else is ready, alhamdulillah, subhanAllah. But I don't know if that excitement translates into something deeper than just the preparation for the food.
And by the way, something strange is when we speak to those who don't know much about Islam, and we say, this is the month of Ramadan, and they say, oh yeah, Ramadan, I know Ramadan. Ramadan was the Egyptian brother living next door, you know. But no, to be honest, we would explain to them, it's the month where we don't eat.
If they were to come into our kitchens and witness what goes on, they probably think, no, no, no, no, I think you're mistaken. It's the month where you do eat actually, subhanAllah. Isn't that a reality? Wallahi, it's facts.
We burden ourselves with so much. I know in my part of the world, perhaps here too, where people ask for freezers, especially just before Ramadan, because they don't have enough space in their own freezers. So they hire it out, or for example, they buy a new one, and they need to fill it with food.
The Joy of the Fasting Person
Well, I don't want to comment about it, it's not haram, it's actually okay, it's permissible, it's part of the gift of Allah, because the hadith says:
(Bukhari 1904)
"A person who fasts has two points of happiness. One is when he opens his fast, and one when he meets with his Rabb."
And the opening of the fast refers to two things. One is on a daily basis, when you put something in your mouth at the end of the fast, the feeling is just so beautiful, so good, mashaAllah.
The Sunnah of Breaking the Fast
You know, the most unhealthy... Let me start with the other one. The healthiest thing you can put in your mouth is a date. Remember I said put in your mouth, not go out with. But I'm talking about the healthiest thing you can put in your mouth is a date, subhanAllah. It is filled with fiber, with iron, with so much more, and it's something that is a gift from Allah.
If you were to put in your mouth a date at the time of the opening of the fast, I promise you, not only would it be healthy, but you would achieve a spirituality by fulfilling the sunnah and the practice of Muhammad, peace be upon him. And it's not like a race. The adhan of Maghrib goes, and the next thing is we all try and get as much food as we can.
Qala al-Ramadhan, subhanAllah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not do that to us. Make it a Ramadan with the difference. Be civilized, be decent.
The Length of Fasts and Planning for Ramadan
I know I'm speaking here in Europe, and subhanAllah, here up north in Manchester, the fasts are even longer than London, am I right? Wow, that was a quick yes, subhanAllah. You've worked it out as well, right? SubhanAllah, I did work it out too.
And that's why at the end of Ramadan I want to come and spend the day of Eid, mashaAllah, with my family and friends, perhaps in the park, at the Valentine Park in London, perhaps inshaAllah. And I was looking at when to come. And I'm thinking perhaps I'll come in time for the 27th, because the 27th as you know, it's one of the possibilities of the night of decree.
But we need to start planning from now, what are we going to be doing, where are we going to be, where are we going to go for taraweeh, etc., etc.
The Sweetness of Iftar and the Power of Dua
The point I was raising is the fasts are a little bit longer, so the sweetness of that date as... Sorry, the date, date. The sweetness of that tamr, okay, that you're going to be putting into your mouth, subhanAllah, is such my brothers and sisters, that the dua you make at that juncture, Allah says, it is for you.
That point, what is the dua you're going to make? O Allah, grant me forgiveness. O Allah, accept this fast from me. O Allah, open my doors. O Allah, help my brothers and sisters across the globe who are suffering.
Making Dua for Others
I pause for a moment. My brothers and sisters, every day of Ramadan, undertake from now at the time of iftar, we are going to pray for those who are suffering across the globe. Is that a deal? InshaAllah. It's the minimum you could do. We are going to reach out, subhanAllah.
Look at what happened. Do you know what just happened? Didn't we just say, O Allah, help those who are suffering across the globe? I was struggling with the heat. As I said that and some must have said, I mean, this fan actually came on air-conditioned and I could feel it, subhanAllah. It's amazing. Instant, instant response to a dua. Amazing.
The Importance of Unselfish Duas
So my brothers and sisters, we must promise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that the dua, the supplication we are going to make is not going to be selfish, not just for me. It's not me, myself and I. No, it's about the others as well. We have a family, we have a community, we have an ummah, and we have humanity at large.
We need to pray. We need to pray hard. We are taught that when you pray for others, the angels pray for you in the same way. When you ask goodness for someone, that goodness is being asked for you.
Become in a habit of making a good dua rather than a dua of destruction. Because if you make a dua for destruction for someone else, the evil effect of that dua might just rebound on to you. Remember that, it's a reality. If they don't deserve it, it's going to come back to you. So try to get out of this habit of making dua for destruction and evil for others.
Oh Allah, break that person, destroy this person, damage that person. I don't even know what words people use in their dua. We rather say, Oh Allah, soften their hearts. Oh Allah, open their doors. Oh Allah, help them. Oh Allah, grant them goodness. Oh Allah, make them pure, etc. So we're making ourselves pure as well as a result.
Healthy vs Unhealthy Food Choices
So we have a long fast, mashallah, tabarakallah. And the healthiest thing you could put in your mouth is a date. The most unhealthy thing that you could put in your mouth is... I'm hearing people saying samosas, fries. I didn't say anything. I haven't even said, I just said, is. And I left the blank. So you filled it, subhanallah, with your own words.
But what are you going to be having more of? The healthy or the unhealthy? The unhealthy. Unfortunately, why? Because it's tasty. Okay, that's a very, very interesting observation.
We would love our pies, and our fries, and our savories, and what we've prepared. You know, back at home, my wife sent me a picture on WhatsApp of one of her friends. The freezer is so beautifully organized with tubs, subhanallah. Each tub says, day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4. And I'm thinking, this is supposed to be the dhikr of Allah, and the plan of what you're going to do to gain closeness to Allah. And here we have day 4. And these are... I actually have it on my phone. These are tubs. In them there is food, subhanAllah. You can actually see. It's plastic, you can see through.
Physical Health vs Spiritual Health
And I'm thinking to myself, okay, it's not haram, but look my brothers and sisters, something very important. Are we not all becoming more health conscious? I want an answer. We're becoming more health conscious. As time passes, people are talking of organic, people are talking of this, that, everything else. I told you the most unhealthy, everyone knows already. Too much oil, too much this, too much that, unhealthy, cholesterol, what have you.
Carbs. Everyone wants to limit what they're having. Because we all want a figure. We all want a body that looks good. We all want, subhanallah, to feel healthy. We all want goodness, etc, etc.
But I want to tell you something. We are so concerned about this health of ours and the way we look, that we go out to spend hours in a gym, 45 minutes to 2 hours a day. We will sweat. We will struggle. We are dedicated. We will not want to miss at all. We make sure we stay away from certain foods just because you want to look good. Just because you want to get rid of something called a love handle. That's why there's so little of love nowadays, because those handles are missing by the way. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us protection. Okay, I'm just covering myself, alhamdulillah.
The Need for Spiritual Exercise
So, my brothers and sisters, it's a reality. People make an effort. They are dedicated. You're offering them something, they tell you, I won't eat because it's not healthy. I want to tell you my brothers and sisters, if we had a shape spiritually, I wonder whether we would like to look at ourselves in the mirror. That's the type of shape we would be. The most unhealthy things we do for our spirituality, we are never at the spiritual gym.
And by the way, going up and down in salah is not the gym. It's the quality of it. It's the way you pray. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala requires a minimum. That's a fact. The farad and what is compulsory, I cannot decrease that for you. But what I do know is, the quality of it is more important than anything else because when I obey Allah, I'm doing it for my benefit, not for His.
Dedication During Ramadan
So I want to discuss this issue of dedication during the month of Ramadan. In the same way we are dedicated to ensuring that our health, inshallah, is going to be good, and we'd like to eat low Gl, that which is beneficial, the fast going to be long.
One of my friends here, seated here today, I'm sorry to... Well, it's not an embarrassment, but to mention this, he gave me a box of chocolates, okay? You know what it says? From the USA. The Ramadan bar. Have you seen it? Subhanallah. You know what it says on there? Subhanallah. The fast that lasts, subhanallah. You put it in your mouth, you eat it, it's supposed to last a long, long time. It's a Ramadan bar.
Well, I'm happy to have received that, but I want to tell you, the effort we're making to ensure that the food is correct is only a small percentage. It's supposed to be a small percentage. More than that, I need to change my life.
Spiritual Presentation Before Allah
When you would like people to look at you, to turn, for example, may Allah make it halal, people do it for haram reasons. When you want people to admire, when you want people to... When you want to feel good, actually, we should be doing it for us to feel good in reality. I'm doing it for myself. You know,
people say, well, I'm dressing very well. I'm dressing for myself. I'm talking about anyone of us. It's not like I'm dressing to show someone and so on.
But, when we would like people to look at us in a good way, and we're neat and presentable, we need to know that on the day of judgment we also need to be neat and presentable. That presentability is going to be connected to something else, to your closeness to Allah, your religiousness, your spirituality, whether or not you were determined in the same way you were determined at the gym, determined for your salah, determined to obey Allah's instruction, to abstain from prohibition, and to correct ourselves so that we can develop the good side that I said moments ago every one of us actually has.
I have a good side, you have a good side. But I need to grow it, you need to grow it as well. Develop it. And in that way we will be able to earn the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Starting Now: Opening the Quran
So my brothers and sisters, I need to start from now, opening the Quran from today. Number one, I don't know if I'm actually going to witness the beginning of Ramadan. Does anyone here have a guarantee that they're going to be alive to witness the first day of Ramadan? No. If that's the case, I need to say:
"O Allah, forgive my sins" - now.
Right now when we're seated here, I invite you to call out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, O Allah, O Allah, forgive my sins. O Allah, I've done so much of wrong, forgive my sins. O Allah, if you take me away, take me away in a condition that you are pleased with me.
The Nature of Human Beings and Repentance
We've all done wrong, myself included.
(Tirmidhi 2499)
"Every human being commits sins, makes mistakes, but the best of those who constantly make mistakes are those who constantly repent."
Why do we repent? Because we believe in Allah. Someone came to me and told me, well, if I commit a sin and I ask Allah's forgiveness, will He forgive me? I said, yes indeed, immediately He will. For as long as you're genuine, you're sincere, you've regretted your sin, you're asking Allah's forgiveness and you're promising Him you're not going to do it again.
He says, what if I fall in it again, and again, and again, and again, and again. I told him, if you keep on seeking forgiveness with all the conditions, it's a sign that you believe. Because the disbelievers, they
don't want to seek forgiveness to them, they're doing nothing wrong. For us, there is the element of regret.
The Candle of Faith
You do something wrong, you have an element within you saying, I shouldn't have done this, it was bad. What is making you think I shouldn't have done this if it's not your iman? That means there is a flicker. Let's try our best to hold that candle in a way that the wind does not blow it out by quickly engaging in tawbah so that the flame starts growing a little bit more. Subhanallah.
You know you have a candle, subhanallah. We would not like on a dark night for that candle to be extinguished by the wind. But what we would love definitely is for it to provide light in such a way that we benefit. The same applies to us.
The Path to Paradise
Brothers and sisters, no matter what you have done, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many times you have done it, there will come a time in your life if you have iman that you will have to quit that bad for the sake of Allah. And that is what will get you into Jannatul Firdaus. That is what will get you into paradise, my brothers and sisters.
Preparing for a VIP Guest
So I want to give you an example that I gave on Friday at the Jumu'ah that some of the brothers found very, very interesting. Okay. If you and I are expecting a guest at home, a VIP, a person we really wanted to meet coming home, whether they're... Okay, I said this before, I'm gonna say it again. Whether they're politicians, or superstars, or soccer players, whoever they are, religious personnel, we would be excited if it's someone we really could not believe is coming to our home.
What's the first thing we would do? Clean up. Right or wrong? Clean up. Everyone is helter-skelter, hey, quickly, get this done, get that done. You paint, you do this, you make sure we get a new carpet, depending on who the person is. But I'm talking of a VIP, subhanallah. Everyone wants to clean up, clean your mess.
And then what? Decorate the house, make it look reasonable, make sure the lights are working, make sure everything's okay. That crack on the glass on the door right in the front, make sure the paint is repaired before the guest comes. Not that the guest comes in and then you say, okay guys, have a seat here, we're just painting. Subhanallah. No one does that. Have a seat here, we want to fix that glass.
Preparing Our Appearance and Hearts
My brothers and sisters, we would also go as far as getting clothing that that person would consider
decent, reasonable, acceptable and good. So I buy myself a new suit. And as it is, you know the sisters have a new habit of every function needs a new... Don't pretend like you don't know, subhanallah. A whole new outfit. Everything is new, different. I cannot wear the same thing to two functions in my life.
That's an attitude that is void of gratitude. Remember that. You can wear the same thing throughout. No problem. Make a difference. If you can afford it, alhamdulillah, but learn to do something constructive with what you're not wearing. Don't let more than a certain number of pieces of clothing pile up in your wardrobe. Learn to give things away.
The Importance of Giving
Because what shaitan does, and I'm diverting a little bit, I'm gonna get back to my original story. I'm opening a new window here. We're taught that with the computers. So, subhanallah, your wardrobe, what shaitan does, you know you haven't worn this for so long. Shaitan says, no, leave it, don't worry. You're gonna need this. The next one, yes, you're gonna need this. The one 25 years ago when I got married, I'm gonna fit into this, don't worry. It's okay, a day will come. Subhanallah.
And then the other one, keep this. You know what to do? Even if one day Allah has blessed you to go back into whatever shape you may have been. And I've known of people who've gone into more prim and prop shape than they were the day they got married. Because obviously they started going to the gym and before they didn't. You can sew something else, you can get something else. Learn to give things away.
Allah will give you more.
(Bukhari 5352)
"O son of Adam, spend, and it shall be spent upon you."
Give and you will be given. If you don't give, you're not going to be given. Learn to give.
Practicing What We Preach
It was difficult for me a few years ago when I opened my wardrobe and I said, time to practice what you've been preaching. Subhanallah. Looked into the wardrobe and saw all these lovely thobes, mashallah. And I said, you know what? We're taking them all out. Give them in a good condition.
Many of us wait until there's a hole, there's something wrong with it, the button's missing. Then you say, give this away. Then we go to someone and say, this is brand new by the way. There's only a button missing. Ha! Only a button missing, that rendered it completely useless. According to you, you're giving it to us. When you yourself would not make use of it. The Quran talks of people who do that, and the Quran says it's not a good habit. How can you give something you yourself wouldn't take?
Ramadan: The Month of Generosity
So learn to open because Ramadan is a month of generosity. I promise you my brothers and sisters, the beginning of Ramadan, open your closets, your cupboards, your wardrobes. Not only are we cleansing ourselves, our homes, that guest that I spoke about moments ago, going back to that window. The guest I spoke about moments ago is Ramadan, more important than any human being who can visit you.
Just like you will clean your home, clean your act, clean yourself, cut out your bad habits. If you really have that one bad habit, you and I know, we have to get rid of whatever it is.
Cutting Out Toxic Influences
Whether it is a toxic person on my mobile phone that I'm in touch with, that my spirituality is being rendered useless by, cut, cut. There is something called a blocker on your phone by the way. Have you used it? No, you haven't. You don't even know where it is sometimes. Use it, it helps. I think I have about 365 blocked persons on my phone.
But that's obviously different because you get bombarded everywhere. If you don't give me your name, the next best thing, you're blocked. Because I don't know who you are, you could be someone intending to harm. Possible. I get a message sometimes, As-salamu alaykum. So I've said, wa-alaykum as-salam, I say it. And once in a while you might type it out if you get a chance.
But from 3,000 messages a day, I cannot just employ myself to wa-alaykum as-salam, wa-alaykum as- salam, wa-alaykum as-salam to everyone. So I can say it, wa-alaykum as-salam. Then they ask you a question, but you haven't told me who you are, where you're from, you know. It's very dangerous, subhanallah. Especially nowadays, it could be anyone from anywhere.
And then the one brother says, Sheikh, but you must have husn-ud-dhan. You know, you must think good of your brothers. I think very good of you, that's why I blocked you, subhanallah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us. We think good of our brothers and sisters.
Individual Circumstances and Business
My brothers and sisters, my example might be slightly different, and even yours. It depends on all of our unique situations. I mean, if you have a business where you're selling something for Ramadan, you don't want to block people who say, as-salamu alaykum. You can just say, wa-alaykum as-salam, the pies are 12 for 5 pounds, done. Subhanallah. By the way, may Allah grant your businesses success. Wow, I heard more ameens from here than anywhere else. All the business people are clustered together.
Ramadan as a Guest
So my brothers and sisters, that Ramadan, that month is a guest. It's going to come to us. Don't wait for
Ramadan to enter, and then you fix the cracked glass, and then you want to paint the home. No, before Ramadan, my glass is ready. Before Ramadan, just like my pies and my savories are day 1, day 2, day 3, and everything else.
I would love also to have a preparation of what I'm going to do, which masjid I'm going to go to, how much Quran I'm going to read. My bad habits right now, I know the one bad habit, I'm going to cut it, quit it for the sake of Allah. The one good thing that I know I have to do, I'm going to strengthen myself to do it for the sake of Allah. Why? Because it's Ramadan, subhanallah. It's Ramadan coming in.
A Simple Request for Self-Improvement
I have a request. If every Ramadan, we can add one good thing and subtract one bad thing, in 20 years, inshallah, we would really improve ourselves. My brothers and sisters, is that asking too much? I only heard one no, coming from there somewhere. Subhanallah, well done my brother. Mashallah. Mashallah, mashallah. No, it wasn't a sister, sheikh. Don't worry. But it might have been, the sisters are a little bit softer. In fact, all the sisters might have answered, but you know, there's a hijab, sheikh.
So, my brothers and sisters, it's not much. Let's be serious. We can eradicate our habits.
Our Purpose in Gathering
You know, we got here together to feel good about the fact that we're Muslims. We believe in Allah. We believe in the last day. We want to reach out to humanity. We want to reach out firstly to ourselves by getting closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We have to.
My brothers and sisters, there is no way that we have an option. We are going towards Allah, we're getting closer to death. When I die, I want to have done very nice things for others whom I lived with and for myself with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I want to have improved as the days pass. And this is why we have the gift known as the month of Ramadan.
Preparing for Ramadan
So, we will start this month, we will commence this month in a way that we are prepared by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know, I spoke about it yesterday in Jum'ah. Again, a very interesting factor. I want to repeat it for the benefit of myself and yourselves.
The Quran App vs WhatsApp
You see, we look at our phones a lot. So now, mashaAllah, the Muslims, we have Quran app on our phones, right? But how many of us open that app every single day? Put up your hands. Every single day you have the Quran app opened. Okay, very few hands. Put your hands down, mashaAllah. May Allah
Closing
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all goodness. May Allah open our doors. I should be back later on by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I hope that everyone of us can pray for each other.
"I say these words of mine, and peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah."