Looking Ahead

Looking Ahead - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

Opening Praise and Declaration of Faith

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولُهُ أَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا فَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا كَثِيرًا

أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَإِنَّ شَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَإِنَّ كُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

The Month of Ramadan and the Quran

: قَالَ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فِي كِتَابِهِ الْكَرِيمِ بَعْدَ أَنْ أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

"[The month of Ramadan is that in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey - then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful.]"

"O my Lord! Open for me my chest (grant me self-confidence, contentment, and boldness), And ease my task for me; And remove the impediment from my speech, so they may understand what I say. O Allah, make us steadfast when death comes, with the words 'There is no god but Allah'. Ameen, O Lord of the Worlds."

Introduction: The End of Ramadan

We are now at the end of Ramadan and I wanted to dedicate this khutbah to thinking ahead. Of course, the first reminder I give myself and all of you is that it's not over yet and we try to make the most of what is left of this month. I know it's a time that we're exhausted and for a lot of you and some people you hear around you at an iftar, I can't believe it's almost over, I wish it could be another two months long and you're thinking in your head, no, I disagree with you.

I think I'm pretty happy that it's about to be over. That's why we celebrate Eid, it's a celebration for a reason. But the point is that it is something that Allah عز وجل gave us and I wanted to remind myself of the purpose of Ramadan because every worship that we do for Allah actually leads to something more.

The Purpose of Ramadan

It's not a goal in and of itself, it leads to something else. So, as we reach the end of this month, then we need to remind ourselves what is this month supposed to give us? Because its purpose isn't the goal, the month itself, it is what happens after the month. So, I want to start with actually something about fasting.

Alhamdulillah. Fasting itself was given before the month of Ramadan. And as a matter of fact, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم used to fast an odd number of days and a very small number of days, what Allah calls

"every month."

And this was actually the norm for the Muslims for some time. And eventually Allah decided that He is going to give us not single digit days but 30 consecutive days. Now obviously, fasting for a couple of days in a row, three days in a row is much easier than fasting for 30 consecutive days.

The Wisdom Behind Ramadan's Difficulty

Also to fast in the month of Ramadan, (رمض - ramad), actually (شدة الحر - shidatul hur) in Arabic, the extreme heat. The month was called Ramadan because it's the hottest month of the year actually for them traditionally. And so, to pick the toughest month and then to make the Muslims fast all of that month, was actually something of an added difficulty.

And it's surprising that when Allah talked about that and said you have to fast the entire month in the ayah of Ramadan, He said يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ Allah intends ease for you. Allah wants ease for you. وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ He does not want difficulty for you.

The Special Ease of Ramadan

And that's surprising because He just made things harder. He went from few days to full 30 days and made things harder. The other thing was, previously if you missed a fast, you can just make it up. Or, you can just feed someone. And that's good enough. That's all you have to do.

But now, you have to make it up. Unless you have like a long standing condition and very few exceptions. Otherwise, if you miss a fast of Ramadan, you can't just say, I'm just gonna feed some people and I'm good.

No, you gotta make it up. In other words, the relaxations that used to be there before are no longer there. Things have gotten more difficult.

And yet, Allah says He wants ease. The first thing we have to understand is that the month of Ramadan is special. Allah brings a kind of ease in this month that does not exist outside of this month.

Allah's Religion Brings Ease

If you try to fast next month, and some of you will, inshaAllah, and I encourage all of you to do so. But if you fast anytime outside of Ramadan, you'll know that it's exponentially, multiple times harder than fasting even 30 days in Ramadan. One day outside of Ramadan is way harder.

Allah wants ease for you in this month. He made us capable of something that we're not nearly as capable of outside of it. So this is some special ease that comes from Allah.

That's the first thing. The second thing is, I wanna give you by way of example. It'll take me a couple of minutes to explain, but this is an important thing for us to really internalize.

And that is that Allah's deen came to make life easy. The religion came, Islam came وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجِ Quran 22:78) Allah did not put any discomfort in the religion for you. It didn't come to make your life hard.

Allah didn't give you rules to take away your joy, or take away your comfort, or take away your relaxation, or deprive you of things that make you happy. That is not why Islam came. As a matter of fact, Allah even says يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ )Quran (4:28) Allah intends to lighten your burden from you.

Training for Obedience

You have these burdens in life, and one of the joys of Islam, one of the benefits of our religion, is that it removes burdens from you. It takes away difficulties. So now, if you understand that, then you understand that these 30 days, you're supposed to get closer to Allah, closer and closer and closer and closer.

And as you get closer to Allah, then the more ease Allah brings into your life. Allah actually wants that in these 30 days, we become so loyal to Him, that it's easier for us to obey Him outside of this month. You know, for these 30 days, we deny ourselves a lot of things.

Our body, as I mentioned before, our body, my throat, my stomach, right, they have needs. And I've trained myself for 30 days to deny even what I physically need. Some of you men, you guys work at an office, you're like, man, I need my coffee, I don't know how I'm gonna function without my coffee, I need a break.

Some of you are addicted to cigarettes, I'm not about to pass a fatwa. But you need your cigarette break. Some of you are constantly chewing gum. Some of you are, whatever, you have a chocolate problem. Whatever your issue is. You know, I have a chocolate milk problem.

But whatever your issue is, you need to go back and snack at it, and you can't function if you don't have it. And for 30 days, you function just fine. You did it.

The Lesson of Self-Control

In other words, you proved to yourself that none of the addictions you might have, none of the things you think you can't do without, you can actually do without them. And only because you're obeying Allah. And that's something you thought was impossible, but Allah made that easy.

Now you take that forward and you realize there are some things you are engaged in, or I'm engaged in, that maybe a disobedience to Allah. And you've told yourself, I can't do without it. I have to do, I'll die if I don't.

How can I survive without it? And Allah has already trained you for 30 whole days. Yes, you can. You can actually live without it.

You can obey me and I will make things easy for you, just as I did in Ramadan. That's the first lesson that He's giving us, that outside of this month, you know, shaitan is about to come out of jail. And he's gonna hit you hard.

Shaitan's Return and His Strategy

Because he knows that you've made a lot of progress, and the more progress a believer makes, the more angry shaitan gets. So he's gonna be more aggressive as soon as Ramadan is over than he's ever been in the entire year. Later on, when he's done his attacks and you've gotten used to him again, and you're back into his way of things, then he takes it easy, he's got other victims to worry about.

But right after Ramadan, he's waiting, and he's perched up, ready to go, and to ruin whatever progress you've made and I've made. This is his goal. And so, part of that, when Allah says وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ And Allah does not want difficulty for you.

It's actually the battle we're going to have with shaitan. Because shaitan comes to you and says, man, take the easy road. Make life easier for yourself. Every act of disobedience is actually his invitation to make things easy. And he's trying to convince us that obeying Allah makes things harder. It makes things more difficult.

And Allah is saying, right now his influence isn't there, listen to Allah's words, he's the one who wants things to be easy, and he's the one who does not want things to become difficult. This is the exact opposite of the message that you'll feel inside of you when Ramadan is over. When obedience to Allah will start feeling difficult.

And disobedience to Allah will start feeling easy. يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ

Completing the Training

Then Allah says وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّة And one of the goals of this month is that you should complete the count. Complete the count.

What's the purpose of saying that we should complete the count, these 29 or these 30 days? You see, in any training, some of you are training as athletes, some of you have training at work, people have police training, fire department training, medical training, all kinds of training exist in life. And in any training, it's inconvenient. You have to get accustomed to a tough schedule, you have to wake up early in the morning, you have to do things that are more and more difficult, and as your training goes on, things get heavier and heavier.

But you know what's happening as you're training, especially as you're consistently training. You know, if you're physically training, your body is changing, your stamina is changing, your ability to get up is changing, your ability to last longer is changing, your ability to withstand more difficulty is changing, you're able to lift heavier and heavier weights for example. The purpose of training is to make you stronger.

And it is as though Allah عز وجل is telling us that these 30 days, you have to finish these 30 days of training because at the end of that training, you'll be strong enough to last the other 11 months. You need these 30 days to give you the spiritual strength, the muscle that you can stand against what's coming for almost an entire year. And then you have to revisit and retrain yourself again, and that'll be the next Ramadan.

The Promise of Ease Through Taqwa

So it's وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ So you can prepare yourselves, you can train yourselves, and if you don't train yourselves, then difficulty lies ahead. You see, the more one obeys Allah, what does He say?

Whoever could be aware of Allah, conscious of Allah, be mindful of Allah, protect themselves from Allah's anger, then Allah will find a way out for them. Allah will make things basically easy for them.

In another ayah, in surah Talaq He says يَجْعَل لَّهُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ يُسْرًا )Quran (654) Allah will make it ease in every situation He finds Himself in. Allah makes ease for you when you obey Him.

And now these 30 days are there to make you strong enough to obey Him. In other words, for you to be strong enough, for Allah to make life easy for you and for me. Actually that's the goal. Allah wants things to be easy for us. Allah wants to show us love, care, and mercy. And that's actually one of the goals of Ramadan.

Now He says وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ And then He says وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ To declare Allah's greatness based on the way that He guided you.

The Meaning of Takbir

And this is really what I wanted to focus on today, to declare Allah's greatness. لِتُكَبِّرُوا الله You've heard the word takbir before. When you hear the word takbir, you scream out, Allahu Akbar.

And this is of course what we do at the end of Ramadan, when we're heading to the Eid prayer, we're doing the dhikr, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La ilaha illa Allah, and so on and so forth. We're doing takbir of Allah, literally we're reminding ourselves, Allah is greater, Allah is greater, Allah is greater. But as a matter of fact, right now, even in this month, we are living takbir.

The Commitment After Ramadan

It's not just something coming out of your tongue, it's something you've actually lived. And now you've made a commitment to Allah, that even though this month is over, and now things are a lot easier for me, I can eat during the day, I can be with the spouse, I can drink, I can do whatever else, and these things have been opened up for me again, but still one thing is for sure, things that Allah has forbidden from me, I will deny myself those things, just the same way I denied myself food and drink. The same exact way.

I'm gonna actually do that because I commit to Allah, Allahu Akbar. That's what I'm actually celebrating. We're celebrating that Allah is about to make our life easier when we do the takbir of Allah.

The Contrast with Iblis

This takbir has another dimension. You see, Iblis, about him, what does Allah teach us in the same surah? وَأَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ Same origin of the word. He refused Allah's command, and he was arrogant.

He was arrogant. He did not do the takbir of Allah. His opinion was greater than Allah's command. So to him, Allah was not Akbar. And therefore he had istikbar. He wanted that kibriya for himself. That's what makes him mustakbir. That's what makes him arrogant. In other words, he rejected the notion of Allahu Akbar.

Now Allah is contrasting us with our enemy, Iblis, who's about to be released. And he's saying, you will be people of Allahu Akbar because he wasn't. That's why he's your enemy, you understand? We're now in opposite ends of Iblis.

Shaitan's Three-Step Attack

So one thing I wanted to make sure I talk about today in this khutbah, is how does Iblis get you to be like him? Because he's been rejected. He's been pushed away from Allah. So what attack is waiting for you and me when this month is over? There's lots of places in Quran Allah talks about what he's gonna do, and how he's going to mislead and misguide.

He swore to Allah, I swear to you, he told Allah, I swear to you, I will absolutely, absolutely mislead them. I will absolutely confuse them. Dhalal also means confusion.

I will absolutely confuse them. I will make them pick between your guidance and maybe I'll make them say to themselves, yes, Allah said this, but it's not that bad. Allah understands, it's okay. Allah is merciful, you know. And they'll be confused, yeah, well Allah is merciful, so I guess it's okay. And they'll do what I want them to do.

Because they'll start telling themselves, or I'll tell them things on your behalf, he'll lie on behalf of Allah, and we're going to go further and further away from what Allah actually says about himself, and we're gonna start listening to what he says about Allah. Or he'll come and tell you, you know Allah is so angry at you, no matter how much you fast and pray, you're a lost cause. You know what, you're gonna die and burn in hell anyway, might as well go out partying.

So just do your thing, man. Just at least live a little. Because you're a lost cause anyway, you're cursed anyway.

I will mislead them. He swears by it, he's very emphatic, there's no more, you know, to say something with more exclamation isn't possible in the Arabic language. The laam is there,للقسم. Then the noon, not ثقيلة خفيفة is there too. لأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ It's an incredible phrase. I will absolutely, most certainly misguide them, mislead them.

Shaitan's Personalized Approach

And by the way, the way Shaytan misleads me is not the way that he misleads you. He uses your experience, your feelings, your emotions, your temptations, your life, your friends, your circle, he studies you. Like you know how in sports they study the opposing team, and they watch previous matches, and they say, oh this is how their defense is, this is how their offense is, he studies you.

They're watching you, the devils are watching you from where you can't watch them. Allah actually describes this, they're doing surveillance of you. What is your day like? When do you wake up? When do you sleep? When do you tend to make a mistake? Ah, this guy, okay, everyday around 8 o'clock, this is what happens, I see.

Okay, let's come at him at 7.45. Or he's starting to get into this good habit, she's starting to get into this good habit. She's starting to sleep a little early. Why don't we just kind of whisper, hey, there's a new show out on Netflix, and you're free right now.

Just stay up a little longer. Yeah, yeah, I can stay up a little longer, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh great, Maghrib, Isha a little later. It's still night time, it's not Fajr yet. And then you pass out. No, no, I'll just close my eyes

for a second, and I make wudu. I will make wudu. Next thing you know, it's Dhuhr. And they're giving each other high fives.

They study you. They study your weaknesses. They use those against you. They manipulate you. This is, لَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ But he doesn't stop there. He says, I will mislead them.

False Hopes and Wishes

But what's one of his most powerful attacks? How will it fill, how will it take the next step I will fill them with false hopes. I will give him so many lies, that will make him feel or her feel better about themselves, and they'll start believing them. False hopes.

Umniya means a wish that's not gonna happen. You're fine, Allah is not upset with you. Everything's okay. Why are you making such a big deal out of this, man? Relax, okay, it's just one prayer you missed. It's not like you're going to hell. Easy.

Okay, yeah, fine. Maybe what I said was backbiting, but I mean, they deserved it. Allah knows how messed up they are too, you know.

So, you start filling yourself with hope that the sin you commit, the sin I commit, whether it's the sin of our tongue, or our eyes, or our hands, or whatever else, is not so bad. It's okay, relax. You're being too hard on yourself.

Pat you down, go back to sleep. Easy, take it easy on yourself. He will fill you with false hopes as to what makes you happy.

You'll start telling yourself lies. You'll tell yourself, if I don't have this, I can't be happy. And whatever that this is for you, that's your problem. I don't know, and I don't wanna know. But whatever this is that you think will make you happy, he'll make sure it's something that you get to by disobeying Allah, or that thing itself is haram. And you say, without this, how can I be happy? I need this, because that's where my hope lies. Without it, I'll die.

And you will keep, and he will fill you with those hopes, those wishes, those dreams. Over and over again, you're obsessed with them. That's all you're thinking about, is what you desire, what you wanna attain. And it's not even coming from you. Every time you forget, and you wake up a little, and you start remembering Allah, or finding your purpose again.

He'll come back and make you think about the wrong thing again, and again, and again. And you'll go back, and go back, and go back. And he says, I will absolutely do this, and I will do this continuously.

The Final Command

I will keep at him, and keep at him, and keep at him. First I'll figure out, for every man and every woman, what is it that their weakness is? What is it that they desire? What is it that they wish they had? And once I figure that out, after observing them, then I'll keep hitting them with it. To the point where they're so obsessed with it, they'll do anything to get it.

And when someone's willing to do anything to get what they desire, that is when he attacks with his final attack Then I'll tell them what to do. I'll command them at that point.

And he's no longer suggesting. You know, before it's waswasa, it's just a whisper. It's just to try to confuse you, try to fill you with hope. But once he's got you hypnotized, once he's got you on lockdown, now he doesn't have to ask you what to do, now he doesn't have to suggest, now he'll just tell you what to do and you'll do it. If you don't do this, you're not gonna get what you want. Okay, fine, I'll do it.

I don't care about anything else. I just wanna do this and I don't care. The words, I don't care, will become very easy for you to say. It doesn't matter. I'm just gonna do whatever. Whatever will become your word.

Because now, nothing gets in the way of you, and the ummiyah he filled you in. The hopes that he hypnotized you with. This is his attack, this is what's waiting for us.

When Desires Become Gods

And by the time that happens, by the time he gets to the stage where he can tell you what to do, by the time you and I are so duped that whatever our temptation, our desire, our greed is, we're ready to fall into it, you know, dive right in. Then you know what's happened? My whims, my desires have become greater than Allah. It's no longer Allahu Akbar.

Then you can pray, and you can start your prayer with Allahu Akbar, but those are just words now. They don't actually mean anything anymore. They're just empty words. How is Allah Akbar?

Then you become and I become like the people described in Surah Al-Jathiyah Allah عز وجل says Someone who takes his temptations, his whims, his desires, and turns them into their God. Their desires become their God.

And Allah allows them to be misled even though they have knowledge. By the way, the first one who allowed his desire, and his desire was recognition by the way, shaitan's desire was recognition. He let that become his God. And Allah allowed him to be misled even though he knows Allah. So it won't even, that's the scary part about this.

Knowledge Without Guidance

You know, this month maybe inshallah you spend some things learning about Allah's book. Maybe you spend some time learning about Allah's Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. Maybe you learn some things

you didn't know before. Your ilm increased. Your knowledge of Allah increased.

But let me tell you something, just because knowledge increases, it does not necessarily mean that guidance increases with it. Shaitan has plenty of knowledge. And for him it's not even knowledge of the unseen. He's seen the angels. He's seen Allah. He's seen the conversation. He's had direct conversation with Allah. He's seen the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. He's seen Ibrahim عليه السلام. He's seen the truth. He knows it.

He saw the angels coming when the battle of Badr was happening and the sahaba were going into battle. They didn't see the legion of angels behind them. He did. He ran away. He saw the angels. And after knowing all of that, he still disobeys.

You know what that teaches us? When someone follows the footsteps of shaitan, he gets them so good that knowledge doesn't even help. Even if they have ilm. عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ وَأَضَلَّهُ اللَّهُ Despite. يَعْنِي عَلَى الرَّغْمِ مِنَ العلم Even if they have knowledge, it won't matter. It just won't matter.

Actually somebody will advise you and you'll just say, I know, I know. And you'll still do what you're gonna do. Yeah, I already know that, okay? When you say, yeah, I already know that, but whatever, or I don't care, then what good is that ilm? What's the point of it?

You know there are two dimensions of knowledge. There's knowledge up here, there's knowledge in here. Here it stays. Here it goes away. This one goes away. When we do takbeer, there are two dimensions of takbeer. There's takbeer here, there's takbeer here. This is the one Allah wants.

The Key to Success: Gratitude

Based on the way He guided you. Then He says So you can be grateful. And this is actually Allah's key.

I demonstrated to you these three attacks of shaitan today. But what I wanted to end with is Allah's key. How is it that we're going to stay away and be able to fight successfully against shaitan? One of the keys to that, one of the fundamental keys to that is our gratitude.

We have to constantly think of everything Allah has done for us. You know, when someone does a lot of things for you, then you're ashamed to do something against them. When you recognize that.

I'm reminded of Yusuf عليه السلام who tried to remind the woman who was trying to seduce him إِنَّهُ رَبِّي أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَايَ My master, meaning also including the one whose house this was, has been good to me. Why would I do this? When someone's been good to you, and you recognize that, then you have a really hard time hurting them or disobeying them, or being disloyal to them, cheating them. When you and I can remember everything that Allah does for us over and over again, remind ourselves, remind

ourselves, remind ourselves, what is it that Allah does for us? What is it that He does for us? Then it'll be easier to obey Him.

Shaitan's Counter-Strategy

The opposite is also true, please remember that. Shaytan will always remind you what Allah did not do for you. Please remember this. Shaytan will remind you what Allah did not do for you. Man, you got sick, you haven't been cured. Look at what happened to you, you lost your job. Why did Allah let that happen? Why are these people treating me this way? Why is Allah letting these people treat me this way? Why is Allah doing this? Why is Allah doing that? Why isn't He changing my situation? Why isn't He giving me relief? You're always gonna be thinking about what Allah is not doing.

And when you think about what Allah is not doing, then Allahu Akbar goes away. Then what you want takes precedence.

And so at the end of the ayat of Ramadan, Allah teaches us that if we remain grateful to Allah, not think about the complaints what Allah hasn't done for us, but rather focus our minds on what He has in fact done for us.

"If you were to try to count the favor of Allah, you wouldn't be able to encircle it. You wouldn't be able to grasp even one favor of Allah and how much it benefits you."

The Foundation of Obedience

If your mindfulness of Allah's favors can be a constant thing for you, then you will be able to retain the greatness of Allah. But if that gratitude is not there and that's replaced with complaining, then it's actually... complaining is the sunnah of shaitan. He complained, how come you let this one make... how come you give this one honor? I'm better, I deserve better.

And when anybody says, I deserve better from Allah, they're actually following the footsteps of shaitan. It doesn't have to be about sajda of Adam (عليه السلام) he'll make you do your own form of rebellion by dismissing the gratitude you and I are supposed to have to Allah. The believer primarily obeys Allah not because of fear.

The believer primarily obeys Allah because of gratitude. That is why the Fatiha, the Quran begins with Alhamdulillah. And after we say Alhamdulillah, we accept Him as Rabb. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. That's why. And so this is the core lesson that we take out of Ramadan, be mentally prepared.

Warning About Post-Ramadan Challenges

That difficult times are coming. As soon as Eid comes, shaitan will come hard. And some of us, the biggest disobedience we do to Allah is at Eid, which is crazy.

You're gonna get invited to Eid parties, which you should go and eat. But then when you go there, people are sitting together and backbiting, and people are making fun of how this guy, this people are dressed, and look at their kids, they don't even behave properly, and this one, and that one, and stories about the community. What are you doing? This is what you're celebrating? You're celebrating the coming together.

The Quran brought us together, and now we're celebrating it by ripping each other to shreds, by forgetting about Allah. Man, I haven't watched a movie for like 30 days. What's out on Eid day? We're planning our disobedience already, ahead of time.

Don't do that to yourself. Don't make Eid a time of celebrating disobedience to Allah again. Make Eid a time to be grateful.

Making Eid a Time of Gratitude

Make Eid a time when you buy your children gifts, buy better gifts for your children to give those who don't have. Make them grateful for what they have, and make them people of giving. True gratitude is when we become people of sadaqah.

So may Allah (عز وجل) make us people of sadaqah this coming Ramadan. And at the end of this Ramadan, may Allah (عز وجل) allow us to reap all of the benefits of this Ramadan, and grant all of us and our families forgiveness and guidance. And may Allah (عز وجل) give us the strength and the guidance that we need, that we're supposed to get out of Ramadan to sustain ourselves against the attacks of shaitan for the rest of this year.

Closing