Getting to Know Allah Through Fasting

Getting to Know Allah Through Fasting

Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Opening Praise and Testimony

Inna alhamdulillah nahmadu wa nasta'eenahu wa nastaghfiruhu wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayyi'ati a'malina. Man yahdihillahu fala mudilla lah, wa man yudlil fala hadiya lah. Wa ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh.

"O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims."

Beloved brothers and sisters, we praise Allah the Almighty, we believe in Him, we trust in Him, and we bear witness that whomever Allah guides is guided to right, and whomever Allah leads astray, no one can guide them. We ask Allah to bless His Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, bless his family and his companions, all of them. Ameen.

The Reality of Religious Practice

Brothers and sisters, in today's khutbah I want to just say what Allah said: and that you fast is better for you if you but know. Ramadan is almost halfway over. I asked the imam, Imam Hamid said to me, I said, "Imam, how many people come to Jumu'ah prayer?" He said, "It depends." I said, "What you mean?" He said, "Do you mean during Ramadan or do you mean other than Ramadan?" And what he said reminded me of my masjid and every masjid that I know. Every year during the month of Ramadan there are people that we only see in Ramadan. You look for the hilal for Ramadan. I look for certain brothers. If certain brothers come to my masjid, it must be Ramadan.

But I want to, I want to, I want you to know who it is that is ordering us this month to fast. But I want you first to just understand something. I'm going to give you some information. I want you to, I want you to think about it. If you ask the people in France, "What is your religion?" 64% of them—a population of 66 million—41 point something million will say, "I'm Roman Catholic." What's your religion? Roman Catholic. 64 percent. But only 4.5 percent actually practice. So some 1,900,000 people of France actually practice. They claim to be Roman Catholic, but how many practice?

So therefore, when you read in the almanacs and you read country by country, you ask the question: what is the religion? What percentage is the religion? That figure is misleading because the reality is how many practice. Islam is growing, it's spreading, no doubt. There's no question. Even in Moscow they're building a new masjid that will accommodate 60,000 worshipers. Everywhere you go you see the rise of Islam and the Muslims. But the question is: how many of them practice? So you ask them, "What is your religion?" They're quick to say, "I'm a Muslim." But do you fast in Ramadan? That you fast is better for you if you but know.

The Fundamentals of Islam

A man, a desert Arab, came to the Prophet. He want to know about Islam. Well, five prayers a day. And the man asked this question: is there more than these five prayers? No, except what is extra. You have to do the five, but the extra you don't. It's, it's not mandatory. Extra prayer, extra. I want to, you know, you know, think about this for a moment. As you know better than me, that when the Prophet was given the commandment for prayer, Allah gave him the commandment of 50 prayers a day.

Now listen to what the Prophet said in his words: (فَرَجَعْتُ بِذَٰلِكَ - Faraj'atu bi dhalika) - and I returned with those 50 prayers. I went back ready to leave the congregation. 50 prayers a day. You just stop for a moment and think about what 50 prayers a day is. I returned with it. Allah gave him the commandment: 50 prayers a day, 50 prayers. It is until I ran into Musa, and Musa, peace be upon him, said, "What did Allah command you?" He said, "50 prayers a day." "Go back and ask your Lord to reduce it because your ummah would not be able to do it."

So the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, listening to the Prophet who came before him, he goes back to Allah and Allah reduces it. And you know it goes back and forth until there's five. Now, and he confronts Musa and Musa says, "Go back and ask your Lord to reduce it. Your ummah won't be able to do it." Huh. Huh. You mean to tell me they can't even do five prayers a day? Was Musa right? I'll let you figure that out. You ask the Muslims, "Do you, do you, uh, do you make salat?" "No, I don't make salat, but I'm a Muslim." What percentage of the Muslims actually practice?

Understanding the Obligation of Fasting

Now I want you to, I just want you to think about this for a moment. And then I'm going to try—I have a lot to say. I'm watching the clock and I know I'm supposed to stop at a certain time. You forgive me if I go a, you know. So the, so the desert Arab wants to know about salat. So the Prophet said five. And then the Prophet says, "Fast in the month of Ramadan." "Is anything more?" We fast in the month of Ramadan. Do you know that there's some Muslims who fast every Monday and Thursday? They're used to it. There's some Muslims who fast the fast of Dawood. The most beloved fast to Allah is the fast of Dawood. He fasted every other day. The first, best prayer to Allah: the prayer of Dawood.

So the Prophet said, "No, no, no. Just this Ramadan. Just do that." And then the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "It's zakat." "Has anything more than that?" "No, no, except what is extra." And so the man turned around

and said, "I swear by Allah I will neither increase nor decrease from that." "He will be successful if he's telling the truth."

The Call to Fast

What I want to say today: maybe some of you here didn't fast yet. Not one day yet. Ramadan, Ramadan is almost halfway over. Maybe some of you didn't fast. I want to, to consider this. Those who haven't fasted yet, I want to encourage you to fast. But I want you to think about this. When I was in elementary school, about the third grade, they taught us a song. And I don't even remember the name of the song, but I remember a couple of words of the song. It went something like this: "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, getting to like you, getting to hope you like me." And really, as a human being, you know what it's all about? It's all about getting to know Allah. Getting to know Allah. And He does not benefit at all if every human being fasted. He wouldn't benefit. We benefit.

Allah's Mercy in Fasting

Think about this. Allah is so great. He said Allah gives you the commandment to fast, but if you're sick or on a journey, make it up. Do you know that I traveled the whole month of Ramadan, at least half of the month of Ramadan? I'm traveling. I could technically make my fast up. I can eat right now. But I decided to keep my fast. For me, it's easier to do it now than to make it up. So I am, even though Allah give me a choice. I have never, ever heard one scholar ever even hint that those who cannot fast in Ramadan for one reason or the other and they make it up—first of all, Allah don't tell you when you have to make it up. You don't have to make it up in Shawwal. You don't have, you make it up when you can. So you can make it up in December. In December the short days and the days are cool. So it's not like fasting in June and July or August. But yet I've never heard one scholar say that if you make up this day with a legitimate excuse that Allah somehow diminishes it. I never heard that.

The Consequences of Missing Fasts

However, what about you decided to wake up one day: "I don't feel like fasting"? You ain't got no excuse. You're not traveling, you're not sick. What happens there? The Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, said: "Whoever misses a day of Ramadan with no legitimate excuse—no traveling, no sickness—he said, even if you fasted every day for the rest of your life, you cannot make up that one day that you missed."

Don't, don't, don't—make sure you understand. Kaffarah, atonement. You have to make the day up. You owe it to Allah. There's a price to pay. If you don't pay it back, you owe Allah. So therefore to make it up, you have to miss, fast the day you miss, you make it up. It's an atonement, yes. But you don't, you don't get what you would have gotten from that day that you missed.

The Story of Breaking the Fast

I give another example. Here's clear. Sahih Bukhari hadith, Sahih Muslim hadith. A man came to the Prophet. He said, "I have been destroyed. I'm ruined." The Prophet said, "Why?" He said, "I slept with my wife during Ramadan in the daylight hours." Okay, now you missed it. You messed up the, the salah, you messed up the fast because of you know, doing what Allah said don't do. So the Prophet asked him, "Can you free a slave?" He said, "No."

Listen to the next one: "Can you fast 60 consecutive days?" Meaning, because you missed that one day, now to make atonement you have to fast 60 consecutive days for that one day that you miss. And the man said, "No." He said, "Can you feed 60 people?" The man said, "No." So the Prophet remained silent. Soon after that, someone came with a large, some large pile of dates. He said, "Where's that man?" He told the man, "Take these dates and feed 60 people."

Listen to the man's response. The Prophet said you missed the day, now you got to feed 60 people. You ain't got no money. Now the Prophet give you something to pay 60 people, 60 people, right? So the taking a, feed 60 people. No, the man said, "Uh, yeah, should I give this food to someone poorer than my family? Ain't nobody poor in all of Medina than me." So the Prophet gave him the dates and said, "Feed your family with it." That's kaffarah. But you still can't make up the day, meaning get all of the rewards from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Getting to Know Allah Through His Creation

All right, now let me move away for a moment and talk about getting to know you, getting to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I want you, as you're thinking about fasting and continuing to fast and do good deeds because this is a special month, and especially only because Allah made it special consider this. I'm in my masjid one day and I'm reading the Quran and I come across this verse:

Wa ma tasqutu min waraqatin illa ya'lamuha - There is not a leaf that falls except Allah knows it. (Quran 6:59)

Let's think about this for a moment. So I leave my office and I go down walking eastward, a long street to get my newspapers. And as I'm walking down the street, I'm thinking about this: not a tree, not a leaf falls except Allah knows it. And while I'm reading it, I'm looking on the ground and I see hundreds if not thousands of leaves on the ground. And I'm reading this ayat. And then I did some research. I want to know how many trees on this earth. How many trees? According to the scientists, over three trillion trees. Some trees have as many as 200,000 leaves.

And you mean to tell me not one leaf falls except Allah knows it? Are you kidding me? Ah, the skeptic may say, "All right, sir, but how do you verify it? How do you verify that Allah knows every leaf that falls?" Our answer: you can't, except Allah said it in His Quran. We believe it. Allah speaks the truth.

Another skeptic may say, "This is trivial knowledge. So what? He knows every leaf to fall. So what?" Ah, you missed the point. It shows you the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Allah's Knowledge and Power

I give an example. How many people on this earth? Seven billion five hundred million people on this earth. You have witnessed this before: two people talking to you, arguing, and each one of them are arguing their point, talking to you. You say, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. One at a time. One at a time. I can't, I can't, I can't hear you. One at a time."

Tell you something about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know how many languages on this earth? Some 6,500 languages. I want you to imagine five, uh, seven billion 500 million people all praying to Allah at the same time in their own language, and Allah hears all of them at the same time. This is the One that's asking you or ordering you to fast in the month of Ramadan. And you want more?

The Uniqueness of Allah's Creation

Then I, then I conclude. So far I'm doing pretty good. I was at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia recently. And as I'm coming through security, I noticed that there's a security man with a dog. And the dog was smelling everybody, smelled me. And I was just fascinated, you know. And as I'm going around security, I'm looking at this, this security guard with a dog. And all of a sudden he started smelling a man and he started, you know, making noise and barking and sitting down. He got somebody.

Now I'm gonna be honest with you. Don't, don't get mad at me. I just so happened that the security man was a white man and the man that the dog had smelled was a black man. So I got nervous. This is, I'm from the United States. I'm not from Canada. So I got my, um, security guard, um, social media out. I wanna, I'm gonna see what happens. And I expected like 60, 70 security guards to come out with their sticks and they're gonna beat that man down. So I'm getting ready. I want to witness it.

But something interesting happened. That man whom the dog had smelled started laughing. He was laughing. And then he walked out of line and he went somewhere. And I realized what happened. Every once in a while to make sure that these dogs are on it, they'll slip somebody in who have some kind of whatever they're looking for, to see if they're, you know, doing what they're supposed to do.

Why I say this: I want to just take a second to show you the greatness of Allah as a Creator. You ever look at yourself? Seven billion five hundred million people. Every one of them have a different fingerprint. This is the Creator. Your individuality. Not only that, you may not know that, that your voice is distinctive from everybody, everybody else's voice.

I was in Australia recently. Met Imam Sa'd from Medina. Has a very unique talent. He is able to, um, mimic 100 of the greatest reciters in the world right now. He can sound just like them. But those who know can distinguish

the difference. Even try though you try to imitate somebody, you have your own unique voice. Handwriting, it's different, it's unique.

The Uniqueness of Our Scent

Let me give you one more in case you didn't know. Every one of us have a unique smell. Your smell is like like anyone else. This is why dogs who, some dogs have a sense of smell hunt millions of times stronger than human beings. This is why when someone is looking for someone, they, they give the dog their shirt and they smell the shirt and they go find the person because your smell is unique.

If you differ with this, if you have doubts about it, go to Surah Yusuf. He said:

Inni la ajidu riha Yusuf - I smell the scent of Yusuf. (Quran 12:94)

This is the greatness. You see what Allah said:

Alam taraw anna Allaha sakhkhara lakum ma fi alssamawati wama fi al-ard - Don't you see Allah has subjected for you everything in the heavens and earth? (Quran 31:20)

Everything in the heavens and earth Allah subjected for us, the human beings.

Marvels of Allah's Creation

So now He tells you to fast. You say what? You know, right now they're training dogs to smell the breath of a man to determine if they have prostate cancer. I was, I was shocked five days ago. I learned in Cambodia, I didn't know this. In Cambodia, you know they have a lot of landmines. They're unexploded. They're training a rat to find these land mines and dig them up. You kidding me? This is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Lord of the world.

The Rewards of Fasting

So you know, listen. The fasting, brothers, sisters, don't miss it. Even those who, you know, provide food for those who break the fast, Allah gives them the reward of those who come on. I mean, I mean, come on. It's a, whoever fast in a month of Ramadan, Allah forgive their sins. I mean, come on, it's too much. Even those who fast one day, one day, Allah keeps them a distance from the hellfire the distance of 70 travel. Come on.

Those who fast will go, inshallah, in Jannah, in a, in a, in a certain gate at Rayyan, just for those who fast. And only those who fast go to that gate. And after everyone who fast go to that gate, they close the gate. Nobody else can get in. Why would you not fast? Why? Why would you not pray?

Personal Story: The Power of Congregational Prayer

Why? I remember I drove from New York to Atlanta, Georgia. We stopped at North Carolina to rest and to make salat. I went, now me and my two daughters, we went, now we're going to make salat. So we make salat. Allahu Akbar. And when I finished salat, I turned around and a whole long line of people had joined us. Strangers. We don't know them. They don't know me. Then, "Oh, oh, there's Imam Siraj." No, they didn't know me. But they're praying for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

I travel and first thing I do when I get to my location, ask the brothers. I always ask the question: which is the direction of the qiblah? What time is the prayer? We're the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Closing Advice and Du'a

So brothers and sisters, um, please, please, please, please, those who are fasting, do more. Read the Quran. Stand in salat. All of that, inshallah, you'll be successful.

We ask Allah the Almighty to accept our fast for Him. We ask Allah the Almighty to help us to be slaves of His, to obey Him. We ask Allah the Almighty to tie the hearts of the believers together. We ask Allah the Almighty to help those Muslims around the world. Help the Muslims in Yemen. Help the Muslims in Iraq. Help the Muslims in Somalia. Help the Muslims in Palestine. Help the Muslims in every part of the globe.