Ramadan Prepare Yourself

Ramadan: Prepare Yourself

Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Opening Quranic Recitation

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

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may learn self-restraint. Fasting for a fixed number of days, but if any of you is ill or on a journey, the prescribed numbers should be made up from days later. For those who can do it with hardship is a ransom, the feeding of one that is indigent. But he that will give more of his own free will, it is better for him, and it is better for you that you fast, if you only knew. Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Quran as a guide to mankind, also clear signs for guidance and judgment. So every one of you who is present during that month should spend it in fasting. But if anyone is ill or on a journey, the prescribed period should be made up by days later. God intends every facility for you. He does not want to put you to difficulties. He wants you to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you, and perchance you shall be grateful. When My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close to them. I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calls on Me. Let them also with a will listen to My call, and believe in Me, that they may walk in the right way."

صَدَقَ اللَّهُ الْعَظِيمُ

Jazakumullahu Khair. Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. Assalamualaikum.

Introduction and Greetings

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - Bismillahi ar-Rahmani ar-Rahim) الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ. أَشْهَدُ أَن لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

Brothers and sisters, it gives me great pleasure to be here again in this masjid. Masjid, by the way, of which I love very much. I remember this when it was just a little house, and it wasn't such a beautiful facility. You remember those of our uncles who were here years ago.

The Month of Shaban and Preparing for Ramadan

Brothers and sisters, what I'd like to do tonight is kind of talk with you a little bit. And at some point, we're going to actually talk about this month that we are now, Shaban. As you know, inshallah, Monday will be the 29th of Shaban. And the reason that's important, because on Sunday, September 4th, the moon of Shaban was sighted in Arizona, California. And that means, according to that calculation, this Monday will be the 29th of Shaban.

Why is that important? For us, because the Prophet ﷺ said, a month is either 29 or 30 days. It's one or two. It can't be 31 days. It can't be 28 days. It must be either 29 days or 30 days. And that means because the Prophet ﷺ taught us to look for the Hilal or the new moon of Ramadan, that means we'll be busy all over the world to do one of the pillars that the Prophet ﷺ taught us.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 8)

Islam is built on five. And one of them is (صَوْمُ رَمَضَانَ - sawmu Ramadan) - fast in the month of Ramadan. As the brother beautifully recited that this is the month in which the Quran was revealed and Allah orders us to fast.

Moon Sighting and Beginning of Ramadan

So that means that we have to fast. And that means on Monday night, we're going to be looking for the moon of Ramadan. If we don't see it, then this month that we are now, Shaban will be 30 days. And that means that Wednesday will be the first day of fasting. If we cite the moon, this community here, do we do local sighting or international sighting? Local, just like ISNA, MAS, the community of Imam Warith al-Din Muhammad, the Majlis al-Shura. Most all of the major Muslim organizations, they do what we call local sighting or sighting within the North America.

But don't get nervous if someone begins fasting a different day than we. Don't worry, it's not a big issue. If you're doing it for Allah and doing according to the instructions or how you understand the instructions of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. So either Ramadan will begin on Tuesday, if we cite the moon on Monday night, or begin on Wednesday. Wednesday everybody be fasting. I'm going to get into that, but before I do, I'm going to have a little conversation with you.

Interactive Discussion on Marriage

And let me first ask you a question. How many of you are not married? Raise your hand. Not married. Okay, great. Those of you who are not married, who want to get married, raise your hand. Good. How many want to get married tonight? Raise your hand. No, no, I'm going to surprise you. I want to marry somebody tonight. So you're thinking I'm jiving, you see. You see, watch. You'd be shocked, I'm going to perform a marriage ceremony tonight. And it might be any one of you, you never know.

Let me ask you a question. Is it permissible to marry your cousin? Who says yes? Who says no? You said no. Let me ask you, let me rephrase it. Is it permissible in the United States to marry your cousin? Ah! Ha! Ha! What did you say? It depends on the state. Because marriage is not federal. Marriage is left to the individual state.

Therefore, I've got good news for you. In the state of New Jersey, now the last thing I heard, Teaneck is in New Jersey. That's the last thing. I don't know if sometimes, you know, are you still in New Jersey? New Jersey is permitted to marry your cousins. You're happy about that, right? New York, yes, you can marry your cousin, yes. Your first cousin, yes. In the state of Delaware, can't do it. In the state of Wisconsin, listen to me carefully. It is illegal to marry your first cousin unless it's a woman who reached the age of 55.

Why? Why? Ha! Ha! Say it again. I want you to say it loud. The thinking is that she can't have kids. Therefore, in the law, reveals the rationale of the law. What's the concern about cousins to these people in that state? That if you're too close in blood, maybe it'll cause the child to be deformed. That's their thinking.

For the record. Allah says in Quran, prohibited for you to marry all your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, so forth and so on. And then Allah says, every other one is permitted. He doesn't mention cousins. That means cousins is permitted.

The Principle of Acting in Our Best Interest

Now, brothers and sisters, the reason I say that, you said me like black, right? You said two or three times. But he's right. I am black. I am. I am. Don't deny it. Let me tell you something, since you mentioned black. How many of you ever heard of the Congressional Black Caucus? What's the Congressional Black Caucus? What is that? You just heard them. You know exactly what they are, right? What's the Congressional Black Caucus? Who are black? I bet you none of you know the official motto of the Congressional Black Caucus. Let me tell you what it is.

It says that black people have neither permanent friends or permanent enemies. Just permanent interests. That's the official motto of the Congressional Black Caucus. The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization of congressmen and women who are African Americans who started in 1969 for the purposes of joining together to protect the interests of black people in Congress. What we learn from these people is that people usually act in what they believe to be their best interest. Okay.

Let us make an assumption tonight. Everyone here believes in Allah. And He has the most beautiful names. One of the names of Allah is Al-Hakeem. Al-what? Al-Hakeem which means the Wise. Not only is Allah wise, which means every time Allah tells us to do something, as believers, as slaves of His, we must believe that what He ordered us to do is in our own best interest.

Does that make sense? Would Allah ever order us to do something that's not in our best interest? Would He? Of course not. And you must believe that every time Allah gives us an order in the Quran to do something, it's in

our best interest. If Allah says (كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ - kutiba 'alaykum as-siyam) (Quran 2:183) Fasting is prescribed for you. Allah doesn't prescribe it for us to do something bad for us. He prescribes it for us to do something good for us. And that's reasonable. Right? Likewise, everything Allah says stay away from is harmful to us. Make sense? Okay.

Understanding Hadith and Sunnah

Now, what is Hadith? What is Hadith? What is the Sunnah? The Sunnah is three things. Number one, what the Prophet, what did he say? قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ The Prophet said so forth and so forth in this. Number two, what the Prophet did. And number three, what was done in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ he allowed it. All of it is Sunnah. True?

Now, if Aisha said something, and if Umar رضي الله عنه said something, is it Hadith? If they didn't say قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ is it Sunnah? What if they said something, and they gave their opinion? Yes, it's not. So, I'm going to say something, is an opinion of Aisha رضي الله عنها that I agree with. If you agree with her opinion, then raise your hand. What am I saying? She's not saying, I'm not going to say, she said, the Prophet said ﷺ. I'm going to say something she said. Okay?

Major Problems in Society

Before I say that, let me first ask you, raise your hand. What are some of the major problems of our society? Just raise your hand and give me one of them. Yes. Ignorance? Good. Propaganda. Pretty smart guy. Yes. Racism. Yeah. What else? Yes. Injustice. Good. What else? Yes. Ignorance. Is it different ignorance than the one he said ignorance. Yes. Huh? Junk food. Yes. Huh? Laziness? Laziness? Allahu Akbar. Very good. What else? Come on, man. You're missing some basic ones. Major problems in this society. Major. Yes. Huh? Adultery. Yeah. Society. Yes. Murder. Yes. Not obeying Allah. Lack of self control. Ah. There you go, man. I can kiss you. Drug. Don't worry. I'm not. Drug addiction and alcoholism. True?

The Story of Wine in Islam

Check this out, man. Check this out. Check this out. If you agree with me, raise your hand. There was a time when drinking alcohol was permissible in our ummah. Drinking alcohol is permissible. Okay. Follow this hadith. Would a messenger of Allah or an angel ever tell us to do something that's haram? Of course not.

One day the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was very thirsty, extremely thirsty and the angel Jibreel عليه السلام offered him two things, either laban, milk or khamra. You must believe at that time khamra, wine is permissible because an angel would never allow something, never offer something that's haram of course. Right. So the Prophet chose the milk and listen to what the angel Jibreel said, praise be to Allah who guided you to the natural way and had you chosen the wine instead of the milk, your ummah would have gone astray.

If you study America right now you will find major fundamental problem, drug addiction, alcoholism. When Allah revealed in Quran فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ (Quran 5:90) leave the khamra alone, leave it in order for you to be

successful. A man said نَادَىٰ رَجُلٌ what man? It didn't say a name. A man hollered out that khamra, wine has become haram and it said this hadith متفق عليه reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, they said that when that ayat was revealed the wine poured down the streets of Medina and the streets was flowing with wine based on what? كَلِمَةُ ٱللَّهِ Allah said it's haram and the people even they had like this right, you about to drink it wine is prohibited, right? I never read one case where it says, well, let me finish this last one. Did you? I mean did you? Huh? Did you? Did you? Huh? Now if that was a Teaneck New Jersey, maybe a little bit different, right? But the fact of the matter is everyone that we read about they poured the wine out even as even when they were drinking they got the revelation, they poured it out.

The Opinion of Aisha on Gradual Revelation

Here's the opinion of Aisha رضي الله عنها. The opinion of who? Did I say the opinion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ? Did I say it's in Quran? I said it's whose opinion? Aisha. I'm saying to you before I say it, I agree with her. Let's see if you agree with her opinion. She said:

Had Allah first revealed you should not drink alcohol, you should not drink intoxicants the people would have said we will never give up wine. We would never give it up. And had Allah said from the beginning وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا don't go near fornication and adultery, in the beginning the people would have said we will never give it up. How many agree with her? How many disagree? Not only you gotta disagree, you gotta tell me why? Why? Hmm? True. How many agree with the principle that she's saying? Anybody disagree? Anyone else? You still at it, huh? Go ahead. Come on.

That's true, I agree with you. But in principle, let me tell you why I agree with her. And it took 1400 years later to prove that Aisha was right. Wallahi, she was right. First of all, in the beginning of the surahs, when the Quran was revealed, Allah didn't talk about a lot of prohibitions. You shouldn't do this, thou shalt not do this, thou shalt not do this. No, no, no, no, no, no. In the beginning the revelation was about al-iman, about al-jannah, about an-nar, the paradise, about hellfire, etc. About faith things. And later on Allah made the prohibitions. True?

The Historical Lesson: Prohibition in America

Now, check this out. Alright, I'm up. 1919. Hmm. Ah! Come here. Who said that? Come here, man. Come here. Come on. Get on over here. You're so smart. This is why I love this community. You're so smart. What's your name? Osman. Osman, how old are you? 17. 17 years old. He's so smart. I'm going to give him the mic. In fact, I'm not going to even continue the lecture. Let him finish it. That's how heavy you are, man. All right. Tell me what you just now said. Take the mic and tell me what you just now said. Take the mic, man. Alcohol is banned. Banned where? All over America. All over America. Very good, Osman. Good. Osman, come here. I'm not finished with you yet, right? Take the mic. Take the mic. Imam Siraj. Imam Siraj. Thank you. Thank you for my one minute of fame. All right, get out of here.

All right. The highest law of the land in this country is the Constitution of the United States of America.

In 1919, the 18th Amendment of the Constitution of America made it illegal to produce, to transport, and to sell alcohol. Alcohol is prohibited. That is called the prohibition. 1919. Fourteen years later, what happened? Huh? Come here. Come here, Osman. Get over here, man. Take the mic. Get it right, man. Age is 21. Huh? The age went to 21. The age went to 21. You did real good before. Not quite. Who can help? No. Huh? Come here, man. You got to take your place. I'm sorry, Osman. What's your name? Say it. Alcohol became legal 14 years later after 1919. Yes.

The 21st Amendment of the United States of America repealed the 18th Amendment. Why? Aisha was right. Aisha learned that in order for you to make a commandment, even if you are Allah, you have to lay the foundation first in order for the people to be successful to follow. Even if you are Allah, the Lord of the worlds, because Allah wants us to succeed, and He gives us an opportunity to succeed by laying the foundation. And once the foundation is established, then Allah can now give the commandment وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا . Don't go near fornication or adultery. Don't drink khamrah. Right?

"O you who believe, do not approach prayer while you're intoxicated until you know what you're saying, before"

He revealed the prohibition يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ )Quran 2:219) They're asking you about khamrah and gambling. Not prohibited yet. So the stages were set. Anybody with me? Okay, now here's my conclusion.

The Three Prohibitions During Fasting

You know Allah is wise. Allah is so wise. What can you not do? What are the three major things you cannot do, you're not permitted to do? During the daylight hours of Ramadan. What are the three things that you cannot do? No? Yes? Watch TV. I love this group. I love this group. We can't fight. We can't watch TV. I love this group. Huh? Violence. Okay. More basic than that. What are the three basic things? Eat and drink. Now you don't know about this one. Don't you tell me this little guy, he's raising his hand. What? And kidnapping, right?

Let me tell you something about kidnapping. Did you know any of you from Trinidad and Tobago? Trinidad, anyone from Trinidad and Tobago? Anybody? Did you know that in Trinidad and Tobago right now, there's a lot of problems with crime? Especially a lot of kidnapping. Did you know that? And do you know that in Trinidad and Tobago we have kidnapping insurance? Did you know that? It's true. People get insurance. If you kidnap, you got the money from the insurance to pay the kidnappers. No, not kidnapping. What's the last one? Ha! What'd you say? Intimacy.

Now you see intimacy is, I like the way you said that. Intimacy is a nice word. The young people don't know what you're talking about. It's over their head. Euphemistically, intimacy. Now what do you mean by intimacy? Mr. Court Quran Reader, what do you mean by intimacy? Intimidating. He made my point. Right? No intimacy, no intimidation. No. Give me another word for intimacy. What'd you say? Huh? Abduct? No. Marital relationship. Very good.

The Wisdom Behind Fasting

So, but let me tell you something brother and sister. You see Allah is wise. Let me tell you why Allah is wise. Because the three most basic instincts of man. He's driven by food. He's driven by water. And he's driven by the animal instinct of attraction to the opposite gender. You know what I'm talking about? Uncles, see I know my uncles, they get very uncomfortable when I start talking on this subject. Right? You get a little nervous, right? You get a little nervous, right? Uncles get a little nervous. But let me tell you something. These kids, they know about it. Even the one who's pretending, you know, intimacy means intimidation. He knows. He's trying to throw you off. But I know he know. You know what I know? I can see in his eyes.

Now brothers and sisters, let me tell you something. I put it this way. In 1978, I was blessed to go to Mecca and I studied. And when I was in Mecca, I was training to come back here. I even physically was training. I used to run around the track and I thought about coming back to the United States and helping the Muslims when I come back, trying to get as much knowledge that I can. That was my thinking to train. Let me tell you this. There is no better training than Shahru Ramadan, the month of Ramadan, the month of fasting. And let me tell you why, my conclusion.

The Story of Adam and Self-Control

Brothers and sisters, let me tell you this. Let me tell you this. Let's go back to the beginning. Our first father, Adam, our father and our mother, Hawa, his wife, what they call Eve. O Adam, you and your wife live in this garden here. And eat everything in the garden, everything, just don't approach this tree. And the moment you approach this tree, you eat from this tree, you become among the wrongdoers. I've often asked this question, I ask this question tonight. I want you to be honest. How many of you believe that you were in a huge garden and you know that Allah said, don't eat from this one tree. And you can eat everything else in the garden, but from this one tree. How many of you honestly believe that you would not have eaten from the tree? Raise your hand. Be honest. You can be honest. Come on, man, raise your hand. You think you would eat from the tree? Probably? Why? If Adam, yeah. Oh, okay.

All right. But Allah told you not to eat from the tree. You mean to tell me you think you would eat from it? Allah said don't do it? You would eat from it? What about you? As have you got, you got to come up and say that, man. This is, this is deep. This is the, this is the whole talk, man. This is it. Say that again. Question is how many of you are sinless now? Hey, how many things that Allah said don't do? And we know Allah said don't do it. It's in the Quran. We believe the Quran to be the word of Allah. And yet we do it, don't we? Huh? Don't we? Yeah, sure we do. Sure we do. Because you know what? Not one of us is sinless. Not one of us are sinless.

Ramadan: The Month of Patience and Strengthening

In my conclusion, brothers and sisters. This month of Ramadan that we're about to go into, inshallah, Wednesday, all of us will be fasting. Maybe we'll be fasting Tuesday. It is a great opportunity for you to do

what? To strengthen yourself. Who can tell me the name of this month? What is it called? Shaban. The next one coming? Ramadan. Who can tell me? This is not Jeopardy, man. Who can tell me the nickname of Shahru Ramadan? Who can tell me the nickname of Shahru Ramadan? If you want to get a prize, tell me the nickname of Shahru Ramadan. And if you get it right, you will have the honor of donating $100 to the masjid. What? What happened? Who can tell me the nickname of Shahru Ramadan? No, that's good. That's very good. It's the fasting month. Excellent. It's not the right answer. What's good? Yes. Month of Quran. Good. No. Rahma. Good.

I'll give you a hint. You can find it in the tradition of Abu Dawood, and An-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. The Prophet calls this month by its nickname. And what is it? Barakah? No, not Barakah. Allah's month. Good. Anyone else? It's called, ready? Shahru Salam. Who said that? Allahu Akbar. Shahru Salam. Yes. Not the right answer. It's called Shahru Sabr. Shahru Sabr. So Shahru Sabr is the month of patience. It's called the month of patience.

Modern Lessons on What Truly Matters

Think about this for a moment. You've been following the hurricanes lately, Katrina, Rita? They say that when the people evacuated Texas, there were 2.3 million people evacuating. And they said the lines on the roads, the cars were 100 miles long traffic jam. Think about this, right? Where were they fleeing? They were fleeing their homes. And what was in the car? Their stuff? Yeah, how much stuff? Not much. How much stuff could be in the car? Not much. Look what they were leaving behind. Look how many clothes they were leaving behind. Look how many books they were leaving behind. Look how much jewelry they were leaving behind. Look what they were leaving behind because you know why? Because at the end of the day, they realized that the most valuable thing they possessed were their lives. And they would exchange everything that they had for their lives.

And this is why Muslims, when they did muhajir, they left everything for Allah. But these people, they left their homes because they call it the Katrina factor. And they were afraid of the devastation of the hurricane. And they left their homes. Do you think they left their mansions? Sure they did. They left everything. And they left, and they got in the car, and they put whatever they could take with them, they put in their little car, and they're going away. Some of them, they came back and they had no homes left, but they still had their lives.

Understanding Human Nature and Its Trials

Now I'm saying this, brothers and sisters, to say this. What grade are you in? Third year in college. Senior. Let me tell you something about you two brothers. I believe that you are two good Muslims. I think you're very good. But let me tell you about a trial that you're going to have, if you didn't have it yet. That's okay. Be cool. You two, and you two, definitely you. And you. Not you, not you. Not yet, not yet. Not yet. You. Are going to have perhaps your biggest trial, and you. Yeah. Perhaps your biggest trial will be women. Yeah. Girls, all right. The better girls.

Why do I say that? You can't say, like, see, if I mentioned to him, girls, right? He said, yeah, yeah, girls, yeah. Because in that age, they don't care about girls, do you? See, look at that, see, you see, exactly that. But you

know what? Give him another year. You say, man, Mr. Siraj, you know those girls you were talking about? You were right. The point of the matter is why. Because how do you think you can resist what Allah created in you? You can't resist that Allah created you. Allah created you to be with a woman. He created it by nature. And any brother here, any man here, who are not attracted to women, see me later. We got to talk. Honestly, man, we got to talk. No, I'm not, I'm not interested in women. All right. All right, we'll talk about it. Because why? It is human nature. Allah created you. And you can't run from your nature. But what you can do is this. You can control it. Control it.

The Key to Success: Self-Control Through Fasting

You see, the key is, brothers and sisters, in my conclusion. We're going to make Salat in a couple of minutes. This is the key. The key is don't put yourself in a position where you violate the laws of Allah. For instance, if you take an egg and put it in hot water, what will happen? It will boil. You can't say, man, I can jump in water. No, no, no, no. You're going to boil. Because that's the nature. See, the key is not put yourself in position.

And the thing that will save us and strengthen us is this Shahr Sabr, this month of patience. It's the Shahr Ramadan where you absolutely train yourself. The three major instincts of man, eating, drinking, and intimacy with the opposite sex, is the three driving forces of humankind. And Allah uses that to control us, to train us, so that we will be servants of Allah. It is in our best interest that we do this, that we fast for this month of Ramadan.

Allah's Mercy for Everyone

And the last point. You know something about Allah the Almighty, how beautiful He is? He never forgets anyone. You read tonight:

Sick or on a journey. All of you can't fast for one reason or another. What do we do about those people? Those who cannot fast, who want to fast but cannot fast, they feed the poor. Allah finds a way for everyone.

Closing Advice and Du'a

So brothers and sisters, may Allah bless you. This is the last few days of Shahr Shaban. Let's get our minds prepared and get ready. Get ready for this great month of Ramadan. Put in your heart that I want to do every day. I want to fast every day. And I want to pray in the masjid as much as I can. I want to make all the prayers. And I want this to be a great and glorious month for me inshallah, for us. So that we can come out of the month of Ramadan with great patience. Patience and great strength.

And inshallah, and remember this. Please, as you go into the second month of Ramadan. Don't just jump in the month of Ramadan. Looking at your watch. Hoping and ready for it to end. Without taking something from the Ramadan. That becomes part of your character. So may Allah bless you, all of you. Especially to the youth. May

Allah bless you with a very successful Ramadan. Make strong niyyah to read the Quran. And fast as much as you can. Do as much volunteer work as you can. May Allah bless you.