Bidding Farewell To Ramadan Shaykh
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-07T22:53:47.839888+00:00 | Topic: Ramadan
Bidding Farewell To Ramadan
Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi
Opening and Gratitude to Allah
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. Come to Prayer, Come to Prayer. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. There is none worthy of worship except Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.
We thank Allah for guiding us to the Quran. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed those whom He chose. Allah chose certain segments of this world, of this population, and He blessed them with this book. Not all of mankind believes in this book, and it is Allah's blessings that He chose us to be amongst the ummah that believes in this book.
We thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for making us the best of all nations:
"You are the best of all ummahs that has ever been brought out for mankind."
We thank Allah for being in the ummah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:
(Sahih Muslim (856))
"We are the last of ummahs in this world but the first of them on the day of judgment."
The Blessing of Laylatul Qadr
We thank Allah for all of these blessings. We thank Allah azawajal for blessings we can count and understand, and for blessings we cannot count and will never understand. And of the blessings that we thank Allah for is having gifted this ummah not only with the blessings of Ramadan but with the blessings of Laylatul Qadr.
No ummah has been blessed with the blessings of Laylatul Qadr. No ummah has been given this opportunity that every single year they can do one night of worship that will give them multiple lifetimes of good deeds. How many are the blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and yet how ungrateful most of us are. Were it not for Allah's forgiveness and Allah's rahma, we would have no chance on the day of judgment.
Reflection on the Swift Passage of Time
And as we witness this last Jumu'ah of this month of Ramadan, as we witness today the very last Jumu'ah and the very last day or the second to last day of this month, we should reflect how quickly time flies.
Only yesterday we were wondering how will we do Ramadan under lockdown, how will we face this month under new circumstances, and we were all a little bit worried, a little bit nervous, a little bit anxious. And in the twinkling of an eye all of that has finished.
And here we are on the verge of saying goodbye to this blessed month, re-entering the rest of the months of this year. It is as if this whole month went by in the twinkling of an eye. And we need to reflect on this because it is a metaphor for how quickly time flies. It is a metaphor not only of this month of Ramadan but of our entire lives.
Quranic Warnings About Procrastination
Dear Muslims, the Quran continually reminds us that on the day of judgment, large groups of people will regret that they did not spend their times more wisely. The Quran reminds us that we should not procrastinate. We should not delay the niyyah to change for the better. In fact, religious procrastination is one of the main tactics of Shaytan.
Shaytan comes and says, oh you will be a good Muslim only after you go for Hajj. You will be a good Muslim when you reach the age of 60 or 70 or 80. And they'll put these fictitious ideas of changing tomorrow. Change does not occur tomorrow, change occurs now. We do not control tomorrow, we can by the help of Allah control now.
And remember that those who do not change on time will not be able to change before their time comes. Multiple verses in the Quran Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:
"Spend from what we have given you before death comes to one of you. Then, when death comes, the person will say, oh Allah, give me another chance." Notice, the person wants to spend before he dies, but death will come to him before he's able to be a righteous person.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:
When one of them sees death, he will beg Allah and he will say, oh my Lord, give me one more chance, send me back to this world so that I can live a good life and I can be a righteous person.
And Allah says:
Allah azawajal says, no, it is a word that He has said. Allah has already said it, Allah has decreed it. What has Allah decreed? That once death comes they shall not be given another chance.
Therefore, Muslims, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is warning us. Allah says:
Follow the best of what has been revealed to you before the punishment takes you by surprise, before it comes to you by surprise that you did not know, you did not think it would be coming.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:
Before the soul will say, woe to me. Listen to this verse. How much time I wasted not worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How much time I wasted not giving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala His haq. Allah is literally telling us what will be the fate of large segments of mankind so that we do not find ourselves in those segments. We do not want to be amongst those who regretted that they did not do enough.
The Metaphor of Swift Time
The quickness of this month, the swiftness by which this month has passed by, it is a metaphor for the swiftness of our entire lives. And I challenge any one of you, no matter what age group you are in. If you're in your 20s or your 30s or your 40s or your 50s, look back a decade. Those of you that are able to look back two decades, those of you that are able to look back three decades, and see how quickly it was as if yesterday.
That memory that is so vivid in your head from so many decades ago, it was as if it occurred yesterday. And yet the time frame is 10, 15, 30, 50. For some of you 60 years have gone since that time frame. And surely in this there is an ibrah, there is a lesson for those who are intelligent.
The Command to Race to Good Deeds
Dear Muslims, the Quran is constantly telling us to race to do good deeds. Whenever Allah mentions good deeds with a verb, the verb is a very active verb. Allah azawajal is saying:
Race to good deeds.
Allah is saying rush when you hear the Adhan of Jumu'ah:
Then walk with a determined pace. Allah azawajal is encouraging us with active verbs: Do not delay.
The Prophet's Refuge from Laziness
And our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would take advantage, would seek refuge in Allah from laziness. He said he would say:
(Sahih Bukhari 6369)
"Oh Allah I seek refuge in you from العجز and الكسل." And العجز is the incapability to do something, and الكسل is the laziness to do that same good deed. He would seek refuge in procrastination and in delaying.
And in one Athar it is said that:
"Procrastination is from Shaytan." To delay things, to procrastinate, this is from the actions and from the whisperings of Shaytan.
The Five Things Before Five Others
And our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم commanded us to take advantage of five things before five others would happen. It's a famous hadith that he said:
(Al-Hakim, Al-Mustadrak 7846)
"Take advantage when you have health before you fall sick. Take advantage when you have time before you get busy. Take advantage when you're able to do something before you're not able to do it." All of these five things. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying do not delay when you have them. Take advantage of them.
The Purpose of Ramadan: Spiritual Training
Now that Ramadan is finishing, now that Ramadan is moving on to the next month of Shawwal, now that we're going to be going back to our quote unquote regular routine, let us understand the purpose of Ramadan.
Ramadan was never meant to just give us a boost of Iman and then that's it, go back to normal. No, Ramadan is the spiritual training camp. Ramadan is our gym for the soul. That we go to the gym every single day, we build a better body at the gym.
What do you think of the person who MashaAllah Tabarakallah has a much fitter body, a much stronger body, and then one day he says, "You know what, I'm going to go back to the way that I was before I started going to the gym." That person has wasted the entire effort that was put in. The entire regiment that was put in has gone to waste.
So too is the month of Ramadan for our soul. Every single day we have been fine tuning. We have been hitting the gym of the soul. We have been increasing our Iman, increasing our Salah, increasing our Quran, increasing our consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We all have tasted the sweetness of Iman InshaAllah ta'ala in this month.
Now that we have tasted the sweetness of Iman, how can we go back to how we were before Ramadan began?
The Ladder Metaphor
Now, it is understood, it is obvious that we cannot maintain the same level that we have during Ramadan. And that is of course psychologically understood. Ramadan is indeed a blessed month. But the point is that the way that I put this is that look, the month of Ramadan, it is like a ladder that we went up. Maybe 30, maybe 50, maybe 100 steps from where we were before this month of Ramadan.
InshaAllah all of us without exception, we have climbed the ladder of Iman, the ladder of Taqwa. We have climbed many rings higher and higher. We are now inhabiting inshaAllah ta'ala a better level of Iman.
It is understood that when Ramadan finishes, we are going to go down a bit because the blessings are gone. That we don't have the same quality of, you know, the spirituality understood. Some of the factors are not working, you know, for us as they were.
My point to myself and all of you is very simple: If we went up 100 steps and we are going to go back down after Ramadan, why don't we make it our utmost goal that when we do go a little bit back down, we will go back down and still be much higher than we were before the month of Ramadan?
Let us make sure that our end result after this month is still much higher than when we began. It is understood maybe we won't be reading one juz of Quran a day. Maybe we will not be praying, you know, 8 or 10 raka'at of taraweeh in our homes every single night. It's understood that it's not possible for all of us to do that.
But my advice to myself and all of you is that the goal of every Ramadan is that okay, we rose 100. Then if we are going to come back down, let's not come crashing down to zero. Let's go down 10, 20, maybe even 50, but where we finish off, it should be 50 more than when we began. Where we continue from the month of Shawwal, it should be much more than where we were in Sha'ban.
Building Upon Each Ramadan
Why? Because if Ramadan was simply a bump and then we go back down, this means that Ramadan did not impact us at all. This means that Ramadan did not give us what was needed to be given. If we are able to benefit from Ramadan, then post Ramadan our level of ibadah, our level of taqwa, our level of consciousness of Allah will be better.
Then guess what? The next year's Ramadan we're gonna go higher even more. Then the next year after that we're gonna go higher even more. Such that every single Ramadan we will boost ourselves up a few degrees so that Ramadan acts the way that it was supposed to act. So that Ramadan has an impact on us year after year. So that every single Ramadan we are finding ourselves to be at a higher place than the previous Ramadan.
And so our best Ramadan will be our last Ramadan. And our best days that we live in this world will be the very last days that we live. That is the ultimate goal:
(إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالْخَوَاتِيمِ - Innamal a'malu bil khawatim) (Sahih Bukhari 6607)
As our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "Actions are judged by the end." What did we do at the very end?
And the purpose of Ramadan, we keep on pushing, we keep on boosting ourselves to go higher and higher every single year.
The Reality of Our Last Ramadan
Allah knows how many more Ramadans we have. There is no doubt, dear Muslims, that next Ramadan there will be people that we had this year we will not have them next year. This is the inevitable (سُنَّةُ اللهِ فِي خَلْقِهِ). And perhaps one of those might be me or you. We do not know when our ajal is. We do not know when our death has been written. This is the sunnat Allah. This is the custom and this is the decree of Allah.
There is no doubt that every single one of us will be worshipping in one Ramadan and we will not know it, it will be our last Ramadan. So we need to make sure that we take advantage of every single Ramadan to the best, to the maximum. That we make sure that we rise as high as we can. And then when the dip occurs in the month of Shawwal, as it is going to occur, that that dip is as minimal as possible. We try to retain as much as we can.
The Test of True Benefit
But definitely, without a doubt, you need to examine yourself after Ramadan and compare yourself to before Ramadan. And you had better have a higher increase, or else, dear Muslims, do you know what that would mean? If there is no increase, we seek Allah's refuge, it means that in reality you have not truly benefited from Ramadan. You have not truly tasted the iman and the taqwa that is necessary.
Allah says in the Quran:
"Allah accepts from those who have taqwa."
And our scholars mention that if Allah accepts a good deed, this means you have taqwa. This means that your religiosity and your iman after a good deed will be better than it was before the good deed.
That is why one of the signs of an accepted hajj, for example, is that the person comes back a changed man. You go, you do hajj, you come back a totally different person. Ramadan is not to the level of hajj, but it is definitely of the top five things that a Muslim has an impact on his life and from our religion.
So Ramadan, the month of Ramadan, it's supposed to have that transformative impact on us. That Ramadan changes from what we were after Ramadan versus before Ramadan.
Practical Planning for Post-Ramadan
So let us examine our levels. And what I advise myself and all of you is that let us be realistic. Let us plan. You know, we plan everything else of this world. Why don't we plan our religiosity? We plan when we're going on a trip. We plan our careers. We plan if we're doing anything of significance, building a house or moving. We have a list of what we're gonna do. Why don't we sit down between us and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and contemplate and have a mental list: This is what I'm gonna do for the sake of my religion.
And my advice is just a simple suggestion: is that we have a list that has two lists. The first list: our actions of good that we need to concentrate on. The second: our actions of sins that we need to eliminate from our lives.
And my advice is that you have two or three, maybe more if you can, but at least three different areas of worship that you know you are lacking in.
First Area: Salah
One of them must be the salah. No matter what level of salah you are on, you need to up the game. If you're not praying five times a day, then dear Muslim, when will that change come? When will that change? To what? For how long are you going to delay this change? Start praying five times a day.
If you're praying five times a day, increase to your regular sunnahs. Because that is something Allah will build a palace for you in Jannah. And who would not want the architecture of Allah that he's being gifted? Only to the one who prays. It's less than ten minutes a day to pray your regular sunnah.
If you're praying your sunnah, add on salatul duha or salatul tahajjud. If you're praying all of that, look at the quality. Always you can increase the khushu, the quality of khushu.
So number one is your salah. Look at your salah. See where can I up the game? Where can I raise the bar?
Second Area: Quran
Number two: the Quran. No matter what you're doing of Quran, some of us don't recite the Quran regularly. My sincere advice to myself and all of you: even if it's five minutes a day, even if it is just a few
minutes before you begin your routine, after your breakfast for your body, have a breakfast for your soul. Open up the Quran and read a few minutes every single day without exception.
If you're already reading a little bit, increase a little bit. So that's going to be another bar that we raise.
Third Area: Personal Choice
And then the third: any area that you particularly like. Some people like to give regular charity. Some people like to give or to listen to regular durus and Islamic knowledge. Some people have other areas. So three areas that you can work on.
And you say inshallah ta'ala, in this next upcoming year until the next Ramadan, I will master these three things. Then the next Ramadan, you then look at another three. And then the second Ramadan from now, another three. You keep on raising the bar.
The List of Sins
The other list: the list of sins. We all have issues we are dealing with. Whether it is something of the heart, we have a problem with somebody, we need to cleanse it out. Whether it is an issue of arrogance. Whether it is an issue of jealousy. Whether it is an issue of a personal vice that we have in our private lives. Whether it is an issue of interest. We all have sins. Every one of us. We are all the children of Adam.
Let this Ramadan be a time frame to think and examine about the main issues that we have. And then say to ourselves: Inshallah ta'ala, my goal by the time next Ramadan comes is that I have inshallah ta'ala eliminated this from my list of regular sins.
Dealing with Slip-ups
As for slip-ups, my dear brothers and sisters, everybody slips up. Don't let a slip-up discourage you to the point of giving up. A one-off sin that we do, subhanallah, this is our father Adam, had the one-off sin as well. The one-off sin, it's not an open license, but don't let it be a discouragement that you know if we commit a sin, do not let shaitan make you feel so guilty that you give up trying.
No, the goal is not perfection. Nobody is going to be perfect. The goal is the constant turning back to Allah. Allah azza wa jal does not look at the quantity of our sins. He looks at the quality of our repentance. So we need to be sincere when we turn back to Allah, and then sincere again, and then sincere again.
So we look at the major sins that we are doing in our lives. And we say inshallah ta'ala, by next Ramadan, those sins will be much more, much less minimal than they were the previous year. And every single year we continue to work on these deeds.
The Metaphor of Life's Desires
Dear Muslims, our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) hadith is in Tirmidhi, that he was sitting amongst the sahaba and he picked up a stone and he threw it far, far away. And then after a while he picked up another stone and he threw it nearby. So they could see the far stone, they could see the near stone.
He said: "Do you know what this metaphor is? Do you know what this example is?" He said: "That farther stone over there, that is the desires of man. That is what the man wants. That is what his hopes, he wants to get there. And do you know what the closer stone is right here? That is his death. His death is gonna come to him before all of his desires are reached."
Preparing for Death
Dear Muslims, this month of Ramadan has passed by in the twinkling of an eye. We all have those desires. We have our passions, our dreams, every single one of us. We will always be having those far away dreams. And that's nice, nothing wrong to have those dreams. Realize though that death will come to us before we reach all of those dreams.
So let us prepare for that time of death. Let us see how quickly, how swiftly time is going by. And let us be ready to meet the angel of death such that when we meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we will not have regrets and say: "Oh I wish I had done this and I wish I had done that."
Take advantage of the time that we have before we do not have any more time.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless me and you with and through the Quran. And may He make us of those whose verses they understand and who implement His halal and haram throughout their life span. I ask Allah's forgiveness. You as well ask. He is the Ghafoor, The Rahman.
Second Khutbah
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah al-wahid al-ahad, Al-samad, Alladhi lam yalid wa lam yulad, wa lam yakun lahu kuffuan ahad, wa ba'du.
Practical Reminders for Eid
Some quick reminders. First and foremost, that if Eid is not tomorrow, we still have one night. Do not be lazy on this one night. Most likely Eid will be Sunday. And so if Eid is Sunday, that means we still have an extra night of worship.
Zakatul Fitr
Also another point is that zakatul fitr. Make sure that we pay our zakatul fitr. Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) mandated zakatul fitr on every single Muslim who could afford to pay it. And it is we have calculated, estimated to be ten dollars per person. And zakatul fitr is paid before the Salatul Eid.
And if you log on to our website, we are accepting zakatul fitr. And you can go to any other website as well that is accepting zakatul fitr. But it needs to be paid before Salatul Eid. So make sure that you pay ten dollars per person in your entire household, whether they were fasting or they were not fasting. If you have toddlers or children that are not fasting, if you have elderly that are not fasting, still zakatul fitr must be paid ten dollars per person.
And the goal of zakatul fitr is that in case we didn't, you know, do a fast properly, in case we said something we shouldn't have said, we looked at something we shouldn't have looked at, that inshallah ta'ala that zakatul fitr, it purifies our fast. And subhanallah, how easy is Allah. For ten dollars zakatul fitr, the whole month inshallah ta'ala of, you know, mistakes that we made that we're regretful for, inshallah ta'ala there will be a kaffara for that as well.
Eid Prayer Instructions
Because of the lockdown, as you're all aware, we will not be having a communal Salatul Eid. So we are following the fatwa from the Fiqh council of North America and also from AMJA that is encouraging all families to pray Eid on their own, meaning within their households. Whoever is quarantined, they will have their own jama'at.
And the procedure for the Eid Salah is that it is a two raka'ah. The khutbah is not necessary. You can listen to the live khutbah that we'll be giving at 9:30. So at 9:30 AM sharp on the day of Eid, we will be starting the Salah. You will not be praying behind us as Imam Ma'mum. You will be praying individually as jama'at in your houses. And a person will lead.
And there will be two raka'ah. And you will raise your hand seven times for the first raka'ah. And then you will recite Fatiha and whatever surah. If you are able to do Surah Al-A'la or any surah, that is fine. Then when you stand up for the second raka'ah, you will then raise your hand six times.
So Takbeerat Al-Ihram, you will say Allahu Akbar and then five extra, a total of six. So from the additional takbeerat, when you say Allahu Akbar for the first raka'ah, you will add six takbeerat, a total of seven. In the second raka'ah, when you stand up and say Allahu Akbar, you will add five takbeerat, a total of six.
So if that's not clear, you can log on to my Facebook post. I have more clear message over there. So Insha'Allah Ta'ala, there will be two raka'ah. If you are able to recite Surah Al-Ghashiyah in the second raka'ah, fine, if not any surah.
After that, we will have our live khutbah from Epic. Of course you will be listening just as a regular reminder. You are not going to be connected to us in the actual Eid, but just as a regular reminder. And it will be a short khutbah Insha'Allah, less than ten minutes Insha'Allah is my Eid khutbah.
Celebrating Eid at Home
And then after that Insha'Allah, you will proceed and make sure that you celebrate Eid in a manner that is really something that your children will remember. We are under lockdown, very unique circumstances. We need to make sure that our children understand and appreciate this day of Eid.
Make sure we show them extra love on this day. Follow the sunnahs of ghusl and of wearing good clothes and of perfume and of having a light iftar or breakfast. Follow all of these sunnahs. Do your Eid in your houses and it will be an interesting Eid that Insha'Allah you can tell your children and grandchildren about many, many years to come.
Drive-by Event
And Insha'Allah, Alhamdulillah, we are also at 10:30, an hour after salah, we will be beginning the drive-by that you can come with your family. At least some spirit of Eid, we will be distributing sweets and packets of goodies to the children. So just drive by, even if you don't have kids. Come Insha'Allah so that at least in the cars from safe, safe distancing, and this is what we have to do. We have to make the best of the spirit of Eid.
Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that Eid is one of our signs, one of our major signs. He would tell even the women and the elderly to come to the jama'a. Even those that cannot pray, he would say: "Just come and let them witness the jama'atul khair. Let them witness the good that Allah azawajal is sending."
So since we cannot have the actual prayer together, at least we want to have the spirit of Eid. So we strongly encourage you from 10:30 onwards to come in your cars into the parking lot and just drive through and say salam to all of us and begin to pray and to be given something for the gifts and the children.
Final Du'a
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to lift from us this plague and this disease so that we can return to our daily routines.
Allahumma inni da'in fa amminoo. Allahumma la tada'ana fi hadha yawmi dhamman illa ghafarta wa la hamman illa farajta wa la daynan illa qadayta wa la mareedan illa shafayta wa la asiran illa yassarta.
Allahumma ghafil lana wa li ikhwanina allatina sabaquna bil iman wa la taja'a fi qulubina ghillan lillatina amanoo Rabbana innaka raoofur rahim.
Oh Allah, we ask that this month of Ramadan only comes to an end with all of our sins forgiven. Oh Allah, oh Allah, cause all of our sins to be forgiven in this month. Oh Allah, oh Allah, accept our qiyam in this month. Oh Allah, accept our siyam in this month. Oh Allah, accept our recitation of the Quran in this month. Oh Allah, make us of those who when the Eid Salah, when the Eid is announced, also our prizes
are announced. Oh Allah, oh Allah, make us of those whose names are announced from those who have been freed from the fire of hell.
Oh Allah, accept all of our deeds of this month. Oh Allah, oh Allah, we ask that you give us many more Ramadans after this, full of iman and taqwa and full of good deeds and full of health. Oh Allah, we ask that the best Ramadan that we ever spend will be the last Ramadan on this earth. Oh Allah, we ask that the best of days that we ever spend are the days that are right before our death.
Oh Allah, we pray to you, we beg you that you only cause us to return to you when you are pleased with us. Oh Allah, we ask that the last kalima that we ever say before we leave this earth is the kalima of: There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.
Closing
Servants of Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has commanded you with a command that he began with himself and then he commanded the angels themselves, and then he told all of us to perform it ourselves as well. For he said:
"Verily, Allah and the angels pray to the Prophet. O you who have believed, pray to him and submit yourselves to him."
Oh Allah, pray and submit and bless and bless your servant and messenger Muhammad and his family and all his companions.
O servants of Allah, verily, Allah commands with justice and goodness and forbids immorality and evil and transgression. He warns you so that you may remember. Remember Allah, the Great. He will remember you. And be grateful to Him. He will increase for you. And remember Allah, the Great, and establish prayer.