Preparation and Execution of Your Best Ramadan Ever - Corrected Khutba

Ask yourself, where are the free times that I have? And one of the easiest systems that, in fact, I am actually doing this myself this Ramadan, is that on my iPad, on my iPhone, excuse me, I have the Qur'an app, and after every single Salah, I just pull out my iPhone and recite 5 or 6 pages, or more than that. And, of course, if you recite even 4 pages, if you do even 4 pages after every single Salah, what does that work out to? 4 times 5 is 20. And so, if you just spend, literally, calculated, 3 minutes it will take you.

3 minutes, after every Salah, you do 4 pages. And if you do 4 pages of Qur'an after every single Salah, then automatically you'll be doing a juz a day, and then, by the end of the month, you would have finished the Qur'an. Of course, 4 pages is the bare minimum.

My advice to you is to be realistic. Sometimes you won't have, like, for example, after Maghrib, many of us are not going to be spending time to read the Qur'an. Astaghfirullah, we're going to jump to the food.

If you know you're going to do that, then recite 5 pages after 4 Salahs, right? Do the math. 20 pages, divide it up. If you only have time after 2 Salahs, 10 pages, and that's basically less than 8-9 minutes if you read the Qur'an.

Of course, I mean, if you read it with Tarteel, even better, but if you just read it in a whispering voice, this is, Inshallah, the bare minimum that should be done. So, the first point of advice, be realistic and rediscover the beauty of the Qur'an not just in recitation but also in Tilawah to you.

The Conditions for Forgiveness: Iman and Ihtisab

The second point of advice is to reiterate what Ustadh Muhammad said, and that is to remind ourselves of the beautiful Hadith that really is simple, concise, to the point the Prophet, صلى الله عليه وسلم, said:

(Bukhari hadith 38, Muslim hadith 760)

"Whoever fasted the month, but then he added two conditions. We all fast. Alhamdulillah, all of us on this call. I'm sure all of us, Inshallah, are fasting or else we wouldn't have logged on to this call.

So, what are the two conditions? Whoever fasted the month of Ramadan with Iman and with Ihtisab, all of his previous sins will be forgiven. Now, that's a huge blessing. Think about that.

All of his previous sins. Think about what are the deeds that forgives all of the previous sins. There are very few in number. There are not that many. But you can probably list them on the fingers of one or two hands. This is one of those deeds, in the top ten deeds, that forgives all of your previous sins.

But there have to be two conditions. Number one, (إِيمَانًا) What does Iman mean? Iman doesn't just mean having faith. Of course, that is the primary meaning here that if a non-Muslim fasts, then of course, it's not going to be given the reward from Allah Azzawajal because he didn't do it for Allah.

However, who fasts in the world other than Muslims? In other words, who fasts Ramadan other than Muslims, right? So it is as if there's gotta be a deeper meaning than just whoever fasts as a Muslim because only Muslims fast Ramadan. The word Iman here doesn't just mean while having Iman. It means while renewing his Iman, while reinvigorating his Iman, while always being conscious that he is doing something for Allah and to please Allah Azzawajal.

And so it is as if this hadith, Iman Al-Ihtisab, is to fasting what Khushu' is to Salah. I repeat that. This hadith is reminding us that we need to have a humility, a humbleness, a perseverance when it comes to fasting just like when it comes to the prayer.

It's not just emotions and rituals that's rewarded. It's the Khushu'. It's the humility. It's the attention span, right? We all know that, right? If you just pray like a parrot moving up and down, up and down, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said a person might not get anything of Salah except maybe one- tenth of it, right? He might get nothing except a measly amount.

Similarly, if a person fasts as a Muslim, he knows he's supposed to fast, but he has no consciousness. He has no Iman. He has no Khushu' as he's fasting. The purpose of fasting has not really been met. And so Iman here means with full certainty that he is doing this for Allah and to please Allah and for the sake of Allah Azzawajal.

Iman here means Ihsan. And that is you worship Allah until you see him. Because even if you don't see him, he sees you.

And then Ihtisab means you're always expecting the reward. You're always literally greeting for the reward. In this case, greediness is good because when you're greeting for the reward, you're always thinking of the reward. You're always in your mind. And of course, you need to have Ihtisab. Any type of problem comes up when it gets... I mean, these days, MashaAllah, Ramadan is in July.

Pretty much around the world or most of the world is going to be very hot, the hottest time of the year. You need to have Ihtisab. When you're sweating, when your throat gets dry, when you're in the sun, that's when Ihtisab comes. You say, InshaAllah, I'm doing this for the sake of Allah. This is going to get me reward. And again, it goes back to consciousness.

The Spiritual Benefits of Fasting

So, this hadith is to fasting what Khushu' is to Salah. Another point I want to mention, some of the blessings that come out of Ramadan, some of the blessings that Ramadan really brings out in us. Of course, there's many.

But first and foremost, of course, we mentioned the Qur'an. That the attachment with the Qur'an has to be there. The second blessing, and again, this is something that many of you have heard and know:

"We're reminding one another.

The second blessing of Ramadan is that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala commands us to kind of sort of neglect our bodies for half the day. Just don't worry about them. I'll take care of you. Eating, drinking, our sensual desires, Allah has minimized, right? Now, what is the wisdom in this? Well, there's multiple wisdoms.

Once it is said that a man came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and he was not knowledgeable, he wasn't very knowledgeable of Islamic laws and he wanted to basically become a type of hermit or become a type of recluse or he even asked, maybe I can castrate myself like the Christians of old age, you know, they would castrate themselves so that they're living monkish lives, right? So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Tirmidhi hadith 1083)

"The exact meaning of this literally means the castration of my ummah is fasting. But there's a deeper meaning here. The being a hermit or being a monk, the maximum that really you're supposed to do, is through the fasting. And of course, a hermit and a monk is what? Somebody who cuts off his worldly pleasures. Somebody who cuts off all of the relationship of the dunya.

And our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, fasting is what Allah has legislated if you want to do something like this. That's the max you can do. You can't physically castrate yourself, you can't just go and live in the desert and nothing, that's not what our religion requires.

So, the second point to have above, there is clearly and undoubtedly an indication that we should not concentrate on our physical bodies, especially during the day. And what does that do? Well, when you don't concentrate on the physical body, the spiritual soul becomes more aware.

Right? This is a factor that's a deep topic here, but there's always a little bit of attention between the body and the soul. There's always a little bit of attention. And it doesn't have to be attention, but we make it attention. When we overfeed the body, and by overfeed, I don't just mean eating too much, I mean all of our sensual pleasures.

Like, how do you feel when you stuff yourself? You just feel lazy, lethargic, you just want to sit down, you want to do nothing. So, when you overfeed the body, the soul gets neglected. The ruh gets neglected.

When you don't, when you kind of sort of neglect the body, the ruh will feel more spiritually aware. The ruh will become more fine-tuned, if you like. And that's the purpose of Ramadan, and that is why you're supposed to increase the Qur'an, because your ruh is now aware.

It's like, you know, when the lights go out, your eyes become more sensitive to the dark, right? When the physical light is extinguished, Allah Azawajal just automatically blesses your vision to become more powerful, right? That's just Allah's Qudra that He's given us. Now, the same thing happens when the light, i.e. when the body is kind of sort of just cast aside for a while. Instantaneously, your vision, your spiritual vision, becomes more aware.

It becomes more sensitive. And therefore, Allah tells us to read Qur'an extra during this time, because this is the best time to benefit from the Qur'an.

Appreciation of Allah's Blessings Through Fasting

So the second benefit of Ramadan is, of course, the issue of... You can translate the hadith this way. The monasticism of my ummah is through the fasting. The hermitishness of my ummah is through the fasting. That you want to live a rough and tough life, then the max that is recommended by Allah is the fasting.

Of course, this leads us to the third point, and that is... And we've all heard this before, but it is so true that when you fast, you remind yourself of the blessings of Allah when you have food and you take it for granted, right? The saying goes that you don't appreciate what you have until it's taken away from you. You don't appreciate what you have until it is taken away from you. And this is a reality that every one of us has experienced.

Well, in fasting, Allah forces us to take away those blessings for a while. So that we are forced to confront the fact that we neglect those blessings. I repeat, Allah forces us to take away those blessings.

And when we take those blessings away for a while, we appreciate. Like, how could we possibly live without water? How could we possibly live without food? Those are blessings that Allah Azza wa Jal reinforces with us in Ramadan that throughout the year He's giving this to us. So thank Allah for those blessings.

The Month of Generosity

Which leads us to our next point. How do we thank Allah for those blessings? Well, many ways. But of those ways is to give these very blessings that we take for granted to others.

Fasting is also the month of generosity. Fasting is the month of sharing with the poor. Anas ibn Malik says that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was the most generous of all people. But in the month of Ramadan his generosity exceeded all bounds. It could not be measured. It was like the uncontrollable desert wind. (Bukhari hadith 6, Muslim hadith 2308)

Imagine you're in the desert and the wind is just blowing out of the desert. How can you stop that wind? So Anas ibn Malik says that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was the most generous. But in the month of Ramadan he would become even more generous than this uncontrollable wind.

And therefore, every one of us needs to ask himself or herself what can I do to be generous? Whether it's just feeding somebody a date in the masjid or even more than this going and finding a poor family in your neighborhood giving them food. And by the way, brothers and sisters this is the best way to give charity. Find a family.

Don't just go and I'm not astaghfirullah criticizing those who donate the Islamic charity event. I'm always promoting Islamic charities and whatnot. But at the same time far better than just going online and just giving 50 bucks to some company.

Far better is to go find somebody in your community who needs that 50 dollars. Who needs that 500 dollars. Far better is to find an orphan or to find a widow or to find a poor family, refugee family in your own community.

Do some hunting. Make some phone calls. And visit the person.

Because not only will your money be taken advantage of 100% without any administration fees but you will get a sense of direct contact with this poor family. You will see what is happening in their lives and you might even cater to their needs in a better way. Suppose they don't need money. They need food or rice. Suppose they don't need rice. They need beds.

You can now see what they need and then help them out. And this is the best thing to do especially in this month of Ramadan. Go find an opportunity, an avenue that you can give charity to.

And again, I reiterate I'm not saying don't give to astaghfirullah online charities. Obviously, as you know, we at Al Maghrib, myself, have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and we appreciate what they're doing. At the same time, for many of us, we neglect the smaller, the local cases and that is not something that is good.

We need to also concentrate on the local cases. So that's the second point. I think we're on the fourth point now.

Reconnection with the Masjid

And that is to benefit from that by giving back to the poor. Moving on to the fifth point, yet another benefit of Ramadan that comes out is that we are reintroduced to our masjids. Right? And every one of us knows this.

You know when you realize this the most is like the few days after Ramadan. When Ramadan finishes up, everybody realizes, notices a gap. And what is the gap? They just don't go to the masjid that much.

And they feel a sense of that. I miss, you know, meeting all those people, being in a spiritual environment, in Ramadan, and everybody gets reintroduced to the masjids. Masha'Allah, subhanakallah, it's such a, it's

Building Muslim Brotherhood

Another benefit of Ramadan is that Ramadan brings out, alhamdulillah, the Muslim brotherhood, the ukhuwwah.

Look at all of these blessings that happen, just especially in the month of Ramadan, that every one of us, we meet our brothers and our sisters on a daily basis. We're seeing them in the masjid, in taraweeh, in iftar. We're solidifying the bonds of friendship.

And of course, this is one of the greatest iman boosters that the ummah will become united through this.

The Power of Du'a in Ramadan

Yet another benefit which has been mentioned by Ustadh Muhammad is the issue of du'a. That in Ramadan, du'a is done. In Ramadan, all of us, we increase our du'a, and the twin of du'a is dhikr. Du'a is the weapon of the believer, dhikr is the fortress of the believer. Memorize these two things.

These are phrases from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and from the early scholars. Du'a is the weapon of the believer, and dhikr is the fortress of the believer. And du'a and dhikr are two twins.

You need both of them. Du'a to go on the offensive, and dhikr for the defensive. So, in Ramadan, our du'a and our dhikr increases.

We all make du'a to Allah. And of course, the best time to make du'a in Ramadan, especially, are before the iftar because our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that the du'a of the one who is fasting when he breaks his fast is never rejected. The du'a of the one who is fasting when he breaks his fast is never rejected. (Tirmidhi hadith 3598)

And we all know when we're sitting at the table with those, mashallah, samosas and all of that big iftari laid out, it is almost impossible to concentrate on du'a. That is what our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying. And at that time, the last few minutes of your iftar and your fasting, make sure that you take some time out and truly purify yourself.

Never is your soul and your body in attention as it is right before iftar, right? Your body wants to jump on the table and your soul is at it. You need to just take it out of that and just make du'a to Allah جل جلاله That du'a, sincerely said, right before iftar, is one of the most beautiful times where you can have a private relationship with Allah جل جلاله

The Greatest Blessing: Realizing Our Potential

And the last point that we'll mention, and I think the time is also up, the last point that we'll mention is, and this is really one of the greatest blessings of Ramadan, is the realization, brothers and sisters, the yaqeen that we get that we can be better Muslims. And this is something that wallahi every one of us experiences ourselves.

Every one of us, we get better in Ramadan. We leave some of the sins we're doing. We increase our ibadah.

Even the most furthest Muslim, in Ramadan, he rediscovers Islam. And this is the beauty of this month. Anyone who has an ounce of iman, anyone who has an atom's weight of iman, come Ramadan, subhanAllah, you find a change in them.

Some change. Yes, something happens. Maybe not as good as we'd like it, but still, something happens.

And this is a clear sign that Ramadan is a time when Allah جل جلاله allows Muslims to see their potential. And you know what happens when you see your potential? You tell me. You're having problems, let's say, in some type of class, you can't really understand anything.

And one day, it all fits into place. One day, khalas, every problem, you now understand what was the issue. And you go home and you can solve the problems, you can do whatever needs to be done.

The confidence boost that you get, the power that you feel that alhamdulillah, I can do this, right? That's what happens. And this is exactly why Allah جل جلاله legislated Ramadan. That it gives us the potential.

It makes us realize we are capable of being better people. And if we can be better people in Ramadan, we can be better people outside of Ramadan. The fact that during this month, we give up sins that we're addicted to.

During this month, we all start praying more, fasting more, dhikr more, du'a more, brotherhood more. Everything increases, right? Every single avenue of khair, it goes up in Ramadan. And we realize, you know what? Not only can I do it, it's actually fun to do.

It actually makes me feel better. It's spiritually rewarding, it's physically challenging but uplifting. Everything is good.

And so Allah جل جلاله gives us a taste of our rewards, a taste of our blessings of being Muslims. And therefore, one of the primary wisdoms of Ramadan, brothers and sisters, is that it affords us the opportunity to become better every single year.

Making Ramadan a Stepping Stone

One of the scholars of the past said that the sign of Ramadan having been accepted is that a person performs good deeds after Ramadan is over. A sign that Ramadan has been accepted is that a person continues to perform good deeds after Ramadan is over. And the way that I put it is as follows. And let's be very blunt here.

We all know that when Ramadan is over, we're not gonna be this religious. Let's just be frank. We're not gonna be reading this much Quran. We're not gonna be going this much to the masjid, praying tarawih, etc., etc. That's really, you know, I'm not gonna say impossible, but that's just, it's not something that most of us are able to do.

Now, the point though is not that you continue your routine of Ramadan outside of Ramadan. That's not the point. No. Really that is not the point because it's impossible.

You're not gonna fast every day. That's actually against the sunnah. You know, many of us are not gonna pray tahajjud, qiyam every single night. Many of us, our recitations of Quran will be going down. That is a reality.

However, the point is, let's say in Ramadan you started off at the bottom of the ladder. During Ramadan, mashallah, you climbed a hundred steps up. You climbed up, mashallah, a hundred steps to this ladder. When Ramadan is over, you know that you're not gonna remain a hundred steps up.

But when you go down, don't come crashing down back to the very step that you began the month at. Because that means that you've wasted the entire month. It's like your boss gave you a promotion and then after a month is over, you're like, khalas, I wanna go back to my old salary, my old privileges.

I don't want this new promotion. That's not the way Allah Azza wa Jal wants us to work. When you got this promotion, suppose you can't keep it at a hundred. Khalas, go down to maybe 70. Go down to 60. Go down to 50.

But don't go back down to where you began, because that defeats the whole point of the month. We all know that when Ramadan is over, okay, there's gonna be a little bit of a crash. But let it be a little bit of a crash.

Let it not be going crashing down all the way to where we began. Or else, it's as if Ramadan came, a huge bump increase, and then when Ramadan finishes, we go crashing back down. It is as if our graph, our chart, remained basically steady at zero.

And therefore it is as if there was no Ramadan. No! Ramadan, use Ramadan as a stepping stone for your life. That's the point, brothers and sisters.

Every year, every year, let Ramadan boost you up. Go to a hundred, go to a thousand, go to a hundred thousand. Then, after Ramadan is over, when you come slowing a little bit back down, still remain higher from where you began when the month began.

Remain higher than that, and then what's gonna happen? Every year, your chart is gonna increase. Every year, your graph is gonna go higher and higher and higher, and so every Ramadan will be better than the previous Ramadan, and this is one of the greatest secrets and wisdom of why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala legislated this month.

The Warning from the Hadith

May Allah azza wa jal make us of those who appreciate the blessings of this month. May Allah azza wa jal make us of those who read Qur'an and who fast and who pray during this month. May Allah azza wa jal make us of those who enter Jannah from Bab al-Rayyan.

And I conclude by reminding you and me of that hadith which is a very scary hadith. It's a very frightening hadith, and that is the hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stepped on the minbar three times and he said, Ameen, Ameen, Ameen, and Jibreel came to him and told him three things and said, Say Ameen at the end of these three things.

One of them was a person who meets his... a person whom Allah azza wa jal allows his parents to live to an old age and he's not able to get his sins forgiven, that such a person never be forgiven. Say Ameen.

And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Ameen, that if you cannot use one of your parents to get into Jannah, then really you're a failure. And another is that anybody who doesn't say the salat and salam upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that may there be no good in him, say Ameen. So if you're too stingy to say salat upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

And the third of them related to our topic is anyone (مَنْ أَدْرَكَ رَمَضان - man adraka ramadan) whoever manages to catch Ramadan and still cannot get his sins forgiven, then may he have no good in him, may he be furthered from Allah's mercy, say Ameen. (Tirmidhi hadith 3545)

And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Ameen. The bottom line, brothers and sisters, if you cannot step up your act in Ramadan, if you can't get your act together in Ramadan, you have no good in you. And this is not me speaking.

This is Jibreel commanding our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to say Ameen to this fact. That if you cannot step up your game, and if you cannot be a righteous person, and look at the goal. I mean, wallahi, the goal is just amazing.

Have all of your sins forgiven. I mean, it's not as if Jibreel said whoever cannot fast month. It's not as if Jibreel said whoever, you know, just read a few extra juz.

I mean, he set the goal. He set the bar basically as high as we'd ever wanted to go. And that is having all of the sins forgiven.

And you know why he set the bar so high? Because Allah Azza wa Jal made access to that bar so easy and not so difficult. Because Allah made access to that bar even though it is so high. And that height is to have all of your sins forgiven.

But to get to that height, Allah Azza wa Jal made it so easy that if you still can't get it, the rewards are so great. The rewards are so high. The path to get it is so easy.

If you're too lazy to take that path to get that goal, to get that trophy, to get that prize, then la khayra fika there is no good in you or in anybody who does not do that. So may Allah Azza wa Jal save us from that category of people. And may He be of those who benefit from this month the way that it should be benefited from.

Q&A Session

Question about welcoming newcomers to the masjid:

Jazakallahu khayran, Shaykh now, for that wonderful lecture and the advice that you gave on benefiting from Ramadan. We ask Allah Azza wa Jal to allow us to be of those who inshallah are better come the end of the month, better Muslims, better in our ibadah, better in our degrees with Allah Azza wa Jal and our closeness from Him than we were going into it in every Ramadan that we're allowed to experience from now inshallah ta'ala. Barakallahu fi shaykh.

If you would allow me to ask you one question which is, you mentioned about the masajid being filled with people who do not come the rest of the year. Shaykh, I wanted to ask you as a number of, you know, I would imagine that a lot of the people who are participating are people who are in masajid going during the entire year. What should our relationship be with regards to those individuals, brothers and sisters when they do come to the masjid? A number of them, you know, they may not be dressed appropriately, they may look very, you know, strange and they come for a taraweeh or they come for an isha prayer.

What should our relationship be with these individuals, Shaykh?

Shaykh's Response:

Wallahi, Akhi, Ahmad, the reality that we notice and see is that, as we said, the masajid fill up in Ramadan but then when Ramadan finishes, sadly, the masajid, you know, they are not as full. In fact, let's be honest here, they kind of empty out. But, however, there is a caveat here and it's that caveat that gives us hope.

And we notice this and I noticed this myself in the two years that I've been here with this community of masjid and that is that after every Ramadan, Alhamdulillah, there is a noticeable difference in the quantity of people coming to the masjid. I.e., before Ramadan, if we used to have, let's say, you know, five, six or four for isha, after Ramadan, Alhamdulillah, it goes to like seven, eight. And that same thing has happened two years in a row that every Ramadan, we get like the whole, you know, two, three extra rows coming in.

I.e., what have we done? What has Allah Azza wa Jalla blessed the community to do? That is that to increase our retention rate, right? There's a lot of people coming to the masjid. Maybe like 500, 400 people coming to the masjid. Obviously, in an average isha, you probably get 10% of them, 40% or 30, you know, 40 people or 30 people coming.

The goal is to make sure that these people, these brothers and sisters, they try their best to attach themselves to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. They have a great experience. And therefore, what we need to do is to provide for them the best spiritual and the best iman lifting and the best even logistical experience.

Wallahi, brothers and sisters, our masajid should be clean. They should have, you know, prayers on time. They should have people that are friendly there.

All of this is part of the iman building. So those of us who are regulars coming to these masajid, make sure that these things are taken care of. If you see a new person in your masjid, don't just say, oh, where are you from? Go up and hug him and say, mashallah, great to see you.

What's your name, how can I help out? You know, where do you work? Just become his friend. Because alhamdulillah, the reality is, Ramadan does open doors for people to enter the masjid. Ramadan does reintroduce people to their faith.

And look, there's always gonna be the Ramadan Muslims. Let's be again, you know, honest here. There's always gonna be those who only come in Ramadan.

Okay, Allah knows their faith and Allah knows their judgment. Our job is to try to get those Ramadan Muslims to be 24-7 Muslims. That's our job.

And maybe it's not gonna happen this year. But, a smile that you gave to your brother. A plate of food that you shared.

You know, you were in line and there's a stranger behind you. You're like, you take my spot. Just something small like this will open up his heart and open up his iman.

Like, MashaAllah, this is what Islam does. Right. So, your job is to act as an ambassador to your fellow Muslim brothers and sisters.

Make them feel good about Ramadan, about the masjid, about the community. And simply, just be a loving, caring person. And leave the rest to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Barakallahu fi shaykh. Jazakallahu khair. Jazakallahu khair everyone who participated in tonight's program and made it such an incredible success.