The Spiritual Significance of Ramadan - Corrected Khutba

The Spiritual Significance of Ramadan

Speaker: Yasmin Mogahed

Opening

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

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. May the peace and blessings be upon the most noble of prophets and messengers, our master Muhammad, and upon his family and companions.

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

As-salamu alaykum, I have a typical job of two things, one is to speak over a wedding in the other room and the other is to be what's in between you and his daughter. So make dua for me and may Allah accept your fast and your sacrifice.

The Special Reward of Fasting

I want to begin with a hadith that just makes me cry. Allah is so merciful. Allah says that every single action that we do, He rewards us multiplied. Like the reward is always multiplied, Allah tells us.

(Bukhari)

"Every deed of the son of Adam is multiplied tenfold to seven hundredfold. Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, said: 'Except for fasting, for it is for Me and I will reward it. He gives up his desires and his food for My sake.'"

He says that the reward will be multiplied times 10 up to 700 and this is because of the generosity and mercy of Allah. But He says with the exception of fasting. And this is the part that really touched me because He says that for fasting, the reward is something else.

Like He puts fasting in a special category and I want you guys to reflect about that for a second. Allah is saying that His mercy is so much that He will multiply all the rewards from 10 up to 700. But fasting, He's saying except for fasting, that's special.

He says that reward is for me, that reward is with me. Why? Why is fasting so special to Allah? Listen to this. Because Allah says that human being gave up their desire for my sake.

And that's powerful. That whenever we give up something for the sake of Allah, it is so heavy in the scale. It is something so beloved to Allah.

Why? Because of this thing called sacrifice. That sacrifice is that powerful. Sacrifice is that powerful that its reward is something that's infinite.

And Allah says of that, that's special for me.

The Marshmallow Test: Delayed Gratification

Now just recently I read this article and it was actually a scientist, a psychologist. And he was saying that a lot of the studies that we did about how do we predict success were completely off the mark.

So they had a lot of studies looking at children, trying to predict which children are going to be successful in the future. So they looked at different aspects, they looked at different markers and they found that most of them were off the mark. For example, they looked at IQ, right? And they would look at IQ and say, okay, does that predict success in the future? And they found that it actually doesn't.

It doesn't necessarily predict success. There were children or humans that had very high IQ and they ended up, you know, kind of not being successful in society. So he said that the only successful test, there was only one successful test that really, that you could look at children, give them this test and it would help predict success in the future.

And this is really fascinating. And that success and that test is called the marshmallow test. I don't know, anyone who studied psychology probably learned this.

But here's how it goes. You go to a kid and you say, I can give you a marshmallow, right, right now, immediately. Or you can wait two hours and I can give you two.

You see? So now the child has been given a choice. I can either give you one marshmallow right now, immediate gratification. Immediate gratification.

Or you can wait two hours and I'll give you two. And this is what they found actually had a significant link to whether or not these children grew up to be successful. It was the ability, it was those children who had the ability to what they call in psychology delayed gratification.

That they thought, you know what, I want the marshmallow, but if I am patient, if I restrain myself and wait and I delay that gratification, I can get more. And it was that muscle, it was that ability to do that that predicted success in the future. And this is worldly success, right? Now let's focus on that for a second, reflect on that for a second.

This concept of delayed gratification, that is exactly what we're doing here in Ramadan. That is exactly what fasting is. It's our ability to say, you know what, yes, I'm not going to eat just now. I'm going to sacrifice. I'm going to wait. Yes, I want to eat.

Yes, I'm thirsty. Yes, there's, you know, and many of us go to work, people around us are eating, right? We're seeing people everywhere eating and drinking. We're not living in a Muslim country.

And yet I say, no, I'm going to wait. I'm going to restrain myself. I'm going to delay gratification.

The Two Joys of the Fasting Person

And Allah rewards for this infinitely. The prophet (peace be upon him) said that the reward or rather the joy for the fasting person, there's two times of joy for the fasting person.

(Bukhari)

"For the fasting person there are two joys: a joy when he breaks his fast and a joy when he meets his Lord."

The first is when they break their fast. Everyone knows how good that feels, right? I mean, dates have never tasted better, right? I mean, you can eat a date any other time of the year and it doesn't taste the same, right? Am I right? It doesn't taste the same. It actually doesn't taste the same. And that's because there's a special joy to breaking your fast.

At that moment of breaking the fast, it's so, there's so much joy to that. And the second, Allah says, is that when you meet Allah, that's the second time of joy. And so we are, as believers, we are able to delay that gratification.

And as a result and as a reward of that, not only do we get success in this life, but success, ultimately infinite success in the year after.

The Purpose of Fasting: Building Taqwa

Now, when we talk about fasting, now mashallah every year we do this. Why are we doing this? Allah tells us in the ayah that was recited, and many of you have heard:

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become righteous (develop taqwa)."

So this, first of all, fasting isn't something new. Fasting has always been a spiritual tool. And those of you who have studied even other spiritual paths will know that fasting is a part of it. That there are other religions, many other religions, they use fasting. Fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was prescribed to those who came before you. Why? In order for you to grow in this muscle called (تَقْوَى - taqwa).

In order for you to build (تَقْوَى - taqwa). Now what is (تَقْوَى - taqwa)? Allah here in Surah Baqarah says that we fast in order for us to build (تَقْوَى - taqwa). But what is (تَقْوَى - taqwa)? If I ask most people what is (تَقْوَى - taqwa), their answer is going to be fear of Allah.

Right? Cool. That's not all (تَقْوَى - taqwa) is. And a lot of times when we hear the word fear, we have a certain connotation to the concept of fear.

We think like we fear our enemies. Why should we fear someone we love? This is usually the thought that we have. And a lot of people can't understand how you reconcile love and fear.

Right? Like we love Allah. Right? Hopefully. Presumably. We love Allah. But some people are like, but I love Allah. Why should I fear him? You know? How do you reconcile between love and fear?

Understanding Love and Fear

And to answer that I just have to ask you one question. Think about the human being in your life that you love the most. Think about the human being in your life that you love the most. Everybody thought of this person? Yes? Okay.

Now I want you to think about how it would feel if that person told you one day, I never want to speak to you again. Or I never want to see you again. Or I am so angry with you that I'm cutting you off.

Now, everyone tell me. What feeling does that bring about? Anyone? Fear. Fear.

And that is because love and fear are linked. That when you love someone, you fear displeasing them. Right? You fear being cut off from them. You fear being distant from them. You fear their displeasure with you. Yes or no? Yeah.

And this is how, the more that we love Allah, the more we should fear him. The more we should fear his displeasure and his anger. Because Allah tells us that on the day of judgment, one of the worst punishments for the disbeliever is to be cut off from Allah.

It's for Allah to say that I will not speak to you today. For Allah to say, for Allah to put a barrier between that person and him. Because as you know, what is the best reward of paradise? The best reward in paradise is the company of Allah.

It's not just to be with Allah, it's to see Allah. To see Allah and to be in Allah's company. And on the other hand, the worst punishment of hellfire is to be cut off from Allah.

In addition to the punishment is the fact that Allah, I mean, can you imagine Allah saying that today you will be forgotten? Today you will be forgotten as you forgot my signs. Now I want you guys to just imagine for a moment your mother saying that to you. Just your mom, saying you're forgotten.

Like to actually forget you, you know? And this isn't your mother, but imagine Allah saying that you'll be forgotten. That is fear. That brings about fear and it should, right? Because Allah is the one who's always with us in this life.

Allah never forgets us. But in the hereafter, Allah said that those who forgot Allah in this life will be forgotten in that life. And that should make us afraid.

(تَقْوَى - Taqwa) is to guard ourselves from the wrath of Allah, from the anger of Allah, from the punishment of Allah and from the distance from Allah.

Fasting as Spiritual Muscle Building

Fasting builds this muscle, the ability to delay gratification, the ability to restrain ourselves from our desires. We have natural desires for food and water and intimacy. And all of these are being restrained. Being restrained for the sake of Allah.

And when you restrain something, now let me ask you this question. When you are building muscle in the gym, right? What do you have to do to build muscle in the gym? You have to do resistance training. You have to resist and you have to lift, right? So in order to build, we have to actually put in work and that involves resistance.

And in the same way, in order to build this spiritual muscle, to build (تَقْوَى - taqwa), we have to resist. We have to be able to go through some portion of resistance and some amount of struggle and sacrifice. And when we do that, we become stronger.

Feeding the Soul vs. Feeding the Body

And here's the point. Every human being is made up of two things, right? There is the physical side of the human being and there is the unseen or the spiritual side of the human being, right? Every human being has this. We have the body and we have the soul.

Now there are certain things that the body needs to become strong. There are certain things that the body needs to sustain life. Everybody with me? What are those things? Food, water, air, right? These are things we need to stay alive physically.

But the soul also has things that it needs to stay alive. And what happens in Ramadan is that we are in a sense starving the body but feeding the soul. We are not eating. We are not giving food to the body but we are giving food to the soul.

And this is so important because most of our lives is spent feeding the body. Let's be honest, right? Most of our lives we focus on the needs of our physical needs, the needs of our physical self, right? I feel hungry, I gotta eat. I feel cold, I gotta warm myself up. I'm thirsty, I drink. I have a desire, I fulfill it.

We tend to focus a lot of our efforts on fulfilling the physical needs but many of us neglect the spiritual needs. Many of us neglect the needs of our heart and the needs of our soul. So Allah comes and out of His mercy, He makes it required for us to feed our soul in Ramadan.

You see? Allah is requiring us to feed our soul through fasting. And this is one of the mercies of Allah. He's allowing us to put aside.

The Battlefield Analogy

It's like, you know, imagine that you're in a battlefield for a second, right? And you have all these enemies coming at you, right? You're trying to win. And you have all these enemies coming at you. Imagine you have all these different armies.

Now what Allah is doing for us in Ramadan is He's tying up some of these armies to allow us to be successful. What are these enemies? What are these armies?

The Internal Enemy: The Nafs

Well first of all, we know we have this thing called the (نَفْس - nafs), right? What's the (نَفْس - nafs)? Our own self. Now our own self has a lower part.

In other words, the lower desires. The animalistic side of the human being. That's the (نَفْس - nafs). Okay? We have a lower self, the lower desires, which is the (نَفْس - nafs). Now, this (نَفْس - nafs), the lower part of the (نَفْس - nafs), or (نَفْس الأَمَّارَة - nafs al-ammarah), this is a side of the human that pulls the human being towards things which are more animalistic. Follow your desires, regardless of whether it's right or wrong.

Now we have the (نَفْس - nafs) and that's one enemy. And by the way, the (نَفْس - nafs) is one of the hardest enemies to fight. Because it's you. It's within you.

You know, many people ask this question, how do I know if a whisper is from my (نَفْس - nafs) or from Shaytan? Right? Well, essentially it's not necessarily relevant. The point is that if it's wrong, it's wrong.

But one way you'll know is that the whisper of Shaytan can come from any angle. Shaytan wants us to disobey Allah from any door. Really, he doesn't really care as long as we disobey Allah.

And usually what Shaytan does is he uses the (نَفْس - nafs) to get to us, if that makes sense. I'll explain what I mean. The (نَفْس - nafs) is my own weaknesses, and every individual has their own weaknesses, right? Certain people have a weakness in this department, others have a weakness in that department, right? So what will happen is Shaytan will use your weakness against you.

And sometimes you'll find that there's certain whispers or certain sins that we become addicted to. That's the (نَفْس - nafs). Right? It's not just like Shaytan can come at you with any sin, but the (نَفْس - nafs) has certain attachments and certain weaknesses.

That's me. That's myself. And this is an enemy I have to fight.

That's the whole concept of (تَزْكِيَة - tazkiyah). (تَزْكِيَة - Tazkiyah) is to purify. And (تَزْكِيَة النَّفْس - tazkiyah an-nafs) is to work to purify that lower self.

Because within every human being is kind of like this untamed beast. And if you don't tame it, and you just feed it, it becomes a monster. Right? And we see this throughout the world.

What happens to a human being when they don't tame the monster inside? I mean, the kind of carnage that a human being can cause is unbelievable. And that's because the human has the potential to be a monster if that (نَفْس - nafs) is not tamed and just fed. Do you understand what I mean? You can become, you know, we can become like the (شَيَاطِين - shayateen).

We can become like the devils if that (نَفْس - nafs) is not tamed. Right? So this enemy is very serious.

The External Enemy: Shaytan and His Army

We have another enemy which is the external enemy. I've just spoken about the internal enemy. Right? We have another enemy which is the external enemy and that is shaytan and his army. Right?

Now shaytan and his army are always at us as they promise, as shaytan promised:

"I will come at you, I will come at your believing slaves from their front and from their back."

And notice that shaytan when he promised to do this, he said I will attack them on your straight path. Do you know what that means? It means that it's the people who are trying so hard to stay on the straight path that the (شَيَاطِين - shayateen) want to attack more. Right? Because they're the ones you have to work harder to get.

So he's saying I will attack them on your straight path. And he says that I will come at them from their front and from their back, from their right and from their left. Meaning that shaytan and his army are going to come from every direction that they possibly can to try to take us off the straight path.

Allah's Mercy in Ramadan

So here we are in this battle of life. Right? With all these enemies. Yeah? We have the internal enemy, that's me. And we have the external enemy which is shaytan and his army.

So what does Allah do in Ramadan? Allah in his mercy ties up one of the enemies. And that's what the prophet said:

(Bukhari)

"When Ramadan enters, the doors of jannah are opened, the doors of jahannam are closed and the shayateen are tied up."

Allah has eliminated one of the major enemies and that is shaytan and his army. You feel me? So what's left? The (نَفْس - nafs). The (نَفْس - nafs).

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