Return to Divine Guidance

This Ramadan, Return to Divine Guidance

Imam Zaid Shakir

Opening Praise and Gratitude

(إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَسْتَهْدِيهِ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ -

All praises are due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His aid, we seek His forgiveness, and we seek His guidance. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomever Allah allows to go astray, none can guide.

"All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. All praise is due to Allah who has revealed the Book to His servant and has not made therein any crookedness."

"All praise is due to Allah who has guided us to this path. We would not have been able to guide ourselves had Allah not guided us."

All praises are due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى has blessed us to be on the verge of Ramadan, and we pray that Allah blesses all of us here to attain Ramadan and to gain an abundant share of the blessings to be found therein.

The Significance of Ramadan

Ramadan, or the fast of Ramadan, as we all know, is one of our great devotional acts. It is one of the pinnacles of our devotional life. The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ in one hadith has described many of the virtues and benefits of Ramadan, so we will base this address, insha'Allah, on this hadith.

The Hadith of Fasting

The hadith is the following:

(Source Name)

The Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said: "Every deed of the son of Adam is for him or her, and good deeds are multiplied ten times over, seventy times, seven hundred times over, many times over and beyond that." And Allah says so the hadith shifts, one of the rare hadiths that starts as hadith nabawi, "The Prophet said," and then it shifts to hadith qudsi, "Allah said"—and so Allah says: "Except fasting, for that is Mine, and I will reward My servant for it. Verily, he has left off his carnal appetites, his food, his drink for My sake."

"The fasting person will have two delights: a delight when he breaks his fast, and a delight when he meets his Lord. And the foul odor that sometimes emerges from the mouth of the fasting person is sweeter with Allah than the fragrance of musk."

That is what Allah said. This hadith is related by Imam Bukhari and Muslim; therefore, it is agreed upon (Sahih al-Bukhari 1904, Sahih Muslim 1151).

The Multiplication of Deeds and the Exception of Fasting

There are many points in this hadith, and there is very little time, so we will make as many salient points as we can, and then we will have to leave it at that.

The first point is that all of our deeds, with the exception of fasting, are multiplied ten times over, seven hundred times over, and then in another narration أَصْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً )many times over) and beyond that seventy thousand, seven million, seven billion أَصْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً . But there is some numerical limit in terms of their reward.

The Mercy of Allah in Reward and Punishment

This reminds us, in light of the fact that any misdeed we do is one against usالسَّيِّئَةُ وَاحِدَةٌ the sayyiah is one against the person. The good deed is immediately ten, or seven hundred, or seven thousand, or seventy thousand, or seven hundred thousand, or seven million, and so on أَصْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً

Brothers and sisters, you have to work hard to go to hell! If one sayyiah is one and the good deed is ten, seven hundred, seven thousand, then how hard does a person have to work to end up in hell? This shows the mercy of Allah.

Many of the enemies of Allah, they say, "Oh, Islam—Allah is a stern, unforgiving, ruthless God." No! We say you don't know Allah. This caricature that you've constructed in your head, which immediately says, "That's not Allah." Why? لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ "There is nothing like Him" (Quran 42:11). So whatever image you conjured up in your head of this tyrant sitting up on a throne in the sky, or whatever image you have of this cruel, ruthless caricature, it's not Allah.

كُلُّ مَا خَطَرَ بِبَالِكَ فَاللَّهُ بِخِلَافِ ذَلِكَ anything that you might imagine, Allah is in opposition to that. And so this image of this cruel tyrant—Allah is in opposition to that. Allah is merciful beyond mercy. He's merciful beyond any human descriptions, conceptualizations, imaginings of mercy. He's beyond that in terms of His mercy.

Ramadan as a Manifestation of Divine Mercy

A manifestation of His mercy is Ramadan. A manifestation of His mercy is this month where the gates of His mercy have been flung open, and one of the manifestations of that is the multiplication of the deeds. But the fasting itself is exempted from that.

قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: إِلَّا الصِّيَامَ so the اسْتِثْنَاءُ )exception) is fasting. And what is it exempted from? مُسْتَثْنَى مِنْهُ the multiplication of the deeds or the reward for the deeds. So fasting, therefore, has no numerical limits.

The Connection Between Fasting and Patience

The ulama say one of the reasons for that is that fasting involves patience. Fasting involves patience. Unlike the

prayer—we're going to pray Jumu'ah in a little while, it's going to be five minutes, it's over. Even a lengthy recitation—Surah al-Baqarah, a good portion—but ten minutes, fifteen max, it's over. Fasting is all day, and it's not just all day for one day; it's all day for twenty-nine or thirty days. So it takes a lot of patience.

The Three Types of Patience

Patience has three basic types:

1. الصَّبْرُ عَلَى طَاعَةِ اللَّهِ - Patience in dealing with the difficulty that comes in obeying Allah

2. الصَّبْرُ عَنِ الْمَحَارِمِ - Patience in dealing with the difficulty that comes in avoiding those things that Allah has made forbidden

3. الصَّبْرُ عَلَى الْمَصَائِبِ - Patience in the face of calamities

These are the three basic types of patience. Ramadan involves all three types.

Patience in Obedience to Allah

So we obey Allah. We get up no earlier than normal, so we take the suhoor, the pre-dawn meal, and that involves difficulty because we don't have enough time to go back to sleep. And so we're at work and we're fighting sleep. This is part of the difficulty that we have to endure and patiently endure in Ramadan.

Patience in Avoiding the Forbidden

There's patience in avoiding those things—there's difficulty that comes in avoiding those things that Allah enjoins us to avoid. And in Ramadan, there are the good and pure things. Normally we can drink water and we appreciate it. Normally we can drink juice and we can appreciate it. Normally we can drink milk—preferably organic, from an organic, grass-fed, free-range cow—and we appreciate it. We can eat our food, we can eat wholesome food: beef or lamb or goat or vegetables and wholesome breads.

In Ramadan, we cannot eat what's lawful, to say nothing of the unlawful. And this is part of the secret of Ramadan. This is one of the keys to taqwa:

"O you who believe, fasting has been ordained for you as it was ordained for those who preceded you, in order that you may attain taqwa (God-consciousness)."

Your awareness of Allah—an awareness that translates into implementing His orders and avoiding those things He has prohibited. So if we're avoiding, for twenty-nine or thirty days, for the entirety of a long late spring day, things that Allah has made lawful for us, just for the sake of Allah-إِنَّهُ تَرَكَ شَهْوَتَهُ وَطَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ مِنْ أَجْلِي

The Training of Taqwa Through Fasting

Allah—not because they're bad for us. Alcohol is bad for us. It destroys our brain cells, it leads to cirrhosis of the liver, it impairs our judgment. For those who might be prone to violent outbursts, it pushes them towards

violence. It contributes to most of our automobile fatalities. It's the major factor in most of our domestic violence. Alcohol is bad.

But the things we mentioned—juice and milk and water and lawful things we can drink—are good for us and beneficial. If we can avoid them only because Allah has commanded us to avoid them, how much easier does it become to avoid those unlawful things that are bad for us? And so this is part of the taqwa training of Ramadan لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ . This is part of that training.

And so we avoid our food and we avoid our drink in Ramadan during the days of Ramadan, and it brings hardship, especially these long summer days. Maybe some of us will get headaches because we're not drinking. Some of us will have stomach cramps because we're not eating. Most of us will feel fatigued and a little bit drained at the end of the day because we're not eating or drinking. So that's part of the hardship that comes in avoiding those things Allah has prohibited. So Ramadan has that element.

Patience in Facing Physical Hardship

And the pain of the musibah—the calamities, that physical pain—we experience that in Ramadan. So Ramadan is combined by these elements. Hence, it's been referred to as شَهْرُ الصَّبْرِ the month of patience.

And what is the reward for patience? Allah tells us in the Quran:

"Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account."

The fasting people will be given their reward without record. So fasting embodies patience, and patience has no numerical limits in terms of its reward. Then it's only fitting that fasting should have no numerical limits in terms of its reward. Hence, Allah is saying إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ أَجْرَهُم بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ fasting is not limited to those numerical limits. "That's Mine, I will reward the servant for that."

The Essence of Servitude in Fasting

Then He says, "He's left off his food, his carnal lust, his food and drinks for My sake" إِنَّهُ تَرَكَ شَهْوَتَهُ وَطَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ مِنْ أَجْلِي . This really gets into the heart of the religious quest. We are servants of Allah, and so what does the servant do? The servant does what the master instructs the servant to do. A dutiful servant does what their master instructs them to do.

To make it more contemporary: a dutiful employee does what their employer enjoins upon them to do. If your employer says to a lot of IT people, "I need you to write code for A," you don't go and write code for B and then turn it into the boss. If you do, you're not going to get paid. You're not going to get your wages. If you're dutiful, you write exactly what's been prescribed.

We Are Servants of Allah

So we are servants of Allah. We do what Allah enjoins upon us. We don't make it up ourselves and then call ourselves servants.

"Now, I don't think I should have to dress like this. I don't think I should have to spend on my wife. She makes more money than I do, so I don't think I should obey the Quranic injunction that I'm responsible for her upkeep."

"Now, I don't think that I have to dress like this. If Lil Wayne can wear skinny jeans, why can't I wear skinny jeans? No, forget these Islamic codes of modesty."

What kind of servant is that? What happens? We forget the fact that we're servants. We're عِبَادُ الرَّحْمَنِ the servants of the Merciful. The highest station for a human being is servitude.

The Honor of Servitude

Therefore, the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ the most honorific title he was given was عَبْدُ اللَّهِ :

"Glorified is the One who has taken His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque."

So this great station of the night journey, where the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is honored in ways no human being has been honored, he's mentioned in the context of his servitude.

أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ but أَسْرَى بِمُحَمَّدٍ not أَسْرَى بِرَسُولِهِ not أَسْرَى بِنَبِيِّهِ not سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ ,Allah says

"All praise is due to Allah who has revealed the Scripture to His servant"—not His rasul, not His nabi, not His habib, not His beloved—"upon His servant."

So in this great station, the maqam of being the last human being in human history to receive revelation, the Prophet is honored by his servitude صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

Actualizing Our Servitude

Because to the extent that we actualize our عُبُودِيَّةٌ our servitude) then we actualize the رُبُوبِيَّة of Allah (the lordship of Allah). And to the extent that we magnify our imagined lordship-"We control our affairs, we're the captain of our ship, the master of our fate," as the slogan of modern individualism proclaims—then we minimize the lordship of Allah, not in reality, because no one can do that, but within our own limited minds and mentalities.

So Ramadan is reminding us of our servitude, and this is our proper relationship with our Lord. And that we're leaving these things for His sake—not because they're bad. If Allah said, "Fast from alcohol, fast from pork," what kind of fast would that be? We don't engage in those things anyway! But He says, "No, fast from your lawful drink and from your lawful food and from your lawful relations for My sake, so that you can internalize your servitude."

This is the lesson of Ramadan. Don't let it escape, brothers and sisters. We're servants of Allah. We're servants of Allah.