Some common mistakes in ramadan

Taking Ramadhaan as a ritual
For many of us Ramadhaan has lost its spirituality and has become more of a ritual ( Stereotyped behaviour) than a form of Ibaadah. We fast from morning to night like a zombie (living dead) just because everyone around us is fasting too. We forget that its a time to purify our hearts and our souls from all evil. We forget to make Dua, forget to beseech Allah to forgive us and ask Him to save us from the Fire. Sure we stay away from food and drink but that's about all ?

Too much stress on food and drink
For some people, the entire month of Ramadhaan revolves around food. They spend the ENTIRE day planning, cooking, shopping and thinking about only food, instead of concentrating on Salaah, Quraan and other acts of worship. All they can think of is FOOD so much so that they turn the month of 'fasting' into the month of 'feasting'.

Spending all day cooking
Some of the sisters (either by their own choice or forced by their husbands) are cooking ALL day and ALL night, so that by the end of the day, they are too tired to even pray Ishaa, let alone pray Taraweeh or Tahajjud or even read Quraan. This is the month of mercy and forgiveness. So turn off that stove and turn on your Imaan!

Eating too much
Some people stuff themselves at Suhoor (Sehree) until they are ready to burst, because they think this is the way to not feel hungry during the day and some people eat at Iftaar, like there is no tomorrow, trying to 'make up for the food missed.' However, this is completely against the Sunnah. Moderation is the key to everything.
The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "The son of Adam does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach; for the son of Adam a few mouthfuls are sufficient to keep his back straight. If you must fill it, then one-third for food, one-third for drink and one-third for air." (Tirmidhi, Ibn Maajah. saheeh by al-Albaani).
Too much food distracts a person from many deeds of obedience and worship, makes him lazy and also makes the heart heedless.

Sleeping all day
Some people spend their entire day (or a major part of it) 'sleeping away their fast'. Is this what is really required of us during this noble month? These people also are missing the purpose of fasting and are slaves to their desires of comfort and ease. They cannot 'bear' to be awake and face a little hunger or exert a little self-control. For a fasting person to spend most of the day asleep is nothing but, negligence on his part.

Wasting time
The month of Ramadhaan is a precious, It is so much precious so that Allah calls this month "Ayyamum Ma'doodaat" (A fixed number of days). Before we know it, this month of mercy and forgiveness will be over. We should try and spend every moment possible in the worship of Allah so that we can make the most of this blessing. However, there are some of us who waste away their day playing video games, or worse still, watching TV, movies or even listening to music. Subhaan Allah! Trying to obey Allah by DISOBEYING him!

Fasting but not giving up evil
Some of us fast but do not give up lying, cursing, fighting, backbiting, etc. and some of us fast but do not give up cheating, stealing, dealing in haraam, buying lotto tickets, selling alcohol, fornication, etc. and all kinds of impermissible things without realizing that the purpose of fasting is to not stay away from food and drink; rather the aim behind it is to fear Allah.
"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqoon (the pious)" [al-Baqarah 2:183]
The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "Whoever does not give up false speech and acting upon it, and ignorance, Allah has no need of him giving up his food and drink." (Bukhaari)

Smoking
Smoking is forbidden in Islam whether during Ramadhaan or outside of it, as it is one of al-Khabaa'ith (evil things). And this includes ALL kinds of 'smoking material' eg.cigars, cigarettes, pipes,'Sheesha', hookah etc.
"he allows them as lawful At Tayyibaat (all good and lawful things), and prohibits them as unlawful Al Khabaa'ith (all evil and unlawful things) [al-A'raaf :157]
It is harmful, not only to the one smoking, but also to the ones around him. It is also a means of wasting ones wealth. The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "There should be no harming or reciprocating harm."
This is especially true during fasting and it invalidates the fast. (Fatwa -Ibn 'Uthaymeen)

Skipping Suhoor (Sehree)
The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "Eat suhoor for in suhoor there is blessing."(Bukhaari, Muslim).
And he (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "The thing that differentiates between our fasting and the fasting of the People of the Book is eating suhoor." (Muslim)

Stopping Suhoor( Sehree) at 'Imsaak'

Some people stop eating Suhoor 10-15 minutes earlier than the time of Fajr to observe 'Imsaak'.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said: This is a kind of bidah (innovation) which has no basis in the Sunnah. Rather the Sunnah is to do the opposite.
Allah allows us to eat until dawn: "and eat and drink until the white thread (light) of dawn appears to you distinct from the black thread (darkness of night)" [al-Baqarah 2:187]
And the Prophet (pbuh) said: "�.eat and drink until you hear the adhaan of Ibn Umm Maktoom, for he does not give the adhaan until dawn comes."
This 'imsaak' which some of the people do is an addition to what Allah has prescribed, so it is false. It is a kind of extremism in religion,
and the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said:
"Those who go to extremes are doomed, those who go to extremes are doomed, those who go to extremes are doomed." (Muslim)

Not fasting if they missed Suhoor ( Sehree)
Some people are too scared to fast if they miss Suhoor. However, this is a kind of cowardice and love of ease. What is the big deal if you missed a few morsels of food? It's not like you will die. Remember, obedience to Allah overcomes everything.

Eating continuously until the time for Maghrib is up
Some people put so much food in their plates when breaking their fast and continue eating, enjoying dessert, drinking tea, etc., until they miss Maghrib. That is obviously not right. The Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) was that once he broke his fast with some dates, then he would hasten to the prayer. Once you are done with the prayer, you can always go back and eat some more if you wish.

Missing the golden chance of having your Dua accepted
The prayer of the fasting person is guaranteed to be accepted at the time of breaking fast.
The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "Three prayers are not rejected: the prayer of a father, the prayer of a fasting person, and the prayer of a traveler." (al-Bayhaqi, saheeh by al-Albaani).
Instead of sitting down and making Dua at this precious time, some people forego this beautiful chance, and are too busy frying samosas, talking, setting the food, filling their plates and glasses, etc. Think about it....Is food more important than the chance to have your sins forgiven or the fulfillment of your Duas.

Fasting but not praying
The fasting of one who does not pray WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. This is because not praying constitutes kufr as the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "Between a man and shirk and kufr there stands his giving up prayer." (Muslim)
In fact, NONE of his good deeds will be accepted; rather, they are all annulled.
"Whoever does not pray 'Asr, his good deeds will be annulled." (Bukhaari)

Fasting and not wearing Hijaab
Not wearing the Hijaab is a major sin as it is obligatory for Muslim women. (See Surah Nur, Surah Ahzaab). So fasting and not wearing hijaab certainly takes away enormously from the rewards of fasting, even if does not invalidate it.

Not fasting because of exams or work
Exams or work is NOT one of the excuses allowed by the Shariah to not fast. You can do your studying and revision at night if it is too hard to do that during the day. Also remember that pleasing and obeying Allah is much more important than 'good grades'. Besides, if you will fulfil your obligation to fast, even if you have to study, Allah will make it easy for you and help you in everything you do.
"Whosoever fears Allah, He will appoint for him a way out and provide for him from where he does not expect, Allah is Sufficient for whosoever puts his trust in Him." (Surah at-Talaaq 2-3)

Mixing fasting and dieting
DO NOT make the mistake of fasting with the intention to diet. That is one of the biggest mistakes some of us make (esp. sisters). Fasting is an act of worship and can only be for the sake of Allah alone. Otherwise, mixing it with the intention of dieting may become a form of (minor) Shirk.

Fighting over the number of Rakaah of Taraweeh
8/20
There is no specific number of rak'ahs for Taraweeh prayer, rather it is permissible to do a little or a lot. Both 8 and 20 are okay. Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said: "No one should be denounced for praying eleven or twenty-three (raka'ah), because the matter is broader in scope than that, praise be to Allah."

Praying ONLY on the night of the 27th
Some people pray ONLY on the 27th to seek Lailat ul-Qadr, neglecting all other odd nights, although the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: "Seek Lailat ul-Qadr among the odd numbered nights of the last ten nights of Ramadhaan." (Bukhaari, Muslim).
only 27th?

Wasting the last part of Ramadhaan preparing for Eid
Some people waste the entire last 10 days of Ramadhaan preparing for Eid, shopping and frequenting malls, etc. neglecting Ibadah and Lailatul Qadr. although, the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) used to strive the hardest during the last ten days of Ramadhaan in worship (Ahmad, Muslim) and not in shopping. Buy whatever you need for Eid before Ramadhaan so that you can utilize the time in Ramadhaan to the max.
Aa'ishah (RA) said: "When the (last) ten nights began, the Messenger of Allah (Sal Allahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam)) would tighten his waist-wrapper (i.e., strive hard in worship or refrain from intimacy with his wives), stay awake at night and wake his family." (Bukhaari and Muslim).

We says, We Love Islam
But, Do we really follow Allah's and Our Prophets teaching ??

Ramadan Duas Day 1 - 30

-: Special Note :-

It is not compulsory to pray each Dua on specific dayz.You can pray any Dua on any day.Even if you don't pray these Duas no harm for you.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 1

ALLAH, on this day make my fasts the fasts of those who fast (sincerely), and my standing up in prayer of those who stand up in prayer (obediently), awaken me in it from the sleep of the heedless, and forgive me my sins , O God of the worlds, and forgive me, O one who forgives the sinners.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 2

ALLAH, on this day, take me closer towards Your pleasure, keep me away from Your anger and punishment, grant me the opportunity to recite Your verses (of the Qur’an), by Your mercy, O the most Merciful.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 3

ALLAH, on this day, grant me wisdom and awareness, keep me away from foolishness and pretension, grant me a share in every blessing You send down, by You generosity, O the most Generous.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 4

ALLAH, on this day, strengthen me in carrying out Your commands, let me taste the sweetness of Your remembrance, grant me, through Your graciousness, that I give thanks to You. Protect me, with Your protection and cover, O the most discerning of those who see.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 5 ALLAH, on this day, place me among those who seek forgiveness. Place me among Your righteous and obedient servants, and place me among Your close friends, by Your kindness, O the most Merciful.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 6 ALLAH, on this day, do not let me abase myself by incurring Your disobedience, and do not strike me with the whip of Your punishment, keep me away from the causes of Your anger, by and Your power, O the ultimate wish of those who desire.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 7 ALLAH, on this day, help me with its fasts and prayers, and keep me away from mistakes and sins of the day, grant me that I remember You continuously through the day, by Your assistance, O the Guide of those who stray.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 8

ALLAH, on this day, let me have mercy on the orphans, and feed [the hungry], and spread peace, and keep company with the noble-minded, O the shelter of the hopeful.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 9 ALLAH, on this day, grant me a share from Your mercy which is wide, guide me towards Your shining proofs, lead me to Your all encompassing pleasure, by Your love, O the hope of the desirous.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 10 ALLAH, on this day, make me, among those who rely on You, from those who You consider successful, and place me among those who are near to you, by Your favor, O goal of the seekers.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 11

ALLAH, on this day, make me love goodness, and dislike corruption and disobedience, bar me from anger and the fire [of Hell], by Your help, O the helper of those who seek help

Ramadan Dua: DAY 12

ALLAH, on this day, beautify me with covering and chastity, cover me with the clothes of contentment and chastity, let me adhere to justice and fairness, and keep me safe from all that I fear, by Your protection, O the protector of the frightened.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 13

ALLAH, on this day, purify me from un-cleanliness and dirt, make me patient over events that are decreed, grant me the ability to be pious, and keep company with the good, by Your help, O the beloved of the destitute.

Ramadan Dua: DAY 14

ALLAH, on this day, do not condemn me for slips, make me decrease mistakes and errors, do not make me a target for afflictions and troubles, by Your honor, O the honor of the Muslims.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 15

Ramadan Dua: DAY 16
ALLAH, on this day, grant me compatibility with the good, keep me away from patching up with the evil, lead me in it, by Your mercy, to the permanent abode, by Your God ship, O the God of the worlds.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 17

ALLAH, on this day, guide me towards righteous actions, fulfill my needs and hopes, O One who does not need explanations nor questions, O One who knows what is in the chests of the (people of the) world. Bless Muhammad and his family, the Pure.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 18

ALLAH, on this day, make me love goodness, and dislike corruption and disobedience, bar me from anger and the fire [of Hell], by Your help, O the helper of those who seek help.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 19

ALLAH, on this day, multiply for me its blessings, and ease my path towards its bounties, do not deprive me of the acceptance of its good deeds, O the Guide towards the clear truth.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 20

ALLAH, on this day, open for me the doors of the heavens, and lock the doors of Hell from me, help me to recite the Qur'an, O the One who sends down tranquility into the hearts of believers.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 21

ALLAH, on this day, show me the way to win Your pleasure, do not let Shaytan have a means over me, make Paradise an abode and a resting place for me, O the One who fulfills the requests of the needy.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 22

ALLAH, on this day, open for me the doors of Your Grace, send down on me its blessings, help me towards the causes of Your mercy, and give me a place in the comforts of Paradise, O the one who answers the call of the distressed.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 23

ALLAH, on this day, wash away my sins, purify me from all flaws, examine my heart with (for) the piety of the hearts, O One who overlooks the shortcomings of the sinners.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 24

ALLAH, on this day, I ask You for what pleases You, and I seek refuge in You from what displeases You, I ask You to grant me the opportunity to obey You and not disobey You, O One who is generous with those who ask

Ramadan Dua:DAY 25

ALLAH, on this day, make me among those who love Your friends, and hate Your enemies, following the way of Your last Prophet, O the Guardian of the hearts of the Prophets.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 26

ALLAH, on this day, make my efforts worthy of appreciation, and my sins forgiven, my deeds accepted, my flaws concealed, O the best of those who hear.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 27

ALLAH, on this day, bestow on me the blessings of Laylatul Qadr, change my affairs from (being) difficult to (being) easy, accept my apologies, and decrease for me [my] sins and burdens, O the Compassionate with His righteous servants.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 28

ALLAH, on this day, grant me a share in its nawafil (recommended prayers), honor me by attending to my problems, make closer the means to approach You, from all the means, O One who is not preoccupied by the requests of the beseechers.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 29

O ALLAH, on this day, cover me with Your mercy, grant me in it success and protection, purify my heart from the darkness of false accusations, O the Merciful to His believing servants.

Ramadan Dua:DAY 30O ALLAH, on this day, make my fasts worthy of appreciation and acceptance, according to what pleases You, and pleases the Messenger, the branches being strengthened by the roots, for the sake of our leader, Muhammad, and his purified family. Praise be to ALLAH, the Lord of the worlds.

Ramadan in medina - by kerim fenari

The approach to Makka lies through mountains,sharp, unforgiving angles of granite. The road toMadina passes through great plains of basalt: theharra wastelands which provide dramatic reminders ofthe region's volcanic past. Several eruptions arerecorded by the Muslim historians, the most fearsometaking place in 1257, when a volcano poured outfast-moving orange streams of lava, which were onlydeflected to pass to the east of the city by thefervent prayers of its inhabitants.
Desiccated by the merciless desert air, theseseas of fire have dried to form black basalt plains,which stretch beyond the horizon. They are God?Ôdefence of the city, whose glassy sharpness kept atbay the idolatrous invaders of Quraish, forcing themto confront the believers at their only point ofaccess, at the Battle of the Trench. The desolation ofthis landscape of flat blackness, interrupted by drysarha bushes, and, far away, the shapely profile ofextinct volcanoes, gives the impact of arrival anextraordinary dramatic power.
The proximity of the City, on the motorwayinevitably dubbed the Hijra Highway, is firstannounced by the slip-road to Abyar Ali, the Wells ofAli. These are sweetwater sources much frequented bypilgrims, eager to benefit from the medicinalproperties of these deep, cold wells once owned by theBlessed Prophet's son-in-law. Pilgrims from theSubcontinent, in particular, flock here to catch theprecious fluid in bottles, to be given to relatives ontheir return: a gift almost as welcome as the Water ofZamzam itself.
Ten minutes drive, and Quba is reached. Here,the black barrenness of the harrat suddenly gives wayto a verdant sea of green. Alfalfa, watermelons,cucumber and tomatoes grow here, between fruit treesand the ancient symbol of Madina, the date palmitself. In this prosperous suburb, now a place ofcoffee-shops and small parks, can still be found theZarqa wells from which the Blessed Prophet drank whenfirst he reached the City, and which are the secret ofthe land's fertility. Here, too, the Madinan Muslims,and the penniless but radiant refugees from Makkantyranny, patiently lined the walls and the highplaces, hoping for a glimpse of God's Messenger andthe faithful Abu Bakr, as they appeared as dots on theshimmering horizon.
The mosque at Quba, the first place of worshipfounded in Islam, is impressive but sober. The 1986reconstruction retains the familiar features ofMadinese architecture, which are ribbed white domes,and basalt facing over a modest exterior that recallsMadina's primordial simplicity. The courtyard,screened overhead by day from the scorching heat, isflagged with black, red and white marble. Calligraphyby great Turkish masters soars overhead, proclaimingthe uniqueness of this place. Arabesque latticeworkfilters the light of the palm groves outside. Dovescoo in the window-niches.
Despite the sense of peace, few linger here. Thepull of the Haram, the Sanctuary, is everywhere, andas the sun lowers in the west the pilgrims havethoughts only for the Prophet's Mosque. At this time,there is only one destination for visitors andcity-dwellers alike. In Ramadan, in this city, itwould be possible to switch off the traffic lights inthe late afternoon. Every road becomes a one-waystreet, pulling the visitor towards the cool, radiantheart of the city.
Visitors who have not set foot in Madina beforeare often in tears by now. The blessings of a still,loving Presence can be breathed everywhere, softeninghearts, and loosening tongues in dhikr. Shops andbuildings pass by, but here the city itself is no morethan a blur. Visitors come here for one place, and forone person alone.
The road skirts the Manakha district, and passesthe Mosque of Abu Bakr, its Ottoman minaret pointingto the clear, reddening sky. Then, the splendour ofthe Haram is suddenly revealed. A minaret, and thenseveral more, sparkle in welcome. And then the adhanrises, piercing the warm air with its magneticsummons.
A sea of quiet humanity pours into each ofseventy gates. Many have removed their sandals longbeforehand, out of respect for the ground, which holdsthe Messenger in its embrace. Within, there is clearlight, carpets, water-barrels, and an extraordinarydynamic which draws the visitor on, and in, until atlast the courtyard is reached, and the pilgrim standsin the presence of the Best of Creation.
Hundreds of thousands are being fed. Theseguests of the Prophet sit, while those honoured withthis service circulate, smilingly handing out dates,or small containers of yoghurt. In this palace of theProphet, no-one, however poor, goes hungry when thetime of the fast is ended. Children tumble on thecarpets, laughing with delight at the experience ofthe endless sanctuary. There is a murmur of gratefulconversation, and of prayer.
The space is articulated with supreme genius. Toone side is the Gate of Gabriel, leading on, and in,to the Rawda, and to the mihrab in which the Messengerhimself laid his forehead on the earth in adoration ofGod. On one side is the dakka, the carved marbleplatform on which the muezzin and his assistants awaitthe appointed time. On the other rises the gold grillebeyond which lies the cool and shaded silence beneaththe great dome. The air here is perfumed by the rarestof incense and musk, announcing the presence, beneaththe flagstones, of the Best of Creation, and Abu Bakrand Umar, his closest companions.
The modern Egyptian poet al-Fayturi expressesthe emotions of millions:
Over the Prophet's form every speck of dust
is a pillar of light
ascending from the dome of his tomb
to the dome of the skies.
And the awe that makes our foreheads bow
draws its own horizon, and higher horizons,
from hands and from lips -
the road of "In the name of God."
The proximity is overwhelming for some pilgrims,whose humility and awe forces them to sit at arespectfuldistance, perhaps some way down the mosque.Others cannot sit too close. Everywhere, there isworship, bowing and prostration, the mellifluousmurmuring of the Qur?Ân, and wordless contemplation.
A hadith tells us that Á?rayer in my mosque is athousand times better than prayer in any other mosque,saving only the Sacred Mosque itself.????s the iqamasounds, and half a million men and women rise withlonging for the prayer, the calculation does not feellike an overstatement.
Prayer in the Rawda is especially sought after.A hadith affirms that "the space between my grave andmy pulpit is one of the Meadows of Paradise." Here,listening to the awesome gravity of God's word, thecontinuity with the blessed past is felt intensely.The greatest saints and scholars of Islam have stoodhere: after the Companions came countless thousands:the Four Imams worshipped here, as did al-Shaybani,IbnJurayj, al-Zuhri, Sibawayh, Ibn Qutaybah,al-Ghazali, al-Nawawi, A??sha al-BaÁÖniyya, IbnKhaldun: all the great souls of Islam have prayedhere, humbled by the Prophetic presence.
After the silent prayers of the day, theworshippers drink the words of the Qur?Ân thirstily.The greetings of peace are given, and the lines breakup as they worship individually. Circles ofremembrance form in the Rawda, as turbanned Turksrepeat a litany, guided by their teacher, prayer-beadsin hand. Nigerians, Uzbeks, Bangladeshis and a wholesea of Indonesians do likewise.
A Baluchi folk-melody, 'May I see the towers ofMadina' sings,
On the tongues of this Rawda's nightingalesare words of wisdom,
More beautifully coloured than all theflowers of Madina!
Among the many Prophetic litanies which thecareful ear may hear in this place, the mostwidely-used is the Dala'il al-Khayrat, the Indicationsof Blessings, by Imam al-Jazuli, whose tomb in far-offMarrakesh breathes something of the spirit of Madina.This great prayer begins with over two hundred Namesof the Prophet, culled from the scriptures, and whichmay also be read in exquisite Naskh calligraphy abovethe green tiles on the qibla wall. Hundreds of namesrecall him: the Messenger of Mercy, the Emissary ofVirtue, Reliant, the Beloved of God, Seal of theProphets ...
These pilgrims know that they are in thepresence of the most influential man in history. Hehad found a people divided by the crudest paganignorance, and left them united in the purest and mostexalted monotheism.Formerly they had denied life after death;twenty-three short years on, they lived with itconstantly before their eyes. He had found them unableto rule themselves, torn by age-long vendettas,knowing no law other than the selfish interest of thetribe and the individual's honour; and he left theirhearts so united that they withstood the shock of hisdeath, and went out to liberate the world.
In this place, the Messenger guided hisdisciples. Here they learnt how to be still beforetheir Lord, how to restrain their anger, to live forothers, to show compassion to young and old. This wasthe crucible of a New World Order: the most effectiveschool ever known.
And presiding over it all, still, is thepresence of the Prophet. His mission for the Muslimcommonwealth awaits its final consummation, when, atthe Resurrection, he shall appear with his name ofIntercessor. There is no Muslim alive who does nothope for the honour of resurrection under his greenBanner of Praise, and for the rapture of salvationthrough his pleading before his Lord. Adab, goodmanners in his presence, is hence passionatelycultivated and prayed for. Those who respectfully moveforwards, to stand before the gold of the Wajiha togreet him, are moved not only by love and gratitudefor what he did, but by fervent hope for his prayers,help and pleading amid the terrors of the Apocalypse.
He said: "No Muslim greets me but that Allahrestores my spirit to me so that I am able to respondto him." Five times a day, worshippers end theirprayers by invoking blessings and peace upon hisspirit. No human being, since the beginning of time,has been more blessed. And this reciprocal rite oftaslim is the culmination of a lifetime of callingdown God's blessings upon him, a cosmic process inwhich God and the Angels themselves join. In thepresence of his spirit, salat and salam comecontinuously. The entire mosque is filled with prayersfor him; and this is the largest building in theworld. Here, the existence of humanity finds itsjustification.
"Not one of you believes," says a hadith, "untilI am dearer to him than his father, his son, and allmankind." The power of this love detains many in themosque. But the body has its rights, and others slowlyleave, to find a place to eat in this crowded city.Restaurants of all kinds abound, and the air aroundthe mosque loses its hint of musk and sandalwood, tobecome fragrant with the aroma of Turkish kebabs,Lebanese meze, Malaysian satay, Sudanese chicken andbeans. In the darkness, street vendors offer thegarments of fifty countries:Indonesian batik, Damascusmuslin, Egyptian cotton, Moroccan chiffre. Prayerbeads of olive pits, amber or ebony dangle fromshelves. Women browse through jewellery, heaped highwith no fear of thieves.
The cheerful fellowship of the eating-houses isnot the profane self-exaltation of the smart Westernrestaurant. Here, companionship is the main item onthe menu. Struggling for words, Muslims of two hundrednationalities speak about their homes, about thetroubles of the world, about their hopes for an end tothe unbearable shallowness of the modern world, and areturn to God.
The air outside is now much cooler. Those whoknow the city may briefly visit some of its nearershrines, such as the Mosque of the Two Qiblas, withits resonances of the lost Muslim city of Jerusalem,the Third Holy City. Unlike Madina, Jerusalem has beentragically desacralised in recent decades, with theintroduction of night clubs, pornography, and everyform of degradation. But Islam's grasp on Madina isstill strong. Such is God's power in defence of HisMessenger that no enemy army has succeeded incapturing it, since the dawn of Islam.
The adhan sounds for isha, and the veins of thecity pump back towards the mosque which is its heart.Grateful for God's gift of food and drink, thepilgrims are eager for the prayer, followed by theTarawih rite extending almost two hours into thenight.
Tarawih in Madina is one of the great spectaclesof the world. Perhaps a million men, women andchildren, stand in neat lines in the mosque, on itsroof, and in the marbled spaces nearby. Tarawih inMecca is an experience of austere majesty; in Madina,it is characterised by delight and by love. To pray inthe company of God's Messenger, who rose through theseven heavens to bring to us the gift of prayer, andwho will intercede for tides of humanity, is an almostinexpressible joy. Villagers from Pakistan,shopkeepers from Turkey, Nigerian businessmen, andBosnian farmers, all stand together, their differencesannihilated by the presence of the man whose missionwas truly universal.
In the Qur'an, there is nothing of Arab pride.Its original context in history was the Arab people,but it pays little attention to them. It isfarsighted, affirming that each previous prophet hadbeen sent only to his own people; but that now, aProphet had come who was for all mankind. And here isthe proof of that mission's truth and of its successunder God: a million human beings, outwardly diversebut of a single heart, basking in the glow of Madina.
After Tarawih, it is tea-time. Midnight, underthe arc-lamps of this warm city, is no time for sleep.Sufi fraternities meet in homes, and recall theglories of the Beloved of Madina. Hadith are read, inthe sing-song style traditional in the city.Commentaries are given in the delightful Madinadialect, so rich in Syrian and Turkish words.
Tahajjud prayers attract perhaps a quarter of amillion, deep in the small hours. Others are sleepingin the streets, or in the hotels, which range fromsmall Egyptian resthouses with doubtful stairs, to thefive-star plushness of the Sheraton and the GreenPalace. On the roofs of many hotels are small gardens,and here, even at this hour, the Sufi orders are againenjoying their fellowship in the spirit.
The sunna recommends that at least some of thenight be spent in sleep. Two hours before dawn, mostof the city is silent. And then, the first adhan, morethan an hour before the adhan for the prayer, risesinto the black sky. The hotels serve a pre-dawn meal,but few linger until the last moment. An hour beforethe dawn prayer begins, the mosque is already full,the worshippers knowing by experience the value ofthis time. The Suffa, the small veranda attached tothe Prophetic tomb, is crowded with turbaned men,prayer-beads in hand. Here lived the poorest of theCompanions, those who were under the most intensespiritual guidance, who hungered, and lived in rags,and prayed.
The final adhan sounds, and then the iqama. Theprayer is said, followed by the atmosphere of peaceand consummation which ends each prayer. Many remainuntil ishraq, the individual prayer said aftersunrise. Others hail taxis, and visit the outlyingshrines.
The most important of these is Mount Uhud. TheBlessed Prophet proclaimed it as ÁÂ mountain whichloves us, and which we love????Its mysterious qualityhas been reinforced by aerial photographs, which showthat the mountain spells the Arabic name of Allah. Towalk in its dry valleys is to encounter solitarypilgrims, meditating on the evanescence of life.Occasionally a qalandar is seen, with untidy hair,fingers heavy with brass rings, his eyes disquietinglybright. Some live in this hill throughout their visit,descending to the valley to pray.
Ramadan is a time of renunciation. Although themorning air is still cool, the sense of detachmentgranted by the fast has sobered the crowds, andfocussed their minds. The pilgrims clustered aroundthe iron grille which allows them to view the gravesof the Martyrs of Uhud read from prayerbooks, orrepeat the words of the muzawwir, the official guide."Peace be upon you, Hamza, the Lion of God, the uncleof God's Messenger!Peace be upon you, Mus'ab, hero of theCompanions!" Beside the cemetery, the authorities haveconstructed a mosque for those who wish to pray inthis place.
The great cemetery of Madina, however, isal-Baqi'. This lies near the Prophet's tomb, fromwhich it was until recently separated by one of thegates of the walled city, the Bab al-Baqi'. Thecemetery has many names, including Jannat al-Baqi',The Garden of Baqi', and Baqi' Âl-Gharqad, a referenceto the brambles (gharqad) which covered it when Islamfirst arrived. In the fifth year of the Hijra, theCompanion Uthman ibn Maz'un died, and was buriedhere, and on the Blessed Prophet's instructions thearea was cleared of brambles and became the lastresting place of the Companions.
Today, Baqi' is the most visited graveyard inthe world. Until recently rough cement wallssurrounded it, but in 1996 the authorities replacedthese with fine granite, pierced with large iron andbrass grilles, to commemorate and honour this place.Some pilgrims stand by the grilles, but others,particularly in the cool hour after dawn, venture inby the splendid new gates.
To facilitate circulation, the authorities haveestablished cement pathways throughout the cemetery.Guidebooks provide detailed maps of the plots, naminghundreds of the individuals who are buried here.Hencethe pilgrims, guided by their muzawwirs, stand, orcrouch, before the tombs of the Mothers of theBelievers: A'isha, Hafsa, Umm Habiba and the others.Nearby is the Blessed Prophet's infant son, the twoyear old Ibrahim, whose death caused the Prophet suchpain. The pilgrims move on to salute Uthman, the thirdCaliph, and then Imam Malik and his teacherNafi'. Al-Abbas, the Prophet's uncle, is here. So toois Halima al-Sa'diyya, the nurse whose dry breastsmiraculously flowed with milk when the infant Muhammadwas set to them. To one side is the grave of ImamShamyl, the nineteenth-century hero of the Caucasus,visited by Chechen and Daghistani pilgrims to thisday.
Al-Baqi' is a powerful place. Other citiesconsider it their pride to host a single saint; buthere there are hundreds. All around lie at rest themen and women who heard the Prophet's summons, andbroke the idols of their forefathers, and gave theirlives to his cause. To this blessed ambience is addedthe baraka of Ramadan, and as the days pass, this toogains in power.
The fasting city of Madina has other wonders,although not all are as spectacular as the Haram andal-Baqi'. There is one mosque no bigger than aprayer-mat, surrounded by two layers of bricks, whichmarks the spot where the Blessed Prophet once prayed.An elderly man lives nearby, and sweeps the tinymosque daily, dispensing prayers and teaching-storiesto the visitors.
The tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who welcomed theProphet and his teaching, still live in Madina,retaining their traditions of courtesy andhospitality. The basalt homes in which they oncelived: the traditionalMadinese bayt al-bi'r, built around a courtyardwhich was often covered with a net and filled withtropical birds, are now mostly gone. Yet otherwise,not much has changed in fourteen hundred years.Pernicious and cheapening influences from the worldoutside are successfully excluded.
Madina shows the truth of the hadith that"Madina expels impurities as a furnace expelsimpurities from iron." The form of the city haschanged, but the heart is immutable. In Ramadan, morethan at any other time, the continued strength ofIslam is manifest here. The city is well-defended; asa hadith recorded by Imam Muslim states, theAntichrist cannot enter it, but will be driven away onthe lava-plains by al-Khidr himself. In this city,and in this month, the Muslims are at home.

by A.Mohammad Saleem

In the Name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful The tears of the shaykh “Then when you pour down from Arafat, celebrate the praises of Allah at the Sacred Monument, and celebrate His praises as He has directed you, even though, before this, you were astray.” Al-Baqarah 2:198. As I walked through the courtyard and towards Masjid al-Haram in the serenity and stillness of the last third of the night, a time when according to Rasulallah our Lord descends to the lowest heaven and inquires ‘Who will call on Me so that I may respond to him?’, those verses from Surah Baqarah flooded my mind as they had almost two years ago in this very same blessed place. This was my first visit back to the Haram since 3/11. Six months before 9/11, March 11th, 2001 still resonates more strongly and deeply in my mind than any other day that has followed, for it marked my return back from home after the physical and spiritual journey of Hajj. At the time of Hajj, those verses in al-Baqarah were often recited, not only in a mood of reflection but in a mood of excitement, in anticipation of a unique and glorious opportunity, the opportunity for spiritual purification, guidance and seeking Allah’s forgiveness on the day of Arafah. Since that day, and in the twenty months that have followed, those same verses have haunted me, and are recited and heard in a mood of fear. One week earlier, back at home, standing in Taraweeh behind a shaykh who had performed Hajj that same year, the shaykh struggled to recite this very verse due to his weeping, and this weeping was greater than any I had ever heard from him. All of us should weep upon hearing this verse, but perhaps the Hajji, the one who has completed his or her pilgrimage, can really truly understand, and understand with feeling, why the shaykh may have wept. Those who leave Makkah after Hajj often leave in sadness, sadness from having to leave the most blessed of places in the universe, where their hearts and souls are enveloped in the security and warmth of the remembrance and glorification of Allah. And when they return to their homes and their regular lives, they live in fear, in fear that their Hajj, the pinnacle of their religious and devotional life, was not accepted. Time does not pass without thinking of it and praying to Allah that He accept our Hajj. So whether the physical performance of Hajj was two, ten or thirty years ago, the pilgrim feels a desire to ask Allah for it to be accepted. For if it is, then it suffices to be your only achievement in this world of any merit, and it will be greater than gaining the entire world on the Day of Judgement. Conversely, if it was not accepted, it is as if you had greater than the entire world sitting in the palm of your hand for a split second before dropping and losing it forever. I continued to walk towards Masjid-al-Haram, no longer looking at the night sky, or the minarets of the Masjid, or the Muslims around me. I simply watched my feet as they shuffled towards the Haram, as that verse in al-Baqarah, particularly its end, continued to echo in my mind. “and celebrate His praises as He has directed you, even though, before this, you were astray.” Several days prior, back at home, I had discussed my upcoming journey to the Haram with a colleague. At this time, when he learned that I had already performed the Hajj and after I had told him to expedite his own pilgrimage as soon as possible, he stated his preference to wait until he was much older, as is customarily done in many parts of the world. I explained to him that this is a cultural phenomenon, to which he agreed, but he added that once one performs Hajj, one shouldn’t be sinning or disobeying Allah anymore when they return. That was too much responsibility and pressure for him in his opinion at his young age. The verse haunted me again. “before this, you were astray” Some of the commentators on this verse have stated that this being astray is the condition prior to the guidance of the Qur’an and Messenger. One may be astray before the guidance, before the Hajj. Can one be astray after the Hajj? There is no way of knowing if your Hajj is accepted until the Day of Judgement, but some of the shuyookh have mentioned signs of an accepted Hajj, and alternatively, a rejected Hajj. And indeed, amongst them is that, if your Hajj was accepted, one’s behavior and religious devotion is improved and consistently better upon returning. Not just immediately after the Hajj, but years afterward for the remainder of a lifetime. Perhaps it is this idea that caused the shaykh to weep, and for other Hajjis to be haunted and fearful as I have been since 3/11. For when the Hajjis examine their faith and their character, what do they find? Are all those deficiencies we find within ourselves signs of our being astray, are they signs that our Hajj was not accepted? Has what is greater than the entire universe slipped out of our hands like water seeping through a clenched fist? Hajj is a discovery. A discovery by definition uncovers that which was covered. Hajj opens up the heart and leads one to a state of the heart which is in turn externalized into behavior that one was incapable of before. And those who have stood on the plain of Arafah on the 9th of Dhul Hijjah have sought to maintain and nourish those states ever since that day. Ramadan is a means of such nourishment, a consistent opportunity given to the Muslims throughout their lifetime to purify the heart. If Hajj is a discovery, then Ramadan may be a rediscovery for the Hajji. An Umrah in Ramadan, according to Rasulallah, if it is accepted, has the same reward as a Hajj. And an Umrah at any time can erase the mistakes since the previous one. That is why I found myself, like many others, walking towards Masjid al-Haram, the most blessed of places in the universe, during the most blessed of times in the universe, the nights of Ramadan. If our Hajj truly was a discovery then our visitation to the Haram now, years later, was in hope for a rediscovery of the Hajj, and a reopening of the heart.
The fasting of Hajj and the Ihram of Ramadan Upon entering the Masjid, I went up to the second floor to escape the bustle of the crowd and find a calm spot with an unobstructed view of the Kaaba, which I had circumambulated several hours earlier as part of the Umrah. Praised be to Allah, the Umrah had been completed, but the rediscovery was, God willing, just beginning. It was still approximately an hour before Fajr and many people were still performing their Umrah. Others, like myself, were using this opportunity for reading of the Qur’an or Tahajjud. On the journey towards Makkah I had been reflecting on the blessing of any prayer in the Haram for as Rasulallah has said a prayer in the Haram, provided it is accepted, is worth the reward of 100,000 prayers in any other masjid. I thought of all the deficiencies in my obligatory prayers over the years. One of the ways, out of Allah’s mercy, that we may make up for our deficiencies in mandatory ibadah is by doing supererogatory ibadah. I approximated the number of prayers I had performed in my entire lifetime and realized that if they were accepted, only two prayers in the Haram would supercede all of those prayers. Subhanallah. May Allah accept the prayers of the Muslims which are offered in His House! After several prayers, I proceeded to drink the water of Zamzam, which constituted the Suhoor for the upcoming fast. To partake of the greatest of all food or water, in the greatest of places, during the most blessed of months, as preparation for the fast, the only action in this world done by the children of Adam which is not for them but solely for their Creator as is reported in a Hadith Qudsi, is something which cannot be adequately put into words. Shaykh Al-Hudhaifi, one of the Imams of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madina, has said that “Ramadan is like a rainy season and the human being is like fertile soil, and every kind of flower will bloom with the rainfall”. Fasting in the Haram brings this to an even higher level, and it complements the Umrah and Hajj. For while Ramadan may bring the rain which allows the flowers to bloom, it is the pilgrimage, in the form of the Hajj or Umrah, that prepares the soil and plants the seeds before they can grow and bloom. If Ramadan is the cultivator then a visit to Allah’s House is the tillage, loosening the soil of sins which constrict and burden the seed of the heart, killing the weeds of spiritual disease within the heart, and improving the circulation and transmission of the water and air of divine guidance to the seed of the heart, allowing it to open and grow. As we prepared for the coming of dawn and the beginning of a new fast, I looked at the white thawb I was wearing. Just hours earlier I was in the white Ihram, two simple sheets wrapped around the body. Yet the Ihram is beyond the simple dress, it has deeper roots that mold the spirit and character. “Let there be no obscenity nor wickedness nor wrangling in the pilgrimage.” (al-Baqarah 2:197) . It is making an agreement with Allah and His creation to refrain from committing sins which make him deviate from the path of obedience and, among other things, to refrain from disputing or fighting with people. Fasting, too, has a deeper spiritual meaning. It is not simply the abstinence from food and drink but the higher fast is to refrain from sin, be it from the tongue, the hand, the eye, the ear or anything else. When I had been in Ihram, I had been fasting for part of it, and I thought of how similar its restrictions and its motivations to higher moral behavior were to those of the fast. It seemed so natural to be fasting and to be in the state of Ihram, as if they complemented and supported one another. I believe I always appreciated the pilgrimage and the Ihram, but perhaps I truly did not appreciate and recognize the bounty and grace of fasting given to us by Allah. Indeed, fasting is a shield, and after making the Umrah in Ramadan, one realizes that fasting is the Ihram of the heart, which can be put on at the Meeqat of dawn in any place in the world.
The dhikr of circling birds The Fajr adhan was soon called and a new fast had begun. Imam Shuraim, my personal favorite among all the Shaykhs of the Haramayn led the Fajr salah, and in the salah he recited the cluster of verses surrounding Ayat-ul-Kursi, the verse of the Throne in Surah Baqarah. Fitting, as it allowed us to reflect on the greatness of Allah and His Attributes as we had begun the action of fasting which is for Him alone. In the second rakah, as the glimmers of sunlight began to color the once dark night sky, we heard of the subsequent verses in al-Baqarah detailing our father Ibrahim’s encounter with King Nimrud and his challenge to make the sun rise from the West. And then we heard of the story of Ibrahim and his request to Allah to see how He gives life and death, after which he was ordered to place the bodies of birds on the mountains at different places and then witnessed the resurrection of these birds as they flew back towards him. Ibn Abbas is reported to have stated that this verse, perhaps more than any other in the Qur’an, gave him the most hope, for Allah accepted Ibrahim’s simple answer of ‘Yes’ as an affirmation of his faith. And as we reflected on this story in the salah, we heard the chirping of birds glorifying Allah and circling the Kaaba in their own way, perhaps descendants of those very same birds that flew to Ibrahim thousands of years ago. As the salah came to a close, the once black sky now took on a deep violet and blue hue. We live in a billboard culture in this modern day age. These billboards surround us wherever we are and wherever we choose to go, and they are placed as a means to influence and mold our decisions in life. Interestingly, when one makes the drive from Jeddah to Makkah, there are literal billboards and signs on the highway which say Glory to Allah, Praise to Allah, and There is no God but Allah. Those birds and the sun shown to Ibrahim are the same that we see today. Indeed the creation that surrounds us, the cosmic phenomena that intrigue and inspire us, the beauty of the mountains and rivers that captivates us, and the complexity and design of the animals and plants that astounds us, are our billboards. If we would but only examine and reflect on them, we would find that our hearts are naturally guided towards the proper decision, the decision to turn towards Allah. A gaze of love After the salah was completed, I remained sitting where I was, just behind the railing on the second floor, overlooking the Kaaba and the inner courtyard. As often is the case after salah in the Haram on the second floor and the roof, many people go over to lean over on the railing and look upon the Kaaba. I decided to restrain my own impulse to go over to the railing and continued to sit and begin the supplications of the morning. As I was doing so, I looked not at that Kaaba but at all those in front and on the side of me standing over the railing looking upon the Kaaba and the thousands of people making Tawaf around it. At Hajj the last time I had visited I remembered standing at the railing with everyone else in awe watching the river of people circumambulating the Kaaba. Someone behind me said at that time that all one has to do to recognize the existence of Allah is to stand where we are standing and to see what was before our very eyes. As I watched the other people watching the Kaaba, I looked at the pattern of their eye movements. And one thing that was readily apparent was that one does not gaze at the Kaaba itself for an extended period of time. Most often people would initially glance at the Kaaba and fixate on it for several seconds, and then move on in their gaze to that which surrounds it, namely the thousands of people making the Tawaf. It is as if the majesty of the Kaaba is deemed so great by the eye and heart, that one is humbled in the presence of such majesty and redirects the prolonged gaze elsewhere. And it is in this prolonged gaze of the creation of Allah which glorifies Allah by circling His House in the Tawaf, where one begins to appreciate the majesty. For the majesty of Allah and the majesty of His House, cannot be comprehended by our senses or our intellect. Yet when we look at our fellow human beings, our fellow creation, making the Tawaf, we can get a sense of this majesty. For we see and reflect that within every single one of these thousands of hearts circumambulating the Kaaba, spiritual journeys are being made in each heart. And in each their hoped destination is something which dwarfs the entire universe as we know it in our own finite understanding. Beyond the pattern of eye movements of those whom I watched, among all of them one could see the longing in their eyes. There is an Arabic proverb that states that lovers carry a mark between their eyes that no one can miss. One sees that love for the Kaaba and for Allah in their eyes. One sees that spiritual yearning and longing to be in the Aakhirah. Seeing them leaning over the railing and gazing at the Kaaba and those around it, it was like seeing a new parent with their face as close as possible to the glass of the nursery separating them from their child. They look upon their child in sheer awe and with the purest love. And yet the glass prevents them from fulfilling their longing to get close to their child and take them into their arms and embrace them, just as the glass of this world and this life prevents us from fulfilling our longing for the Aakhirah and the Divine presence. And yet how infinitely greater is the love Allah has for us! Soon enough, though I had not finished the supplications of the morning, I could not resist going to the railing myself and continue the supplications while watching the people making the Tawaf. One thing that is realized when one sees the Tawaf is how truly insignificant one is. We tend to exalt ourselves and feel proud of our actions that we think makes us closer to Allah. Yet in the Tawaf, or on the plain of Arafah, one sees millions of people doing these same actions, and we are filled with this feeling of how insignificant we are and how everyone around us seems better than us. How could we ever compare with those other human beings around us making the Tawaf? It is a truly humbling experience. One of the supplications made by the Prophet in the morning states, ”O Allah, I have entered a new morning and call upon You and upon the bearers of Your Throne, upon Your angels, and all creation to bear witness that surely You are Allah, there is none worthy of worship but You alone.”. In reciting this while watching this never-ending wave of people circling Allah’s House and glorifying Him, it was is as if this supplication was being partially manifest before our very eyes, seeing all of creation worshiping the Creator, as they were created to do so.
The thousand sleepers After sunrise had come and gone, I left my perch at the railing of the second floor of the masjid and walked around the enormous masjid. In doing so I saw an amazing sight, thousands of people sleeping, their heads resting in a variety of ways, on rolled up carpets, their hands, their shoes. And their colors and cultures were just as diverse, and Allah had brought them all together and given them the n’imah of sleep. Over fourteen hundred years ago, in this very month of Ramadan, Allah had blessed the believers with the mercy of sleep just before the battle of Badr, giving them calmness and sakeena in their hearts, making their planned sacrifice of their very lives easy for them. Allah always makes the sacrifices of the believer easy for him or her after they have committed to it. There was a tremendous peace in all their faces as they slept quietly. Ibn Hazm wrote that when a man is asleep he leaves behind the world and forgets all its joys and sorrows. If he kept his spirit in the same state upon waking, he would know perfect happiness. This peaceful happiness was evident in all of them in their sleep, and it is in sleep that the souls are taken away temporarily and only returned to the body if Allah wills that body to live another day. Sleep can be a frightening thing to the one who does not reflect, the one who disbelieves, for in lying down to sleep one abandons their will, and delivers it to the unknown. But for the Muslims, they are committing their will to their Lord and henceforth sleep in serenity and happiness, in hopes of one day finding rest in the divine presence in the Aakhirah. I prayed for all those sleeping and wished that I may be like one of them as I had not slept in almost two days of traveling and the Umrah. And praise to Allah, sleep arrived quicker than I would have ever imagined. Glory be to Allah who has given us the n’imah of sleep, in which He takes our souls temporarily from our body, where the body and mind are replenished and rejuvenated, and where we are given a window into our very own soul to help us identify the state of our heart! The race towards Marwa It was close to the time of Dhuhr upon waking. I went down to the ground level of the masjid and took a seat amongst the many others waiting for the adhaan. One feels the anticipation of those surrounding you before the adhaan. It as if a loved one has informed you that he or she will call you at a certain time, and you sit by the phone waiting for it to ring. The preparation before our salah is all of this to a greater and grander scale, in which one goes through both physical and mental preparation. For salah is an intimate conversation for the servant with his most Beloved, the Master of the Day of Judgement. As we waited anxiously for the adhaan to grace our ears for yet another time, I had the opportunity to watch several children in the row in front of me. One thing that one does not get to appreciate as much during Hajj is the beauty and lessons for us in children. During Ramadan in the Haram, one sees many children and families. Directly in front of me were two young boys sitting quietly, as if in awe of all the people surrounding them. A large man stepped in front of me and seemed poised to literally step on one of the boys. With the greatest and gentlest manner, he tapped one of the boys lightly, picked him up briefly and set him down softly just beside the place of prayer he had just made for himself. An act of mercy. Yet this was but another infinitesimal manifestation of the one part of Allah’s Mercy which has been sent down to all of creation for all of time and space until the Day of Judgement. On that Day, the other 99 parts will be made evident. And all the mercy in the world that we have seen and will see, and all the mercy that our parents, and their parents, and their ancestors have seen only account for an infinitesimal portion of that one part of Allah’s mercy. Subhanallah! Just to my left and in front of me there was another group of children, apparently two brothers and their sister. The sister was quietly reading Qur’an, sitting next to her father who was doing the same. The younger brothers were playing around poking each other in the shoulder. Occasionally the sister would disengage from her reading of the Qur’an and poke one of her brothers. Their father’s eyes were fixed on the mushaf he was reading, though he periodically glanced momentarily in their direction to keep them in line. On seeing these children I thought of a young boy performing Sai’ with his family. He was very skinny, and sickly and weak appearing, and it looked as if he was actively struggling with a gastroenteritis of some sort. Yet despite all of that he was making the Sai’ with enthusiasm, walking ahead of his parents, who were working to keep pace with him and almost amazed to see their son walk with such strength. Allah has blessed us with a fitra and an inclination towards serving and worshiping him. And He has blessed us with the n’imah of Islam, which is within every single one of us. The young boy was not yet at a discerning age, and the true faith was not yet in his heart, but the natural enthusiasm and inclination to serve and glorify Allah was distinctly manifest as he surged ahead of his family as he made the Sai’. In time, inshallah, he will grow up to be a man, and inshallah he will be a great servant of Allah, performing many more acts of worship with the sincerity of faith. Yet all of that will simply be that initially planted ni’mah within him becoming more manifest. We often times tend to feel good about ourselves and give ourselves credit in how many good deeds we do, how many prayers we offer, how much Qur’an or ahadith we know and so on. And we often do this as we compare ourselves to fellow Muslims who we see are not doing these same external actions to the extent that we are doing so. Yet instead of exalting ourselves, we should in fact be more humbled, for none of this is from us. We have accomplished nothing. Allah, out of His grace, has given us tawfeeq, and enabled us to begin to recognize and actualize that potential and n’imah which has been within us long before. With this tawfeeq from Allah, one cannot help but perform such deeds, just as that sickly boy could not but help to surge forward in his Sai’, for the n’imah given to him and us automatically propels us in that direction. And for those of our brothers and sisters who appear weak to us in their external actions, weak in their belief, they have not yet been given the grace and tawfeeq from Allah to recognize the n’imah, as it remains veiled from them. Yet if the tawfeeq comes, their hearts and position with Allah may be so much greater than ours, and they may surge ahead of us on the Day of Judgement as the young boy surged ahead of his parents during Sai. O Allah protect the Muslims from self-righteousness and the judging of others, for you Allah are the only Judge and know the hearts of people and their ultimate position with You. Give us tawfeeq to recognize the n’imah of Islam that you have given us! You are the Most Gracious, Most Merciful!
An open grave After the Dhuhr prayer was completed, it was as if no time had elapsed before the time of Asr came upon us. I moved to a different place in the masjid yet again, back up to the second floor to get a better look again at the Kaaba. As I walked around looking for a spot, I noticed an area almost uninhabited by people. I excitedly sat down in the area, happy to be in the first row which permitted me to see the Kaaba. Soon enough however, I realized that no one was sitting there because it was directly in the sun, and as one looked forward the sun was directly in front of your face. So not only was it hot but your head needed to be kept down to avoid looking at the sun. But as Asr came and went, this proved to be an advantage, for it allowed for further appreciation of the natural phenomena that surrounds us. Those who later joined me had full view of the sun as it slowly migrated westward towards the mountains of Makkah. In some circles of Islamic thought, the movements of the sun and their relationship with the prayer times throughout the day have been made analogous to our stages in life. As the sun approaches the horizon after Asr and as it sets, it is the death of the day, analogous to our very own death. Almost after every salah in the Haram a Janaza prayer is performed. Imagine how blessed a person is to be prayed on by so many people in the greatest of places! It proves to be a tremendous opportunity to consistently remember death. And even when there is no Janazah, there are so many opportunities to serve as reminders. In Madina, for example, there was no Janazah after Fajr prayer one day. I decided to visit al-Baqi, phe graveyard close to the Masjid, where many of the Prophet’s household and other blessed Companions of the Prophet are buried. The sky remained quite dark though sunrise was close to approaching. As I walked the passageways of al-Baqi, I looked up at the sky and at the stars above. To my amazement, a shooting star, a meteorite, dramatically appeared. Yet its demise and fade into the dark sky proved to be just as quick as its explosive and bright birth seconds earlier. In many ways, our life in the world is like a shooting star: A bright flash of light that draws our immediate attention amidst the greater night sky of the Aakhirah which we cannot really comprehend. A flash which vanishes as quickly as it came and back into the depths of the dark sky above. Soon after, as I continued to walk, I looked down to my right and to my astonishment saw an open grave. It had been dug recently, as if waiting to hear of news of its guest or prisoner, depending on the merit of the person. The initial thought upon seeing this open grave was surprise and shock, but almost immediately there was this desire within to actually enter the grave. As Abu Bakr RA has said, death is as close to a man as his shoelaces. Indeed, this life, this world, is but an open grave at our feet. Yet as I inched closer to it, fear entered the heart and there was hesitation. It was the dunya tugging on the heart, making it hesitate to go towards the Aakhirah. Upon recognizing this state, I could only shake my head in disappointment, for all those souls buried around where I was standing, all those Muslim men and women who lived and died here, would have raced to enter this open grave as we hesitate. How great their generation was in comparison to our own! May Allah have mercy and shower His blessings upon them!
A cup of dates As the sun continued to descend before us as we waited for the adhaan of Maghrib, preparations were made around us for the breaking of the fast. It is an amazing sight to see thousands upon thousands of people be all accommodated with dates and water (and even more) for the breaking of the fast. And as the adhaan is called one cannot escape the sheer generosity of your fellow Muslims, offering their very food and water for you. It is said that Rasulallah was the most generous of people and he was most generous during the month of Ramadan. In his city of Madina, one will be greeted by a Madinan even before one enters the masjid. He places his arm around you affectionately and invites and guides you towards his serving area where dates, water and other food will be given to you. On this day, one brother offered me his date to allow me to break his fast, yet afterwards he continued to offer me three more of his dates. “Tfaddal!” he exclaimed, to encourage me to take his dates. “Tfaddal!” I exclaimed to him, encouraging him to take it for himself, to which he responded “Tfaddal!” We went back and forth in saying “Tfaddal” to one another until I finally lost. Several days later, I would attempt to enact a pre-emptive strike on this immense display of generosity. I took my cup of dates and outstretched it towards those near to me offering them more dates. A brother then subsequently placed a bunch of dates in my cup for me! The Maghrib prayer was performed under the leadership of the popular Imam Abdur-Rahman Sudais, most popular for the Qunoot that he performs in this very month of Ramadan. He recited short surahs, al-Inshiraah and ad-Duha and the prayer was completed rather quickly. This allows people to leave the masjid and eat if they choose to do so. Others choose to stay and prepare for Isha and the Taraweeh. Not wanting to lose my spot in the first row, and not wanting to leave the masjid, I decided to stay, surrounded by other brothers who had decided to do the same. They were reciting the Qur’an or making dhikr. ”And if they ask you concerning Me, know that I am near” Al-Baqarah 2:186 The closeness one feels to Allah at certain times, when in dhikr, or salah or in recitation of the Qur’an can be an indescribable thing. But as I joined the others in making dhikr as night began to fall, I was further astounded at the magnitude of it all. We feel so close to Allah, we have such an intimate conversation with Him. When you looks around at others however, you realize they are in fact in that same state, they feel that same closeness as you do, that same intimacy. It is an amazing fact to reflect upon. Truly Allah is the Most High, the All-Seeing, the All-Hearing who hears every single one of His servants as all of creation glorifies him, closer to each one of His servants than their own jugular vein!
The plains of Arafah, the Qiyam of Ramadan The time for Isha came, and with it came the adhaan of Shaykh Ali Mulla, perhaps the most recognized call from the Haram. It is a call that has had a particular effect on me. There is a saying that “Before you visit Makkah it beckons to you, and when you leave it behind it calls to you forever”. For myself, this calling often comes in the form of this particular adhan, whether hearing it for real or hearing it simply in the mind, it has been a reminder and calling towards this blessed place for years, and now, praise to Allah, we got to hear it again, live. Its echoes throughout the great expanse of the masjid and the night sky over Masjid al-Haram is rivaled only by its echoes in the hearts of those hearing it. Many people began to make du'a after the adhaan was completed, for one of the greatest times for du’a is between the Adhaan and the Iqaama; it is a time where the sincere supplication is not rejected. There is a story related by Imam Ghazali of a man who while during Hajj was visited by two angels in a dream on the night of Arafah who told him that of the six hundred thousand pilgrims making Hajj, only six of those were accepted. He woke that morning anxious and in grief, rightly worried about his own standing given that only six people had their Hajj accepted. The next night, in Muzdalifah, the two angels visited him again in his dream and told him for each of those six people, due to their merit and own prayers, a hundred thousand were given to each, so all six hundred thousand people had an accepted Hajj. All of us, one hopes, can recall of supplications that we have made to Allah that have been answered. We can fall into a trap of thinking that my du’a was answered by Allah. But were those supplications really answered, or was it just the supplication of someone more righteous than we being answered? Could it be that whatever good fortunes have befallen us, whatever we have wished for in the past that has come true, was in fact because of an accepted du’a of someone else rather than our own du’a? Perhaps it was the du’a of our parents, or our friends. Perhaps it was the du’a of a stranger who we have never seen or never met, who saw us in the corner of his eye one day and made du'a for us. Perhaps it was the du’a of one of our ancestors hundreds of years ago praying that good would befall his offspring. Like those nearly six hundred thousand people making Hajj that year in that story, we may never really know. All we can do is work and struggle to find sincerity and humility in our du’a and pray to Allah that we may be included amongst the righteous. The recitation of the Isha prayer was brief, and consisted of the last three verses of Surah Baqara. In this group of verses, just before the sublime invocation at the end, we are told not to distinguish between the Prophets. And it leads one to reflect on the Prophets, being in the place where several Prophets have walked years ago. There was sheer excitement within myself, and the others no doubt, as we awaited the Taraweeh prayer. I thought of Hajj and the day of Arafah and being on the bus anxiously awaiting to arrive on the plain of Arafah. The excitement I had now was similar to then. Hajj is based on both physical action and spiritual introspection; its physical rites can be so taxing and numerous, however, that room for spiritual introspection can be at times forgotten. Yet if one talks to any Hajji, they will universally speak of the standing on the plain of Arafah as the greatest part of Hajj. For it is on the plain of Arafah that the physical rites stop, and where one can delve into deep spiritual introspection. Ramadan is based heavily on spiritual introspection without many rites to be performed specifically, other than the recitation of the Qur’an and the performance of salah, in particular the Taraweeh which is unique to it. In this month, some of the secrets of salah can be unlocked. While the many rites of Hajj are a celebration and commemoration of the Messengers of Allah, the unique rites during Ramadan are a celebration and commemoration of the Books of Allah. Both of them are commemorating and celebrating that conduit between the divine and humanity, the conduit of revelation consisting of the Messengers and the Books of Allah. If Ramadan is a celebration of the Qur’an, it is magnified in the Taraweeh in the Haram. For it was here that many of these verses were sent down. It was here that history was made and revelations were sent down juxtaposed to these historical events. To here Shaykh Shuraim recite the du’a of Ibrahim in the surah named after him asking Allah that Makkah be a place of peace and security was an awesome experience for all of us. For we were standing there in serenity, with the brisk night breeze causing our thawbs to billow in the wind, all witnesses to Allah’s answering of Ibrahim’s du’a for it had come to fruition. The evidence was before our very eyes. Imam Shuraim’s recitation was as magnificent as it always has been. Seven years earlier, I had heard him for the first time in the Haram and since then I have been listening to his tapes, which are recorded during the Taraweeh. And now to finally hear him and stand behind him in the Taraweeh in the Haram! Appropriately so, as Surah Ra’d (The Thunder) was recited, to hear the beautiful recitation of the words of Allah was like lightning under the skin, as if the heart undergoes a brief moment where it becomes in phase with the rest of the physical body which is constantly glorifying Allah . It is as if the heart begins to receive input and sensation from this perpetual state of constant glorification of Allah that every single cell of the body’s limbs and organs is in. Its effect is as sharp as lightning and as profound as thunder, for those brief moments can begin to shatter the shell of sins and forgetfulness that mask the heart. "In the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction." Ra’d 13:28 There is a sweetness to salah that when one experiences it, one understands why Rasulallah stated that salah was the most beloved thing in the world to him that brought coolness to his eye. One of the shaykhs in our religious tradition stated that if the kings and rulers knew what we the Muslims had, i.e that sweetness, they would fight us for it. One finds that sweetness in Arafah in the midst of millions of people, and one sees the magnificence in these millions. So it also is in the Taraweeh of the Haram. As one stands before the Kaaba in the Tarweeh and looks towards it and at all the people facing it in turn, one finds magnificence. And as one lowers their eyes towards the place of prostration, and then into their own heart, one finds sweetness. After days of physical actions and deeds, the Hajj reaches its high point, and its most crucial point, on the plains of Arafah. Here, physical deeds and actions are minimized, and the Muslim simply stands and raises his or her hands, calling on Allah for forgiveness and mercy. The petitioning for mercy is all we can do, for no one, not even Rasulallah as he has stated, will enter paradise on account of their deeds but only because of Allah’s Mercy. The culmination of the Taraweeh prayer in the Haram is the Witr prayer. And like on the plains of Arafah, it ends in the same way, with us standing, facing the Qibla, hands raised and asking Allah for forgiveness and His Mercy on the Day of Judgment. And His Mercy prevails over His Wrath. O Son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it. Hadith Qudsi in At-Tirmidhi. As the Witr was completed, and as the most memorable of days came to a close as we left the Masjid, no doubt all of us were praying that the Qunoot was accepted. We would be back soon, God willing, back for another chance to converse with our Lord, to fast for His sake, and to visit His House.
The clouds of mercy or punishment? Just before leaving the Haram several days later, after praying Maghrib and seeing the Kaaba and praying in the Haram for perhaps the last time of my life, dense black clouds began to appear in the sky. The wind gradually began to increase. Many become excited believing that rain would soon fall. Traditionally rain has been understood to be a sign of mercy of Allah. I thought of Rasulallah and how his wife Aisha had described how concern would drape his face when he would see the black clouds, for he would immediately think of the people of ‘Aad who saw such clouds and assumed rain would come but were then met with the severe disaster and punishment from Allah. A drizzle did soon follow thankfully, but as the wind became fierce, and the sand began to enter our eyes, and as thunder and lightning illuminated the sky above the Haram, I couldn’t but wonder if this was not just a sign of Mercy but also a warning and a portent for things to come. When one sees the Muslims on Hajj, or on Umrah, or fasting in the month of Ramadan, one begins to see the potential of the Ummah and strength of this deen. The difficulty however, is that we have been unable to translate the generosity of serving dates to our brothers and sisters at Iftar time to generosity outside the month of Ramadan and to our fellow Muslims and the greater human community. We have been unable to translate the donning of the Ihram of the heart of the fast into the deeper fast in which we reach the highest of moral behavior that is a sign to the rest of humanity of the truth of this deen. We have been unable to translate the physical and spiritual discipline of the salah and actualize its lessons into good character between each prayer. We have been unable to translate our prayers of peace on the Prophet into a desire to bring glad tidings to our fellow human beings and we have been unable to increase our love for the Prophet enough to follow his sunnah regarding dealing with people. And while rites of Hajj, symbols of faith externalized into action and good deeds, are performed, we have been unable to translate them into motivations for good actions that enjoin justice in this world. As I left Haram, perhaps never to visit it again, I wondered, reflecting on my own self and the Ummah as a whole. The next time the black clouds loom above the Muslims, in Makkah or anywhere else, will that rainfall of Mercy again come, or will it be the thunder and awful cry of Punishment? One wonders. And Allah knows best. The journey continues… For those who visit Makkah and than leave it, it remains within their heart forever. Wherever in the world they may be, the image of it is permanently engraved within them. The only things that prevent us from revisiting it and seeing its magnificence and majesty in our hearts are the veils of disobedience to Allah that cloud our vision. The Hajj continues long after one has completed the physical rites during that span of several days in Dhul Hijjah. It continues in the heart for the remainder of one’s lifetime. And during that lifetime the month of Ramadan comes as the rediscoverer, reopening the roads towards Makkah within the heart, increasing the wayfarer’s provisions for the journey and easing the way towards the hoped destination. May Allah accept the Hajj and Umrah of the Muslims. May He accept our fasting during the month of Ramadan and keep us firm on the deen both in the month of Ramadan and outside the month of Ramadan. May He have Mercy on all the Muslims and may He guide us to the path which most pleases Him

some lovely ramadan reminders

Compiled, paraphrased and typed by Huma Ahmad
from the nightly reminders of the Shaikh during Ramadan
First posted on www.TheMadina.com Islamic Forum
(Make Dua for all of us inshaAllah!)

Day One:
The Quran begins with Alhamdulillah reminding us of Ubudiyyah first. Alhamdulillah for who He is. Alhamdulillah that Allah gave us another Ramadan to experience. Alhamdulillah for this window of time, this opportunity for those who seek it and want it. The Quran is the greatest gift. Allah starts with telling us about the guidance in it for those who are conscious huda lil mutaqeen and want to pursue a happy life with Allah. This Book is for those who seek happiness, freedom and true meaning.Surah Baqarah has limitless lessons, we find more the more we read and learn. All the Deen of Allah is about rectifying the self, which leads to rectifying society. Everything in the Quran is about changing us inside. Other people were given the book before us, but over time they became culture oriented and forgot. Their hearts became hardened. 'For there are rocks within which rivers flow' Some also fall down in awe, but as human beings our hearts have become worse than rocks. So we have to not be like them and not forget compassion, mercy, obedience, gentleness, modesty, contentment, generosity, thankfulness, forbearance, patience and dhikr. Ras said Beware from speaking too much without dhikr because it hardens the heart.The Quran is huda for the Qalb to reach Allah, so study the Quran and follow it and your heart will be cleared and purified. Allah will show the one who has faith in Him what is good or bad.In Surah Baqarah, Allah reminds us of previous nations especially of Ibrahim and He wants us to be the Ummah of Ibrahim. 'Only the one who is foolish is the one who keeps away from the path of Ibrahim.' When His Lord told him Aslim he said Aslamtu. Give up your heart, mind, desires, causes to Allah. Ask yourself: Am I a Muslim? like in the way of Ibrahim. Let us say at least I want to be. Allah wants us to surrender to the path of Islam -- the path to Allah. Ibrahim made it his waseeyah (will) to all his children. Our life should be a life of loving surrender.


Day Two:

Didn't take notes.
Day Three:

We completed Surah Baqarah. Allah ended that Surah with a reminder and Dua we should always invoke Allah with. Every Muslim should memorize this gift from Allah.'Whatever is inside of you of thoughts, feelings, emotions, whether you show or keep it Allah holds you accountable.' This means that Allah holds us accountable if we hold it inside, entertain it. But if we deny it, not externalize it Allah forgives us. We need to actualize Allah's tawheed internally and externally.Surah Aal Imran has many jewels and pearls. There are many powerful meanings in this Surah. It would take a lifetime to draw all its treasures. Allah begins by reminding us of Tawheed. Allahu la ilaaha... Allah Most Majestic, Perfect, nothing hidden from Him. We should live our lives fully aware that Allah is fully aware of our inside and outside and everything in the Universe. It would benefit us, make us happy in dunya and akhirah if only we actualized what Allah tells us. We're attracted by beautiful things, wealth, success, love and passion. Allah tells us this is mata'aldunya chattels of dunya. you use it then disregard. We reach rida in this dunya when we're pleased with Allah and then -- from Allah. And if Allah is pleased with the person they have reached jannah in this dunya. Those who reject Allah and His Messenger Ras and die in that state would try to compensate for it with all the resources of earth on the Day of Judgement when facing Jahannam. They would say yes we would give all the world and its resources as ransom. Each one of us when we die, how much dunya do we even get, a tiny percentage of all the resources of the world and yet they were willing to give it all up. Allah says I'll give you all the dunya will you pay it as ransom? And they answer yes. In Hadith Allah says to them You lie. I asked you for easier than this in the Dunya-- to worship me and you didn't do that even.Those who reject faith after they believed (usually because of shaitan, nafs, delusions) will be increased in disbelief. Allah says He will never accept their Tawbah in this state when they are dying. It is not worth living in this dunya like we own all of dunya. It's not even the worth of a wing of a fly.


Day Four:
It's important and good to study the juzz that is read in Taraweeh.We completed Surah Aal Imran, a very beautiful Surah that contains much to be learned socially, spiritually, historically etc. It also talks about our relationship with those who don't share our faith. This relationship should be with Adl and Ihsan and all in the realm of being hospitable with kindness beyond justice. We should hold fast to the values of our faith. We should exert ourselves in Sabr to hold fast. The last ayah ends with that.In the face of the challenges of unbelievers- fair or unjust, we should treat them with adl and justice. We do not change this NO MATTER WHAT. Allah tells us these people are not all the same - some are good people, Allah fearing. Then there are others that aren't kind and just. So we should be steadfast and patient and be proud of being a muwahid, pray and not do anything improper. Ihsan is beautiful magnanimity we should enhance our lives with. We compete and race for Jannah - a paradise which is beyond the Heavens and Earth and beyond anything humans can encompass.This Surah answers the question: Who are the Muttaqoon? - Those who stand for the needy and poor, and their families whether in prosperity or adversity. They still continue to spend in a proper way.- Those who restrain their anger and do not externalize it because anger is the root of so much injustice from families to the national, international level. We should especially restrain ourselves when our personal rights are violated.- Those who forgive and pardon all people who were unjust or cruel to them. Allah loves those who forgive and are kind and excellent in behavior.- Those who when they make a mistake or commit a wrongdoing are speedy to ask Allah for forgiveness and to rectify what they've done. They're aware of Allah and know they committed wrong while Allah is watching. And they know no one else forgives except Allah with His Compassion and Love.- They do not stubbornly continue to persist and insist in what is wrong. If that happens nevertheless a mu'min should go back and ask for forgiveness, rectify. This is the heart of this Surah and how we should live.


Day Five:
We ask Allah to grant us deeds beloved to you, purely for your Love and rewarded by You. This is a grace, bounty from Allah for us to fast while others don't and to pray while others watch TV etc. This is a gift, a rahmaa from Allah especially to those consistent in praying and fasting. Consistency makes us love salah from the depth of our hearts. We should honor Allah's gift. And once we make love of salah as part of our desire Allah will give it to us. Rasullullah said Verily knowledge is by learning, forbearance is by being and the one who wants to be good it will become part of them. There is nothing more beloved to Allah than Salah. Aisha a said Keep knocking at the door of Allah and He will open it for you. The people asked her What does it mean this knocking? She said: Alot of Ruku and Sujood. Righteous women and men in our past used to have wirds of 500,600 rakats in a day. How do they do it? They loved it so much maybe time was dilated for them. There was plenty of barakah in their time when Ibadah was beloved to them.We are reciting Surah Nisa tonight. 'Those who obey Allah and His Rasul will be in the company of Nabiyeen in Akhirah and in this dunya will have things in their heart related to them. (a nisbah- relationship) Those Allah graced with giving their lives will be in the company of Nabiyeen and Siddiqeen (like Abu Bakr not just truthful in words but in actions too). In this dunya people want to be in the company of people who can help them, who have power, success. We write them in our resumes. But we should seek the company of the Righteous. This verse was revealed when a simple man came to Rasulullah . His eyes moist with tears, he said 'Ya Rasulullah I love you so very much that when I'm home with my family I remember you and I can't wait to come out and look at you. And then I thought of when Allah takes you when you die, you will be in the company of Allah in the loftiest of stations and I thought of my death and Where I would be-- away from you.' He began crying and then Allah revealed this Ayah. 'The one who obeys Allah and His Messenger will be with those Allah has graced, shuhada, anbiya, siddiqeen.' What a heart Allah gave him. May Allah soften our hearts and give us the desire to be with Rasulullah and energy to do what Allah loves internally and externally.

Day Six:
In Surah Ma'idah, different types of human beings are described including the hypocrites. Nifaq is inside human beings and is a state of mind and heart. We do not and cannot judge this because it is internal but there are some physical manifestations of it:1. Verily the munafiqeen try to deceive Allah with their ignorance and blindness. They behave as though God doesn't know what's inside of them. Nowadays alot of people think that which can't be subject to experiment doesn't exist. Psychology is a pseudo science to figure out whats going on inside. They think they are deceiving Allah, but they're only deceiving themselves.2. They say lailahailallah... and come to prayer sometimes and stand lazy and bored. They don't come with resolve, desire or energy. Isn't this scary? For those of us who say lailahaillalah but we want to be mumineen. If I come to salah and feel pressure or burden, want to leave then I have a characteristic of a Munafiq.2. They like to be seen by others doing right things. If inside we harbor the feeling of liking that and being angry when we don't get it.3. Their dhikr is qaleel. This is more dangerous than the others. It's not that they aren't in dhikr AT ALL but that it's not alot. Every time if I'm in that state and realize my dhikr is rare, not often it means I'm building nifaq. "For the believers are in dhikr katheera - alot." If we are little in dhikr we could be falling into nifaq.4. They are not firm internally on their allegiance and love. People ask where is the center of power nowadays. That's who/what they go with. They are not sincere, honest, humble or content.Salah is the most important pillar of Islam. We must do the best we can. Think about the best you do at schoool, work, none of that is important. We should give our best to Allah. So while we are in sujood, ruku, we should empty our minds, focus, reject that which comes to mind. Free our mind. Don't be in a hurry to get up. Deny every thought or feeling that says: GET UP! Try to find tu'mineena - rest. While in Ramadan the mosque is filled but wish it could be like this all the time. After all Salah is fard all the time. What would help us in Salah is eating moderately. Break fast very lightly, feel like you didn't eatch much, that you feel still a little bit hungry. If you eat plenty you will come to salah lazy, bored and so have freed this quality of a munafiq in ourselves. Those who do this will notice the difference between performing Salah with a full stomach and an empty stomach. Salah is a spirit-qalb-soul, not just body. Both should be there. May Allah make our salah qurat 'ayn until we meet Him.


Day Seven:
Allah ends Surah Ma'idah with a powerful scene of the Hereafter. The scene Allah talks about is in the past tense. It is about the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Judgement. For us it's in the future. But why is it in the past tense? This should indicate to us that the Day of Judgement is very real - as real as the past is for us. It HAS happenned. Also, Allah indicates that He's not subject to time, for Him, there is no past or future. His acts, attributes, words are not subject to time.So Allah tells us: "When Allah shall gather the Messengers and He will ask them: How did your people respond to you? How did they receive the message?" Qaloo= They said, meaning They will say: Verily we have no knowledge, You know..."In Hadith also it is mentioned that even Messengers will be in utter awe on that Day. They couldn't answer and are so in awe, frightened, the situation powerful and overwhelming. Even if you are familiar with the answer as they were, they were like this.Allah then tells us of a special discourse between him and Jesus (Isa ) At the end of the discourse He says "O Isa son of Maryam, Jesus son of Mary, (emphasizing son of man not God) did you tell people to take you and your mother as gods with God? Isa said (will say): Glory be to You. I have no authority to say what is not right. If I had said it, You would have known". This is telling us (who read the Quran now) this happens and that Isa never said that. For Allah knows what's inside of him and man doesn't know what is in Him. "I only asked them to worship you. If You punish them, they are your creatures, whatever You do is Just. If You forgive them, you are the Aziz, the Wise. Aziz means no one can harm Him, untouchable, imprenetable. Why does Isa say this when we expect Ghafoor Ar-Raheem? This is a beautiful way of Isa to seek forgiveness for the people. If You forgive them none of that can touch You. Nothing in Allah's creation, in His acts is without hikmah, wisdom. Those given hikmah are given the greatest khair - knowledge of the divine. Ilm is knowing what is. Hikmah is knowing the consequences of what is. Because human beings can't see beyond sometimes we don't worship as we should. We're veiled by our desires.The Day of Judgement in powerful terms is in the past, so we know that the Day of Judgement is HAQQ real. We should live knowing this and not let others get in the way because there are people who make fun of those who believe in God and in the Day of Judgement and in Jannah and Naar. We'll continue to be exposed to that. Reading, studying the Quran is important to empower human beings against that.May Allah protect our faith in our Deen and the Day of Judgement. May He give us yaqeen.


Day Eight:
I took notes this night but the concepts were very high level and might confuse some and I think I was too distracted and the mic went out right when he was saying "and the most important thing you'll ever need to know is......" A friend of mine was taken to the hospital please make dua for her everyone. She's having some major problems May Allah grant her shifaa.


Day Nine:

Day Ten:
We completed recitation of Surah Anfal and have started Surah Tawbah tonight. Some reflections from these treasures:Allah says something very powerful in the beginning of Surah Anfal: Verily, the Believers are those who when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble and when his Ayat are recited to them it increases them in faith and all their reliance is upon Allah... and these are the ones who are true to their Imaan. This shows that there are levels of Imaan. This level is called Haqiqatul Iman. This is when our hearts respond, tremble, are full of emotion, love, fear, and attachment for Allah. And we feel increased in faith, steadfastness. May Allah change the state of our quloob because it is that state that counts, not just what we do externally. Allah repeats that in the Quran in places and towards the end of Surah Anfal. Allah says that If Allah knows that in your heart there is Khair, sincercity, desire, need for Allah and to submit to him (and not to be argumentative, stubborn, etc) then He will give you better than what is taken away from you. Look at this: Many of us miss things -- of dunya and other things, lose them or are not given them, but don't realize this. Subhanallah so it's all about the Qalb. May Allah cleanse, rectify and orient our quloob to Him forever. For it's only a Qalb that is Saleem, fully healthy that will be able to accompany Allah and be with the Righteous Ones.


Day Eleven-Fourteen:

Didn't take notes.


Day Fifteen:
Today we recited Surah Hijr & we are reciting Surah Kahf. The first Ayah in Surah Hijr is a very powerful interesting address. Alif Lam Ra... These are the signs, miracles of the Book and this manifest Quran clear to those who seek to understand. Allah is teaching us what we need to know. Didn't you ever wonder about those who aren't Muslim? On the Day of Judgement those who didn't believe, didn't surrender to Allah will regret it and say "O, If only we had followed the Messengers." But not only on the Day of Judgement will it be said but in the life of this world they will wish for it. In other words, it would have been better for them if they had . Then Allah says: Leave them eating, sleeping, enjoying themselves. Let them be distracted by their long-standing hopes in Dunya. A Mu'min uses this Dunya to carry provisions to the Akhirah. The Dunya for a Mu'min is Zad. Even when a Mu'min is eating it is Zad, cultivating provision for the Akhirah. The others use sleeping, eating, etc only for enjoyment. Allah is telling us not to be like them. Don't be fooled. 'And we made some of you as trial for the others - so be patient'. When you see them, will you be patient or will you follow them? Dunya is distracting them from Akhirah. They WILL know at a later time. 'Every town we destroyed had an appointed time'. In other words, if we see evil flourising around us or evil in us and we might not even perceive the punishment, we still know that everything has an appointed time. Allah is not hurt by evil or benefited by good. So when you see them don't be distracted by those who see this life as EVERYTHING and don't act like you're going to live forever. We read Surah Nahl yesterday and it described people who don't have the characteristics of Iman. Allah says: Those who swear with intensity of their oaths (ie that God doesn't exist or create, that there's no Hereafter) that say God will not ressurect the dead (this is institutionalized nowadays). Allah says: "Bala... (meaning no to all that was before) A promise upon Him that is true. However, most human beings have no knowledge (ilm)." Those who deny creation nowadays use what they think is science, ilm, but Allah says their ilm is superficial about THIS Dunya, as to Akhirah they have NO knowledge, they are oblivious. Allah will adjudicate those matters where people differed - in who's right, who's wrongs, wars, etc. Everything will be made clear. There will be ultimate judgement on everything we differ on. Those who are kuffar disbleieved will know they were liars. When they said there's no resurrection, they were lying and didn't want to admit it. Therefore anyone who doubts Akhirah will read this and be subject to it. The Quran is a healing to what is in the heart. Like sometimes there are doubts in the heart. When arguers argue with you, don't argue. Read Quran. With more recitation, we heal doubts. We develop doubts on Akhirah when we undergo interactions, everyday things that affects us, environment, company, shaitan. So there is no momentum in our hearts for Allah because there is some doubt in us about the Akhirah. The more our hearts are in shuhood, vision of Akhirah, the more awareness we have and the more time we spend with Him. Part II:In Surah Kahf, Kahf is about young men who grow up in Tawheed with the odds against them. Also, their families were very wealthy, but these youth grew up praying, fasting, being kind, just and good. They respected places of worship and grew up beyond the expectations of their parents. But see Allah has kept their Dhikr in immortality in the Quran for all times and generations by mentioning them in His book.Rasulullah taught us of the seven kind of people when there is no object that makes shade. On the Day of Judgement there is no such thing as "shade" because it is Allah who has made the laws and can change them. One kind of person under the 'shade' is a young person who grew up being obedient to Allah. Growing up a pearl in the midst of stones or a rose among thorns.If we missed to be that youth, won't we love it if our child or someone around us will be like that. We love to have children in the Mosque here. Why don't parents have a conference about the Adab of the Masjid every time they come to the Masjid, not just Isha and Taraweeh. Which house is better, this house or your house? Which house should we take care of more? Which is most important? Which do we do our best in behavior or dress, etc?May Allah grant us pearls of children who grow up not unlike the youth of Kahf.BTW did you notice since we completed Kahf, half of Ramadan is gone. That beautiful guest is getting ready to leave now. If we missed what we should do in the first half, May Allah give us the energy and momentum to allow us to in the next 15 or 14 days.


Day Sixteen:
We completed Surah Kahf today. Allah teaches us so many lessons from the stories in Surah Kahf. For example, the story of the two friends. The one who was very powerful, rich and resourceful with gardens. And the other one who was not that powerfu,l rich or resourceful. Allah continues to draw our attention as we read and comtemplate that story. We know that what Allah is teaching us, is about a person who has been given means, resources and capacities to DO things in this Dunya, in this world and ultimately he/she did not see that Allah gave it to him at all. He did not see all of what he had as abilities, resources from Alllah . But he only saw his capacity and thought that his work generated that. Allah called him a Mushrik even though he had belief in God and in the Day of Judgement. Regardless of the work he did, he did not see Allah using him. He saw himself independent from all of that and still expected reward from Allah. In contrast to this story, where Allah calls him Mushrik - shirk in asbaab (the person becomes a mushrik pertaining to his or her own abilities and is obsessed with those and relies on those mentally, emotionally, actually physically and otherwise), there is the story of Dhul Qarnain. This story comes after the first. Allah gave Dhul Qarnain all the resources he needed, gave him the means to achieve, architecturally, militarily. Allah gave him the asbab and Allah is the Creator of the asbab and Dhul Qarnain used it well and in a way consistent with Allah ‘s will, command and teachings. And at the end when he did great works he unlike the person of the two gardens who was looking at himself, his resources, and abilities as the source of that grand work of building (that incredible garden built with very sophisticated technology), what did Dhul Qarnain say at the end. He said, Hatha min rahmaturabbi. This is from the mercy of my Lord. It's not me, it's not I, not from MY hard work. This work, achievement is not ME. This is rahmaa from Allah . From MY Lord. He uses the structure of words that indicate servitude, employment, slavery. The story Allah intends to teach us here. Then comes the story of Khadr. The story of Khadr is a story of NO asbab. The story of gardens is asbab, means and cause and someone who worshipped means and cause. The story of Dhul Qarnain is about asbab and someone who worshipped Allah. Khadr's story is Allah does what He does. There is no means no cause. You know the story of Khadr. Things happen without the normal course of understanding things and against what we know as empirical nature of cause and effect. Allah brings miracles beyond cause and effect to teach us that everything belongs to Him. Cause belongs to Him. Effect belongs to Him. Even the relationship between cause and effect belong to Him. So we should take that and ponder that with everything that happens to us. First we should repent first of all from worshipping the means or the cause or empirical causality. And we should learn to use the means while worshipping ALLAH and knowing those are means and that Allah has created and creates that. And if the means don’t work we should not fall into despair and get frustrated because if we do that means we worshipped those means. If we worship Allah we know that He controls the means. May we all find refuge - Kahf - with Allah in our lives and with everything that befalls us. May Allah give us the awareness and strength in doing that and to dying that way. Ameen.And as we are performing salah, when we say Allah u Akbar remember that Allah is greater than me, my problems, hardship, anything. Try to empty your mind and heart from any thought and feeling besides Allah is greater than …… all of that, health, disease, poverty, life, death, weakness.. Allahu akbar . May Allah indeed liberate our quloob through dhikr and salah and through his obedience.


Day Seventeen:
Last night we had completed bi’idhnilllah Surah Maryam and Surah Ta Ha after having completed Surah Kahf. Allah mentions the virtues of Maryam and Yahya and Zakariah and Ibrahim and that continues in Surah Anibya and Muminoon.From Surat Maryam this is a khatirah, reflection that would summarize a lot of Surat Maryam and what comes ater that.Let me tell you a story I read sometime ago on the virtues of the Salihoon. I do not recollect his name rahimullah. One time he said to his Sahib, companion or his shaykh: Ya sayyidi, I have done nothing special to many people. I don’t know them, yet they have expressed so much love to me. I don’t know why. I have done nothing to them, I don’t even know them. Then the Sahib recited to him this Ayah from Surat Maryam: Verily those who have Iman and act in righteousness, the Rahman – the Most Loving will make for them pure love that is in the hearts of others. This Ayah says Allah says to us that those who are truly His ibaad salihoon and righteous awliya, Allah will create in the hearts of good people, in the hearts of other righteous ppl love for them even though they don’t know them. Wudd is another word for love, but has a nuance of pure love, untainted by anything else, pure and clean, from Allah and for Allah. Jibreel as is instructed by Allah, as Rasulullah says that when Allah has hubb for a servant of Allah then he instructs Jibreel to love that person. And Jibreel will love that Abd that Allah loved. And then Jibreel is instructed to call in a way unperceptible to us to the dwellers of the upper dimenions and say to them: Allah has loved this Abd, so love him/her. So the inhabitants of the malikuoot, will naturally have love for that person. Then Allah will create acceptance and love for that person amongst the inhabitants of earth and particularly those who are righteous and good people. For the hate and love of the wicked and wrongful and mushrik does not count. And therefore we should be very concerned that we don't love people who don’t love Allah and are not righteous. And that’s a sign for usRasulullah 's dua on the love that counts: O Allah Grant me your love, that you love me and that I love you. Give me that love inside of me and grant me the love of the one who’s love will benefit me with You. Not just the love of anyone. Let me love someone who’s love for me, and my love for them will benefit me with You. That’s the love that counts. That’s the Wudd that counts. Sa in Arabic is soon, approaching future not too far. If there is true iman and righteousness soon will Allah create righteous love for those who have love for Allah.In the end of Surah Taha that we concluded last night. Allah says: And those who turn away from my dhikr, turn their back, for those verily there will be a life of danak, means deek restriction… a person would be living but be always constricted inside wa authobillah. The meaning of their life is always in danak no matter what they have, no matter what they do not have. Allah has promised that. And indeed the person of us human beings that does not have Allah in him/her and does not have dhikr in him/her that person usually never feels content. Never feels content no matter what they have. And therefore also will always feel restricted no matter how much he/she has. That’s very natural Subhanallah in how ppl respond to what they are subjected to in their environment. And with lack of dhikr the person will never feel he/she has enough. And therefore not enough no matter what, always feel restricted, dheek, narrow and that translates in the Qalb. And therefore we find ourselves when we are not in true dhikr of Allah , we are in danak inside of ourselves. “And on the Day of Resurrection we shall resurrect such a person blind.” The person will say God, why have you resurrected me blind when I was seeing in dunya?… Seeing with physical eyes but not with the heart. That is because our Ayaat, verses, signs, dhikr had come to you and you turned away from it and you forgot it, so today you will be forgotten. You don’t have light with which to see now. Light was given to you in dunya to see now and that light will be given to you on the Day of Judgement to see with. If there is no light in Dunya there is no light on the Sirat, there is no light in Akhirah.May Allah fill our quloob with dhikr of Him . May Allah fill our lives with love of Him. May Allah benefit us with Him.


Day Eighteen:
Just a brief khatirah on what we read tonight: Surah Noor.Without His Light there is no external light, nor internal light or soul of the spirits. In that context, Allah speaks of Salah, of the houses of Allah and of Dhikr of Allah. In that context of Noor He says: In homes, houses and places Allah willed that they be glorified, praised and held in excellence and inside of which His name be mentioned. It’s a Fadl from Allah that He created this concept of House of God, of Dhikr and of Salah. Inside of which are Tasbeeh of Him in mornings and late afternoons by Rijaal. Rijaal, men.. these are MEN. Subhanallah Rijaal. Some ulema say the concept of rajul is not only the concept of male, female. It’s a concept that the person has that concept rujla, be he male or female. When they described a woman of those days they would say kaanat rajulul min an nisaa in a positive way. Nevertheless, Allah says who are they: They are not distracted by trade, nor sale, nor business from Dhikr of Allah , Salah or Zakat. These are men. In other words if any one of us on account of what he/she does in trade/profession/business is distracted from all of that and distacted from dhikr, salah, zakat, then that one is not really a rajul."For they are in awe and in fear of a day in which hearts and sights are turned upside down." May Allah save us from the calamity of that day. May Allah make us truly of those rijaal that are not distracted, whatever they do from dhikr, salah and zakat and let us be in awe of Allah all the time. May Allah grant us that life to the end of our lives.




Day Nineteen:
I pray and hope that all of us at some point are at a respectable level of reading the Quran and that we read some every night. Even if we don’t understand the Quranic language it’s good to read and benefit from it. If He sees us sincere He will instill the love of Quran in our heart for the rest of our lives. And we’ll love to read it and benefit from it all of our lives.In Surah Furqan, Furqan is the Quran and the Quran is the Furqan. Furqan is criterion between right and wrong. Allah calls that which we read Furqan. And therefore the criterion is used to distinguish between darkness and light, good and evil, immoral and moral, right and wrong, and between an element to lead to peace and happiness and an element to lead to turmoil and misery. The Quran is the criterion and if we lose that we will be like lost sheep and will be eaten by wolves.Allah says in that Surah on the Day of Judgement, the Rasul will say: "O my Lord my people have forsaken this Quran." I think by itself this suffices. We don’t even have to comment. May Allah save all of us. The Quraish are not the only ones that have forsaken and turned their backs on the Quran. Others do amongst us in different ways at different levels. We turn our backs in so many different ways. Those of us who don’t memorize any of it. That’s one way of turning our backs against the Quran. Those of us who don’t reflect in the meanings have turned our backs at some level. Those of us who don’t live and struggle to live by the principles of the Quran in their everyday, family and societal life have forsaken the Quran at some level. Those of us who do not recite the Quran at all or enough have forsaken the Quran at some level. Imagine Rasulullah pleading and complaining in this painful way.Something comes to my heart - the word hatha….hathal quran. As though rasulullah is pointing to it, THIS quran in other words this beautiful Quran filled with gems, filled with treasures. In other words not just something to be forsaken, HATHA al quran. May Allah save us, help us, give us the strength and resolve of the heart to be steadfast in learning, studying the Quran and doing our best to surrender our lives to the Quran. And not be of those who Allah said (just before this ayah) who will come on the Day of Judgement as the transgressor one who did wrong and will BITE on his hands out of grief, sorrow, loss. And will say: O were it that I had taken my way with the Rasul. They will bite on their hands when they see the awesome tormenting site of the Day of Judgement and will see the truth as truth and falsehood as falsehood. No one will doubt. They will see that. "If only I had taken the way of the Rasul". Some of us will say that, la qadderAllah. The wrongdoer will say: O woe on me, had I not taken fulaan, x, y, z as my khaleel, confidant, ally, cloesest friend to hang out with. The people we befriend will affect us. We are always influenced by who we befriend and sit with, hang out with. There are many ways we can take khaleel. We can have khaleel through a book, an author, or a beloved friend. Having done that, it’s led me to error and made me stray away from THE dhikr – the Quran.Then Allah concludes by saying Indeed, Shaytan has always been deceitful to the human being. When you are most in need of help you’ll find not the one you expected. Shaitan does not come to us in 3-dimenensional image and say do this do that. The thoughts we have every day that are not in conformity with sharh every day -- that is shaitan. Things we do out of perception and are drawn into dunya and when we need most help, particularly on the Day of Judgement, all of those attachments from shaytan do not come of any use. And we’ll be left to our own selves. My dear brothers and sisters, may Allah forgive us and create in our hearts that love for the Quran, desire to study the Quran and for the study to continue until the day we need Him. And be like those who know Allah, like Ghazali who was at the top of academia and drew away from that. His regular daily diet until he died was the Quran. May Allah make the Quran indeed that regular diet of our quloob.




Day Twenty:
Tonight, we finished reciting Surah Naml and we began surat Al-Qasas and we will begin Ankabut. In Surah Naml, Allah tells us about Sulaiman and how much Allah gave him of knowledge, wealth, power and wisdom. Imagine all of that together, knowledge, wisdom AND wealth AND power. Allah gave him so much of that relative to what human begins had ever had in history.In the Surah of Sulaiman, he sends a message to Sheeba after receiving information from the bird of HudHud about a kingdom that was mushrikeen worshipping the Sun. The Queen of Sheeba also had a momentous glorious throne. He as a messenger of Allah and a king sent a message to her. The message begain with: Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem. A message from Sulaiman. Come to me as Muslimeen. Come to me as Muslims.As many as you know she consulted with her people, her court, military ppl and advisors and they told her: the word is yours and we shall execute it. Nevertheless, when finally Sulaiman was awaiting the response, he told those at his service in his entourage, court, the ppl of knowledge, jinns and humans: Who amongst you can bring their throne before they arrive? The Queen of Sheeba was in Saba, Yemen. And he was in Philistine. Ifreet, one mighty powerful of the jinn, said: I will bring it to you before you stand up. And I have power and might and security, it will reach you with all measures of security and power. So imagine that, that power that Sulaiman had. People in his service, entourage had this ability. Allah does what he does. We still don’t have that technology in our days. Teleportation..Teletransportation. To dematerialize and then materialize. SubhanAllah. We don’t have that. Only Allah knows the future before the Dajjal comes and what will become of that. So then someone, some say a human being that had knowledge of the Book, (only Allah knows what that ilm is, if it was science, mathematical equations, something solved that folds space time?) says: I will bring it to you before your eye blinks. Look at the beauty of the Quran. When it came to the first one: Before you stand up. Allah used another phrase. But when it came to this one Before your eye blinks. Allah says Falamma ra’ahu. Fa means immediacy. Even when is not enough. “As he saw it in front of him.” See the quickness as it was done,. The Quran conveys it in the language, the structure here. What does Sulaiman say? Look at this power. He didn’t say I’ve gone where no man has gone before. He didn’t say: I am… I am… I am… He didn’t say I am the most powerful. "Hatha min fadli rabbi…. Li yubluni." This is from the Grace of my Lord. This is sent to test me. Shall I be ungrateful? Arrogant or unjust? No matter how knowledgable and wise most ppl think they are that was his response. Nowadays when we human beings have so little power and so little knowledge of technology or whatever you call it computers... We say this is it: There is no God. BTW what Allah gave Sulaiman no human being will have. The dua of Sulaiman was: O Allah grant me sovereignty, a kingdom that you will give no one after me. Allah does what He does to those that He loves, those who are special.Once we were in a discussion with a beloved brother. He said: Well if the throne is in yemen, sheba and there are ppl there, wouldn’t they miss it there, wouldn’t they know? There are many answers and you can imagine what they could be. You can imagine this. The throne is brought, something else is left instead. Nowadays, you could leave a hologram there. We have the technology of holograms in 3-dimensional space. Something looks like its there, but it isn’t there -- it’s a holographic perception. What if they had that knowledge and resolution of an equation to fold space-time. The space between sheba, yemen and the throne is here and there at the same time. Space time is folded at the same point, so the throne appears at two places but it’s the same.The interesting thing here is the knowledge and power Allah gave Sulaiman, but his response was: Hatha min fadli rabbi. And WE…sometimes we have a few dollars, cars, houses and subhanAllah, we become arrogant and deluded and we forget the stores of that bounty, Allah.Compare that to Qaroun in the time of Musa in surah Qasas. He was of the ppl of Musa, he was “bani Israel” an early Muslim. But he was so arrogant on account of the power and wealth he had. Allah says: We gave him of treasures and those treasures are carried in safes and the keys of the safes are carried by mighty strong men. How much wealth and therefore power he had. And his ppl, the early muslims of bani Israel were reminding him of being thankful to Allah , to be charitable and magnanimous and spend it fee sabeelilllah and not to use it in a way that is tyrannical and to be just. Do good as Allah did to you. His answer was the typical answer, if not with the tongue, but with our state, the typical answer of human beings: Allah, of this verily I have acquired through knowledge of MINE. 3indi I have that knowledge. Like we say sometimes: Look at that that’s my hard work, I earned it. Don’t we do that…I went to school I graduated, I did this I did that… Subhanallah the same jar of answer as Qaroun.When Qaroun goes out with his escorts, people saw him. Allah called one kind of people who saw them Muslims and said of them: Those who want the dunya Yuridoon al hayat al dunyaThese ppl of dunya said: Oh Qaroun if only we had what he had. Lucky, lucky he is, successful he is. Does this remind you of something? Perhaps some of us when we listen to these stories.BTW there was a show on tv called "lifestyles of the rich and famous" and ppl watched it, muslims and said wow we want to be like that. Same story… Qaroun and those who want dunya amongst us. Same thing.Then the second type of people Allah called them Ootul Ilm, those who had knowledge. They say: Woe on you, the reward of Allah is better for those who have iman and act in righteousness and that reward will not be given except to those who persevere in patience. Subhanallah the response of one and the response of the other. If we’re not thankful for the little, we will not be thankful for the much. May Allah, my dear brothers and sisters, make us remember to be thankful with our minds, hearts and actions. May He forgive us for our so many weaknesses that often times drain us and keep attaching us to dunya and make us forget our true happiness with Allah .


Day Twenty-One:
Assalaam alaikum, Bismillah…Allahumma taqabal minna siyaaamina, ruqouana, sujuduna…Just a few reflections. We completed Surah Ankabut tonight. Towards the end of Surah Ankabut Allah tells us about the worth of this dunya. Also towards the end of Surah Ankabut, He mentions the parable of the spider web. "Those who take other than Allah, God as their wali are like those who try to fortify themselves inside the web of a spider." Of course, that will be of no avail to them. This dunya leads many of us to undertake other than God as our Wali. Allah says this dunya is play, games and distraction. Those who focus on this dunya are focusing on distraction and on something that is not serious. It’s relative to the prupose for which you were created."And verily the home of the Hereafter is THE LIFE." This is Arabic is called seerat al mubalagha – hyperbole.. to emphasize life. Allah and his rasul tell us that in Akhirah almost everything comes to life: Stones, skin, hair, deeds, acts, words all become personified and have life. Everything lives. True life is the life of the hereafter. This life compared to the life of the hereafter is nothing, zero. And yet the focus of most of us human beings is on this shallow concept of life. Allah says towards the end of this Surah: When they sail on a ship and there is bad weather, wind, danger, they call upon Allah – God naturally. Save us, help us, they say. And when Allah brings them to shore after that, they forget. Then they begin to associate others with Allah . They begin to worship themselves, and other gods and idols. BTW this is an example only, every time we human beings are in a desperate situation, when things don’t go our way, we turn to God and ask God when nothing else works. Some time after that, things get better. We don’t make the link between us getting better and WHO did that for us. Each one of us should think of this, it happens to most of us, if not all. How do we forget? Maybe not to the extent of being a mushrik, but we diminish from our activities of khair, salah, dhikr, inner reflection, goodness, zakat, hajj, umrah or of mediation on Allah. We diminish in all of that once things go well for us. That is a form of Shirk of course, in the subtle sense of the word. Because we are listening to us, not to Allah and our focus is not Allah any more.People don’t like to think of God – kufr an nimah- we don’t show what’s necessary thankfulness and gratefulness. That’s why ppl turn away. In order to enjoy themselves fully. When we think of God, responsibility and moral responsibility, we are not going to indulge in tamattu so freely. So we forget about God so we don’t have to be thankful because that entails responsibility. So we enjoy to the fullest in the animalistic, Baheemi sense, the mataa of the dunya. Isn’t it true? I put God aside so I feel free… completely free in a Nafsani sense. “They will soon know” say Allah "of the consequence of their choice."Allah opens Surah Rum, a very powerful surah of tawheed and akhlaq, with with a mu’jiza. During the time of Rasulullah the two most powerful nations Persia and Rome were always fighting for supremacy. In one of those battles the Persians defeated the Romans. Allah mentioned that and said in a few years the Romans will defeat them. So it was some news indeed. So the Mushrikeen were very interested because they wanted the Persians to defeat them because they were pagan like them and the Romans were mostly Christian, at least in name. The Muslims wanted the Romans to defeat the Persians because they were people of the book. This was an affinity to ppl of the book by Muslims which is usual and natural. "But most are ungrateful and unthankful."So anyways Allah says the Romans WILL defeat the Persians and a few years later that’s exactly what happened. And that was a mu’jiza of rasulullah amongst many others. At the end of that Surah, Allah says this about all of these challenges and tribualations, doubts, distractions, dunya, personal and outside of us:1. "Continue to persevere in patience, for the promise of God is true." What Allah promises will come to be true. What He promises in this dunya, the promise of akhirah, promise of jannah, the promise of qabr, the promise of naar, the promise of akhirah is true. HAQQ. 2. "Don’t be dissuaded by those who have no yaqeen." This word translates as dissuade but it’s like when someone considers someone as light -- easy to change, defeat, vanquish. In other words, don’t let anyone treat you that way. Don’t be one who will be treated lightly. Don’t be like them. Don’t be drawn to them. Don’t leave your Deen. Don’t leave your commitment to your Deen, don't leave the masjid, zakah, your iman in akhirah, qiyamah, don’t leave akhirah even to do what’s important in this life.Don't let the arguments of those who don’t have certainty about Akhirah defeat you. Don't listen to them. Isbur- patience, the promise of Allah is true.If we don’t show patience in the face of those challenges, we will turn upside down. We will turn our backs to Allah and become People of this Dunya and we will think there’s nothing else but this dunya and work like mules and donkeys for it.Rasulullah said in one hadith: Allah does not love certain kind of people. Parable: A donkey during the day works hard for the dunya by carrying loads, loads and loads. And then at night falls asleep like a dead corpse of an animal. In other words, forgetting akhirah, forgetting salah, dhikr and Allah. All this day hard work for dunya and at night he comes and falls like a mule, a donkey, dead corpse. He does not know Allah and does not remember Allah .Fasbur.Therefore my brothers and sisters be patient in the face of these distractions and challenges. We were created in this dunya to live moderately for akhirah. Moderately in every sense of the term and not excessive in any way. We were not created to give all our energies and quality time to seeking wealth and power.




Day Twenty-Two:
Allah graced Luqman with knowledge and wisdom, which means doing and saying that which is right, beloved, good, moral, correct and upright for Allah. Allah tells us about a scene where Luqman is admonishing his son. What a beautiful thing to do. To have a family of parents and children who’s focus is knowledge and wisdom and therefore Allah. Imagine now if they have a conference, the parents together, a father Luqman has that majlis with his son. Of course, we can imagine that this did not occur just once, but intermittently as the father advises his son. Look at the way he does that. Certainly that son was brought up in the most beautiful and righteous way to be obedient to his parents. "Ya bunayy…" O my dear son. Not just dear son, it has some gentleness, kindness in Arabic… "AqeemusSalah." Perform Salah.In other words Luqman was certainly teaching him how to perform Salah and the importance of it. He advises not about dunya. SubhanAllah. Many of us parents, when the children are not doing good in dunya, they feel so bad and feel like they’ve lost the child. But if the child has dunya and even if he isn’t happy, they are happy.Never does Luqman teach us to advise for dunya. His advice is for akhirah. Most parents all they care about is if they eat, sleep, have houses, are healthy, have dunya. That’s all they care about. Subhanallah. "Wamurbilmaroof." The child has reached maturity and is now at the step of enjoining that which is beautiful, moral, virtuous and upright. Luqman must have been teaching him all of that. The child must have been a learning child. And Luqman must have been teaching him that munkar is evil, immoral. As Allah defines what is ugly and immoral and what is incorrect and evil. Things like stealing, killing, cheating, backbiting, lying, speaking too much, loving dunya, doing injustice, being unclean in najasah, all sorts of evil things. Not only to avoid that, but to prevent that. Then at that level Luqman says, in the face of this, you’re going to find difficulties inside of you and outside of you. You’re going to encounter them so therefore be patient, practice patience. Like when someone is bitten by something he holds it and doesn’t say a word or make a sound. It hurts but he/she does not show that – that’s Sabr. And so it is with other matters that we face in dunya – emotion, physical, material things, etc even spiritual matters. We should face that with Sabr. May Allah give us Sabr in the face of disease, illness, lack of wealth, poverty, some hardships, all possible ways in life. Verily, it’s a resolute person that is able to do that and practice that. After that, Luqman tells his son: As a consequence of that, don’t be arrogant, don’t swell your cheek because of what you are and what you have. And do not walk in the earth with excessive pride and arrogance with boastfulness. Don’t. Some ppl, because of what we have, what we are, we tend to do that. Some of us sit and walk in ways that are boastful.When we sit don’t put one leg on top of the other. Do you see ppl in politics and gov't sitting with their legs together, knees humbly? No, they put their legs on top in a lofty way. So don’t do that. Even when you sit, sit humbly. What do wealth and power do to ppl? It usually makes them arrogant.A Mumin is trying to see Allah. A mumin does not see people but is trying to see Allah. Whether he walks or sits or speaks, that presence is always there. And he/she is always improving in seeking a greater awareness of Allah .“Verily Allah does not love the arrogant and the boastful.”We should teach ourselves first, and our children and our spouses not be that way. From the beginning, not to be boastful by what you have, physically, wealth-wise or socially. A person can be strong physically and is arrogant about that and wants to show that. That’s why we end up with ‘bullys’ in school because they haven’t been taught humility and that their strength was a gift given and don’t use it properly.Luqman is teaching his child. This is a summary, but what specifics was he telling him? He’s warning him by telling him Allah does not love that. It must put an impression in the heart of the child. And the child is one that cares about Allah . He/she thinks if Allah doesn’t love that I must stay away from it. And then when you walk, walk moderately. Don’t walk in a way that earth is all yours. Don’t walk like a soldier. Don’t walk with boastfulness. Walk humbly. And when you walk humbly that means look where you walk. Many of us don’t look where we walk and we end up killing so many creatures of Allah because we don’t care. We walk boom, boom... and so many spiders, ants are killed unnecessarilyAlllah forbade us from killing all these creatures. If we walk without alertness that’s what we’ll do. Walk with moderation, moderation in everything, including in walking and speaking.Not only moderation in speech, but lower your voice. Don’t just moderate it. Let your voice be low. Humble. This leads us to those who speak too much, laugh too much, laugh loud. Allah says all of that is not good.Then Allah ends that hikmah through the words of Luqman by saying: Verily the most distasteful/hated/worst of sounds is the braying of the donkey. What does this have to do with that? This is a polite way by which Allah is teaching us. First of all Allah did not say THIS IS... etc and secondly he said it through Luqman saying it. That means whenever we speak loud we are like a donkey braying. Allah does not love loud speech under normal circumstances. In Surah Ahzab which we finished tonight, Allah emphasizes that famous Ayah that all of us know: Indeed it has been for you a beautiful model in the behavior of rasulullah (s). In modeling everything: acts, behaviors, acts of the heart and acts of the jawarih outside. In terms of his attitudes and in terms of what he did or said. Do you know who amongst us will take that seriously? To take Muhammad as their oswa (model). Who are they?Allah tells us: The one who inside of him/her, in his/her heart who has truly desire, hope for Allah and the Day of judgement -- the akhirah. In his/her heart there is a momentum of wanting to be with Allah in this dunya and in akhirah. The person seeks akhirah. A person who is like that WILL take Muhammad as their oswa. Secondly someone who makes dhikr often – katheerah. The person who is often in dhikr of Allah . These are the two characteristics, signs, ishaarat that Allah mentions that would indicate to each one of us in ourselves if we truly seek Muhammad as our oswa or not.May Allah let us be of those who truly embrace the way of Muhammad.




Day Twenty-Three:
Bismillah…Allahumma rabbanaghfirulana dhunubuna….We have read a few surahs tonight and last night. We have finished Surat Yasin, Saffat and we’re going to finish Saad. In those Surahs, there are plenty of powerful, beautiful lessons and events in the lives of the anbiya of Allah .Perhaps the most powerful of these events that are related here is that of our father Ibrahim and his son, our father Ismail . A story indeed of love for Allah , of full ubudiyyah to Allah swt, of full surrender and obedience to Allah, of reverence and obedience to the parents, of purification and cleansing of the hearts. Also, of the divine ways by which Allah does what he does. Ibrahim after long trials, many trials with his people moved from his homeland the land of Ur to Philistine. Trials upon trials, his steadfastness was unmoved in the Tawheed and trust in Allah. After all of that, in his old age he still had no child. So he turns to Allah in dua. Goes to Allah with the fullness of his soul, with his heart and mind.And said: "I am going to my Lord." That going is the full going of his qalb, soul, mind, his living towards Allah. Imagine that. Please take time to think of these things. Think of you, each one of us, in our daily life, what we do, the struggles we encounter. What is our degree of focus in Allah in every aspect of life, in every second, whether it is secular or sacrosanct, mundane or religious. Look at it. What is the degree of focus? The degree of focus in prosperity or poverty? Relative to that of Ibrahim it’s probably zero, insignificant.He continued in that steadfastness in his living. At that old age he asks Allah for a child. After having gone fully to Allah . A person almost at 90 years of age, and asks Allah to give him a child at that age. Who would do that? First of all, people don’t do that because there’s not enough yaqeen, iman, fullness of the qalb for Allah. For Ibrahim it was normal. For zakariya it was normal, but not as normal for Ibrahim. Ibrahim is the father of tawakkul, tawheed. So at that age he asks Allah for a child.Allah answers: I will give you a child that is haleem. (patient, persevering and forbearing). A haleem person does not respond to rudeness with rudeness or disrespect with disrespect. A Haleem person responds to rudeness not with patience, but with kindness. Even when young, the boy was haleem. Now when Ibrahim has the child and the child reaches the age of discernment, he walks with his father as a young boy. Allah is telling us he reached the age of Sayy, walking and working and acting in obedience of Allah performing ibadah. Like the sayy of ibrahim with his heart.Apparently that child reached that way to Allah very early. This is a subtle indication that Ismail reached the age where he was going with his father to Allah. Allah told us that. With what was he going to Allah? With his Qalb. That’s how we go to Allah. In the same surah: "He came to his Lord with a heart that is saleem."So Ismail reaches the age where he is subhanAllah qurat, qurat al ayn. A child going to Allah with amazing spiritual maturity and moral beauty. So when he reached that level and state, Allah loved Ibrahim so much he told him with vision. The dreams of anbiya are wahy revelation, Allah tells him sacrifice.Imagine that kind of child, so Ibrahim goes to that child and tells him. Now if this was a regular child would he go and tell him: "Child, look I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you. " No, because the child was a very, very special one. So Ibrahim told him about the vision. Imagine that. Imagine what that means to a child. He was not just a child. That child was very mature spiritually with his awareness of the meaning of life, Allah, akhirah and the spirit. His father knew he was at the level of being told that, so he told him.Another expression of how much Ibrahim saw Ismail's maturity is when he said: "What do you think, what is your opinion what is your view?" And the response came of a child, he said: "O my dear father, Do as thou are commanded. You will find me InshaAllah from the Sabireen." (Those who show perseverance, constancy and patience._The scene continues in ways that are indicating the child has a high spiritual level. When they both have surrendered themselves. How hard is it for Ibrahim to do that and how hard is it for the son to accept that. They both accept it. They ARE the fathers of Islam, the fathers of istislam. Indeed OUR fathers. So he turned him on his forehead. Subhanallah. Imagine that scene. It is said in some traditions so Ibrahim doesn’t look his son in the eyes and doesn’t weaken. It is said Ismail said that: Father turn me on my forehead so you don’t weaken in your resolve to execute the command of Allah. Then he goes to do the act and the fullness of his heart mind and soul is given to Allah. Ismail’s fullness of heart and soul and mind, limbs are given to Allah. When that happened, in a blink of an eye Allah’s intervention came. He said: O Ibrahim you have fulfilled the vision. Because indeed your qalb, soul, mind, limbs, and Ismail’s truly surrendered. The act was already done in their hearts and minds and souls. That’s why Allah said Qad saddaqta ruya. You have indeed fully fulfilled the command of the vision. "So verily We will always reward the excellent ibaad, righteous ones of Allah" .Says Allah: "This indeed has been the most manifest of trials." Look at that. Then as you know, Allah ransomed the child with a ram. Not only that, but after that, what did Ibrahim and Ismail become. Did they remain the same human beings like they were? NO, they became even greater human beings, closer to angelic realities. Allah through that act and through their sabr gifted to them and increased their iman and yaqeen and cleansed further their hearts and had more love for them and they had more love for Him. He cleansed their quloob from all the ailments that plague us human beings by that. That’s why it’s said: "Sabr in the way of Allah in the face of calamities." Sabr is the fire that heats the gold and silver and melts it so when it is melted, it is easier to cleanse from impurities. And so it was done and thus Ibrahim is called by Allah, the father/progenitor of Islam. My dear brothers and sisters, sometimes when Allah loves an abd very much, he takes away from him that which in the world that abd loves very much. So that when he/she shows sabr Allah brings them even nearer to Him and closer to Him and gives them more barakat in their lives and hearts. May Allah cleanse our quloob, purify us, bring us always nearer to him, save us from all trials, tribulations and calamities. We do not ask for that, but if He chooses to do that to us, we beseech Him to grant us, with that, patience and forebearance.


Day Twenty-Four:
May Allah make the Quran, to all of us, truly the garden of our hearts. May Allah give that to all and especially to those who have a speck of desire for Allah. May He increase us and give us the energy and resolve to read and study and live by the words of His Book.Allah tells us in Surah Fussilat about the message that he sent to ppl before us like Ad and Thamud and as he was addressing Quraish he tells us something extremely powerful, unusual and moving.That is: When He will gather the enemies of Allah, the enemies of iman, of faith, of truth, of God, of righteousness, of goodness, the evil-ones, the bad ones, the wrongful ones, the idolotars. When He will gather them all and one by one they are collected. When they arrive around the fire of Hell wa authobilllah, their own hearing, sight and skins will speak and testify against them. Then they will say flabbergasted to their skins: How and why did you testify against us? The skins, sights, the cells will speak and say: It is Allah who makes everything speak and utter words and use any logic of its own. He is the one that made us speak. He’s the one that Creates everything. Then the skins and cells will continue to address us. They will say: When you were in this dunya you did not pay heed, feel bashful or shy about the fact that your eyesight, your skin would testify for you. You thought God did not know much of what you do. That same view that you had, has caused you to perish this day. Wherever I go, my brother, my sister, can I go there without my hearing, without my eyes, without my skin, my body? Can I do anything, say anything, be anywhere without me? SubhanAllah. It is recording . Everything is recording. Wherever I go. Let us come to Allah. Let us repent to Allah . Let us be aware of this. Let us try and struggle in our family life, at home, at work, at school, in the street, with neighbors, let us try to live in awarness of this fact: that we are being recorded whatever we do wherever we go. Our skins record, our sight records. Let us pay heed. Let us read this Quran with humility and humbleness, not with boastfulness and arrogance. With humility and humbleness and with a desire to know and be nearer to Allah. My dear brothers and sisters there are only a few more days left to this beautiful month. 5, probably. And that is it. Let us take as much from the days and nights left to turn to Allah as we can.I remind you dear brothers and sisters to pray for yourselves and for me. And pray that Allah creates an awareness of Him within us and inside of us.


Day Twenty-Five:
Today and over the last few days we have been reading a series of Surahs that have a common theme: the Quran.Ha Mim.... (reads beginning verses of all Ha Mim surahs)Therefore the emphasis is there on the Quran. It's as though if we recite Quran like we have been (1 juzz a day) on these last nights it leaves us to focus on the Quran. Every year it's left to grow and light our hearts.Rasulullah was inspired with every divine beauty. He was the living manifestation of the Quran in every sense. Anyone who wants to look at the Quran without him "has gone indeed far astray."Allah concludes Surah Shu'ara by saying the Quran is a spirit, a soul. The Quran is a RUH. "We've revealed to you a Ruh." A Ruh is a source of life and without it there is no life. If there's no Quran there's no life, no haqiqah of live without which a human being is not a human being. The more Quran I have, know, understand and reflect upon, the more I have of 'life'. The second characteristic Allah gives the Quran is NUR. Nur is the catalyst of life. If there was no light one arth there would be no plants, no human beings. Without Nur we can't continue life. It's the life with which we can 'see'.A second reflection tonight:When Firawn (an arrogant liar who lived as though he were god) died, Allah said: "The heavens and the Earth did not shed tears for them". In other words, good riddance. But look at that beautiful description. Allah teaches us in our Deen that everything has life and worth in ways we don't understand. The Samaa sheds tears and misses the mu'min and the righteous.When a righteous person dies the place where he/she used to make dhikr and pray misses them. This is a Hadith of Ali . Heavenly space-time through which deeds are raised to Allah also misses the person.Wherever we walk on the ground, through mountains, it is said parcels of ground talk to each other. (Last night remember we learned about how the cells will talk.) They ask each other: Today, did someone pass you in dhikr of Allah? The one who did is thought by the others to be privileged. Allah has wonders and divine knowledge no one can acqure about the unseen, the other parts of 'life' that share it with creation. This is what our Quran teaches us. So what should our attitude be towards it? It should be to read, memorize, understand it. It should be our daily diet for our minds, souls and intellects.May Allah give us that Maqqam, that He gives to his very special Ibaad.


Day Twenty-Six:

Tonight we recited Surah Ahqaf, thereby finishing the Ha Mim series. Of the many other Surahs we're reciting tonight, Muhammad, Fath, Hujurat, Dhariyat, we can't pass by mention of Muhammad without speaking on it.In Surah Hujurat, Allah tells the believers about the rights and etiquettes with Rasulullah and how our attitude should be in all matters. Number one it says: O you who believe... and then a literal translation...Do not present between the hands of Rasulullah...and be Allah Conscious, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. This metaphorical expression means in Arabic taqaddam - to go before Rasulullah and for that matter before Allah. That is in his presence, do not speak before he speaks stand before he stands, sit before he sits, or do anything before he does. Lest it be rude or will lead to the good deeds of a person being invalidated. When one loses adab and respect to Rasulullah so they will lose the worth of their deeds as Allah says. Because usually the habits of people who lack adab are rude with other ppl, impolite, greedy, arrogant, 'liberal' if you will. That certainly shouldn't be our attitude towards Rasulullah .Secondly: And do not, O you who believe, raise your voice above Rasulullahs. Even the tone. And was Rasulullah loud? No. He was very moderate, towards the soft. Once the Sahabah learned this they changed drastically. Especially the new Muslims who used to call loud 'O, yaaa MUHAMMAD!' from outside. Umar sometimes spoke loud, even Abu Bakr once when there was a disagreement. But when this ayah was revealed, Umar, the strong, the mighty, when he spoke Rasulullah would have to ask him to repeat it because he couldn't hear it. One time after the death of Rasulullah, at his Qabr, two men were speaking very loud. Umar was khalifah and he came and admonished them for speaking so loud and asked them where they were from. They said Taif. And he said that if they were from Madina he would have hurt them because they should know. This is respect, reverence and love. It helps us tame our nafs because our nafs is arrogant. Because we do it in Rasulullah's presence, maybe outside of that we will learn it. Rasulullah Is with Allah, he died, so how do we not raise our voice and not come in front of him? Rasulullah speaks to us all the time. When we are told what he said, is our reaction humbleness, respect, learning, reflection? Or do we not care, don't change? If so, we are knowingly raising our voice before him. Thabit bin Qays, after this verse was revealed didn't come to the Masjid. Rasulullah, he noticed that and asked what happenned to him? A Sahaba volunteered to go to his house to find out. He found Thabit with his head down. "I am one of the people of Hell", he said "because I raised my voice to Rasulullah. I can't face Rasulullah." The Sahabah told the prophet and then something very special happenned. Rasulullah knew Thabit and said "No, go tell him 'You are one of the people of Jannah. You are thankful and you will die shaheed'" Thabit replied, "I have accepted the tidings of Rasulullah and never again will raise my voice over yours." Anas, who reported this Hadith, adds that 'We used to see him walking and knew this was a person of Jannah.' During Yamamah, Thabit died as Shaheed.The point here is that it was his habit to raise his voice normally, naturally. Part of Mujahidat-an-Nafs is that we are in battle against our own habits that we've developed, cultural, personal -- as long as they don't conform with Sharh or what is beautiful in Sharh.Look at these companions! They said I will not do it anymore even though it was natural for them.May Allah forgive all of our rudeness and change our habits. May He beautify us in our hearts, our habits and our behavior.


Day Twenty-Seven:
I pray that we are here tonight for the pleasure of Allah . For verily these are words and intentions and therefore it’s always essential to orient our hearts, minds and souls to Allah . That’s number one. And number two that Allah always gives us the resolve, the strength, the desire to be in obedience and worship of Allah , for indeed the night of Qadr is better than 1000 months as Allah teaches us and Rasulullah teaches us when talked about lailatul qadr in Ramadan.Anyone who misses the good, virtues, blessings, reward that are in it, hen such a person has indeed missed Allah. The person who has been deprived of lailatul qadr has been deprived by the goodness of lailatul qadr. Such is a true deprived one. This is the meaning of what Raslullah said. ‘Anyone who is deprived of the good of this night is most likely a person who is forsaken by Allah during this time’Lailatul Qadrin Khairin min Alf ishahrIt is said that rasulullah, sahabah, taiboon have said, in accordance to hadith through imam mujahid that in the early times of the early children of Israel. It was said to them, there was a Muslim among them who for one thousand nights used to be spending the night in qiyaam and ibadah non-stop until the morning. Most of the day he was in jihad fee sabeelillah. For 1000 nights he lived like that. When the companions heard that, it is said they were amazed. They thought: what can they do? Allah gave the Ummah of Muhammad one night. And if they are in full commitment in that night then that night is worth more than what that righteous man accomplished. It is also related through Imam Malik, it was made known to Rasulullah to see the spans of life and age of many individuals and nations before him. And some of those nations and people had long spans of life. So Rasulullah compared to the span of life given to individuals of his ummah was relatively short. He felt grieved in a sense that those early people had long spells of life, during which they had the privilege and opportunity to be in ibadah of Allah, more righteous deeds, righteous ibadah than the ummah of Muhammad.Then Allah gave this ummah through Muhammad one night during which if one is in ibadah, amal acts and works of obedience of Allah. Then that will be worth more than 1000 months, something like more than 83 years“Allah ordains what He will” He said in the Quran, master of time, space, things physical, spiritual, moral, aphysical. He decrees what he will. What a great rahmaa : one night… one night. Especially if we become more aware of what it means to be obedient to Allah. What it means to love Allah, and be loved by Allah. The special type of love, not the type of love Allah has for everyone. His general love and rahmaa is for everyone and everything, his special hubb, special hubb is for his ibaad. Those who understand that know they can achieve in one night what some would achieve through everyday ibadah during 83 years or more.During this night says Allah , the malaaikah descend, tanazallal malaikah. Special angels, more angels and Jibreel – ar-rooh, to the lower dimensions of creation of Allah. With them more barakah, love, compassion , mercy and rahmaa also descend with them. Salamun heya hata matla al fajr. Peace it is indeed that night, until the break of dawn. In other words that night is a night of peace. All of it. Until the break of dawn. So has Allah decreed. It is peace in every sense. Do we have the receptors to detect, feel that? Do we have the hearts, quloob to feel that peace or not? Shaitan also has been deprived from his actions and his influence on the ibaad that night. IT IS ALL PEACE. Salamun heeya. Says Allah . Peace it is until the break of dawn. When we know that. If we understand that, who would like to miss an instance of that. Instant after instant, put together is worth more than 83 years of ibadah… who wants to miss that. But there are some of us that miss that and WANT to miss that. Because they simply don’t know out of ignorance, or don’t have the information or hearts to understand and feel that info.So like a child who knows he has something in his hands, a precious jewel but he doesn’t know the worth of the jewel so he plays with it like he would play with marbles. Anyone who is deprived of the good that is within it is THE DEPRIVED.My dear brothers and sisters, When is it? Is it tonight. Maybe. Is it tomorrow? Maybe. There are many texts that teach us about lailatul qadr. Each text tells us what the narrator heard perhaps in answer to some questions. When we put all that together from hadith that are very serious, it could even be first, second, night of Ramadan, odd nights, even nights. Any time during Ramadan. As a matter of a fact there is one opinion Imam hasan al basri? That it could be in the entire year, but most likely during Ramadan. All of a Ramadan. And it should be awaited for, most likely in last ten nights. And most likely odd nights of the last 10. And of those odd nights, most likely the night of the 27th.So the question is, those of us that started sawm on sat (when it was impossible to sight the crescent, but ppl don’t know and followed what their leaders told thme, it is they who will be held responsible…maybe their ijtihad was wrong…) so the question comes when is lailatul qadr? For those who started on sat, their 27th was last night. So when is it? The answer to that according to what companions, taabioon taught is that, it’s all right. It could be any night. Therefore be in ibadah, ijtihad every night of Ramadan. If you truly are serious.Rasulullah [saw ] ,you all know my dear brothers and sisters, used to be in full itikaaf in the masjid to teach us and also during his last noble year, he had itikaaf for 20 nights. That’s another indication. And when he is in itikaaf the ibadah he used to perform regularly, those nights he was in special ibadah, doesn’t sleep almost and in the masjid in his itikaaf he was not in conversation only when it was necessary. He had a special tent for himself where he enters alone. He goes out for salah and goes back. In full focus in ibadah to Allah . And he was who he was.For the person who is serious about this, are we as serious about so many things? Of course, this depends on our extent of yaqeen. If someone is told, work for me for 1 day and I’ll give you the wages for 83 years… how bout 60,000 dollars, the person would leave everything right: father, mother, children, anything… because in that case there is yaqeen. He sees and he hears and knows the person has and can do that.But we who do not have yaqeen do not see with our hearts what Allah says to us. We do not see with our hearts akhirah like rasulullah. We are not interested, not AS interested.So then perhaps as many ulema say, the hidden beauty sirr that is here as to why rasulullah did not point out specifically, equivocally to point out the exact night. As a matter of fact in one text he was made to forget it. And according to some, they say it moves during Ramadan during the last 10 nights. One year could be the 25th, the next 29th, next 21st and so on. So in what is remaining of tonight, and this is the beginning of the night. May we re-orient our hearts and minds to this goal. Remember we have so many dhunoob, violations we have committed, in violating the rights of others. Maybe tonight is the night. Let us take it seriously and keep focusing, in ibadah. Focus in salah. Try to bring your qalb in salah. Struggle to do that. Maybe if we struggle tonight, just to be present in salah, maybe the gift of this night is that after that it will be easier to focus in salah.We never know what gift for Allah will be to the ibad. Maybe tonight, the next day tomorrow I’ll end up to be a generous person when before I was a miser. Maybe the barakah of this night, if I orient properly, maybe the gift after that will be patience and before that I was an impatient person and it was difficult for me to be patient. Or the gift could be to be quiet and before that I used to speak in vain. We never know what the warid, spiritual gift on the heart will be for each one of us. If we take that seriously, my dear brothers and sisters, let us ask Allah to constantly help us with that. ALWAYS be in dua, always be in dua. Concentrate on your dhikr. This is not the night, actually no night is the night for superfluous thought.This is the night. This could be THE night worth 83 years as rahmat to Allah. Keep that focus, dua, dhikr, samt. And inside you should be concentrating on Allah, and your acts. How will I face Allah? How did I do this year? Keep going try that.If we do that well, one night even. Well after that it will be always… that could be one of the spiritual gifts that we will love to be alone khalwah in spiritual solitude and alone with Allah. But it won’t come without struggle, The nafs will always want to stop and do what it does habitually. When you struggle against that, it’s rewarded by Allah . It is easy for Allah make easy what we used to struggle for.




Day Twenty-Seven Part II:
Alhamdulillah, Allah has permitted us to be still up in ibadah seeking his nearness and ridah. Wa lillahil hamd. May Allah complete his favor upon all of us. It’s very special at this moment right now. Because this is Ramadan, the last 10 nights, this is an odd night, this is a night of Jumah. And it’s almost 2 o clock which means this is the last half of the night. And we are entering the last third of the night. And every night during the last half, last third of the night Allah manifests Himself to the lower dimensions in a way only He knows. He manifests Himself every night at this time. And He and His divine attributes are beyond human understanding.He calls upon His creation “Is there anyone who invokes me, seeks forgiveness from me, seeks repentance, anyone who calls upon me? That I can give them?” This is the time, this is Ramadan, a night of jumah and an odd night. This is a special night anyways. Those of you who are still here, get another breath of energy it is worth it. Wallahil atheem it is more than, worth more than a trillion dollars. If someone came to give me a trillion dollars right now wallahil atheem I wouldn’t take it.What is with Allah remains Allah remains forever.What is with you will come to an end.And what is so special about Lailatul Qadr. What is the most special thing to do? Dua, seeking forgiveness from Allah. Allahumma innaka afuan, tuhubbil afua, fafuanni.Allah you are the one who often pardons, please I beg of you, pardon me.For istighfaar, seeking forgiveness from Allah is a wonderful ibadah.Said rasulullah , “O what an excellent abode awaits the one who on the Day of Judgement will find in his/her records plenty of istighfaar asking for forgiveness”.Rasulullah and Allah taught us so many ways to seek His forgiveness. Amongst many ways is Sayyid al-Istighfar. He taught us that beautiful dua. Know it and repeat it brothers and sisters and repeat it daily. And Allah inspired servants of this ummah of Muhammad with such a wonderful sincerity and genuineness to ask Allah for forgiveness. And asking Allah for forgiveness we need to be sincere and truthful. We do not deny we did a particular sin or sins. We remember that and expose our hearts to Allah and in our solitude, our hearts and tongues express all of that to Allah. And we ask Allah to forgive us.Allah wants, as a gift from us, that we acknowledge with sincerity, we don’t hide. We don’t try to cover what we are. We don’t try to be defensive. Not like when human beings talk, argue, counter-argue. Don’t do that with Allah . (don’t do that with human beings either)And strip yourself and your heart naked in front of Allah , for He already knows. And look what some ibaad used to ask of Allah. This is a wonderful collection attributed to Hasan alBasri. (reads some duas from Prayers for Forgiveness by Imam Hasan al-Basri Translated by Abdurrahman Ibn Yusuf)




Day Twenty-Eight:

28th night was in NYC experiencing taraweeh down there.. see my ramadan journal to be posted tom night inshaAllah in the 'Ramadan tent' forum (& guess what they had one down there too!)


Day Twenty-Nine:
This is the 29th night of Ramadan. It is a night to invoke Allah to give us sidq and ikhlas. May Allah lead us to Him and in truthfulness to Him.Of what Allah says to us in the Quran from what was recited to us tonight from Surat Mudathar, Allah is describing a scene from the Day of Judgement. The ppl of Jannah have sight of the people of Hell who are called Mujrimoon – criminals. Every soul is captive by that which it believes, the values that which we do, say, or act upon. Allah says those either free us, jail us or hold us captive.Allah says that every Nafs is captured by that which it earns. In this particular case it’s about those who’s abode is the wrath of Allah and jahannam. Freedom is the ultimate freedom of the heart and opposite to that which makes the heart narrow, anxious, locked, impatient and insecure. Freedom in akhirah is when we have true freedom. True freedom from the effect of dhunoob in our lives. So the 'Ashabul Naeem' are in Gardens. They enquire about the people who are criminals. They ask: "What has caused you to be driven into Saqr?" Saqr is one of the names of Hell, wa authobuillah. Hell has inimaginable types of punishments that only Allah knows.So then somehow there is communication. We can see them. Allah makes an invisible barrier that saves those in jannah from the effects of those in jahannam."What has driven you into Saqr?" Look what they say. Part of what drives ppl in Hell is this: "We were not among the prayerful". Not among those who performed salah, prayed. That's number one.Here let’s pause and remind myself and my dear brothers and sisters of something. There are cases where there could be salah, but his or her salah is worth nothing. (As rasulullah teaches in some texts) We could come to salah but not be in salah, if we’re in a hurry to leave or our minds are entertaining everything outside. "We are not of the prayerful." Salah means Fajr, Zuhr, Asr Maghrib, Isha. That means 5 of them on time, regularly, with proper attitude and shuroot and at least the struggle to be with Allah in our hearts.Number two. They say: “And we used to not feed the poor.”SubhanAllah. I leave that to you and me. Do we feed the poor? Do we have a share in what we have for the poor? Do we make that as part of our daily normal life? That we share, feed the poor, the homeless, the destitute, the needy, the poor? Allah describes the people of jannah in other verses such as in Surah Ma’arij: The people of Jannah are:1. Musaloon 2. Those in who’s wealth is an assigned share for the beggar, the destitute and the needy. So they said, the criminals, mujramoon: "We used to not feed the poor."Number three. "We used to argue amongst those who argued." Al khawd. For example, two scholars of advanced mathematics are discussing something at a high level and a junior comes and doesn’t understand truly but comes and starts arguing with them, that’s khawd. I come and talk on an issue and I don’t have secure, verifiable knowledge about it and I disagree and talk.We argue about the way of the deen, about God, the existence of God, jannah, naar, values, haram, halal, moral, immoral. About whether we're right or wrong, about what is happiness, misery, who is happy, who is miserable, life after death is there such a thing, on this means this, this means that, logic implies this or that... etc. The result of which is to diminish the reverence to God and values, in the minds and hearts of man.We end up Ittibaal huda, following our own inclinations, whims, dislike, likes, our own philosophies inside of us that we like, which is not consistent and doesn't agree divine values.Number four. "And we used to deny the truth of the Day of Resurrection." They said it 'didn't exist', 'Tales of the Ancient’, 'medieval talk', 'backward words'. That’s khawd too. They'll say: "We used to deny the truth of the Day of Judgement UNTIL yaqeen came upon us. Yaqeen here is death. Allah calls death yaqeen, certainty, because death brings certainty. That’s part of the balagha of Arabic, to give a name to something that isn't it but what it leads to. When we die we will see that which we believed in and did not see with our eyes, we will see it then with our naked eyes. And that will be yaqeen. "We used to deny truth and all of those things until yaqeen, death with its certainty came upon us."Then the intercession will be of no avail or benefit to them. No father, mother, ally, wealth, power will be of any use. As Allah says in Surah Haaqah. Halaqa anni sultania. "On a day when he/she will say My wealth has been no avail to me." My power, wealth all that I seeked in dunya cannot intercede.And then in dunya look at them. The ultimate outcome of what happens to them started here: When there is dhikr of Allah about islam, about sharh, khair morality, halal, haram, good or evil. When there is this discourse on sawm or salah, "They turn away.” They don’t come to those majalis, those mushahid of birr and khair. They’d rather keep away and do something else.And Allah says: "Why do they turn away from tadhkirah as though they were wild donkeys who see a hunting beast and therefore run scared like that?"May Allah bring our hearts all together and focus them on Him .May He teach us, show us and give us the energy and desire to do and actualize what we know. May He make that which we know in our heads to descend into our hearts so it becomes embedded and as natural as our blood, flesh and bones. Let it be mixed with us so that we do what Allah loves in ways that are so easy and lovable to us as they are to Him.


Day Thirty:
Alhamdulillah we’ve completed the QuranWe ask Allah to let us live by it and have a longing and love for it.In this last juz of this Quran in its innumerable meanings that are very powerful and essential and very beautiful. I will share with you a reflection or two asking Allah to guide our hearts and tongues.In a Surah that we recite often, every witr at least, Surah Alaa, Allah says: Qad aflaha man tazakka… wa dhakarasma rabbihi fasallaThe one who has tazakka will be the one in serenity, peace. The one who zakkah nafsa, cleanses, polishes, purifies, purges his own nafs from dhunoob, sins, disobedience, tendencies and inclinations inside of us that harmful, extreme and evil, wrong, towards Allah and towards His creatures, the person that cleanses their nafs from that, that’s the path of success. That’s falah. Note this the person who seeks and struggles in this life to attain this. This is actually the aim of his/her life. He/she wants to be successful. Do you want to be successful??To most of us, what is success? Maal jaah… (wealth, power) Allah says qad aflaha man tazakkah. You want success let’s cleanse the nafs from anger, hate, kibr, riya, conceitedness, delusion, lying, the opposite of haya, greed, the opposite of contentment, ignorance, shirk, attachment to elements. The people who work on that and have that aim and struggle for that THEY are the ones who are THE successful ones, in this world, in THIS dunya before akhirah. That is success in this dunya. That will lead the qalb to be purified, beautified. And therefore to be in peace, and security no matter what happens.Number two: “Consequently, therefore such a person will be in dhikr of their Lord.” Dhikr by tongue, heart, attitude and therefore will be in salah. Salah salah salah…“For salah has been made to establish dhikr of Allah ”Salah and dhikr, a lot of that. In other words, the core, garden, trees of this person’s life, largest space of their life is this. In the midst of that, there are dots and points of doing the other lawful, good things of this dunya. Not the opposite. But look what Allah says after that. “Bal…” Bal in Arabic means like ‘however’. It means, for you, that’s not what you do, like, push for, aim for. “You prefer life of this dunya” you prefer wealth, pursuit of wealth and power. And that’s where your quality time is spent. That which makes a person more resolute is that which gives the eye coolness. Bal…..it’s very powerful. I’m telling you this, but you do otherwise, and continue to do otherwise. SubhanAllah.Allah talks about matters of dunya, prosperity in one of the Surahs in this juzz, Surah Adiyat. Nowadays the human being has an intense attachment and love for things like cattle, yachts, leisure, etc. Allah says as a result of this, the human being verily when it comes to his Lord is kunood. That means during hard times, uncomfortable things, tribulations, calamities he remembers Allah, but when it comes to ease, good times, he very quickly forgets Him. He counts and remembers only what he perceives of bad. Wa akhirah khayran wa abqa.. “The home of the hereafter is better” It is abqa.. eternal.My dear brothers and sisters, we recite that Surah every witr at least. That Surah is filled with beautiful things. We conclude our day and our night with it to remind ourselves of thatMay Allah free our quloob. May Allah, by the baraqah of this Ramadan, siyam, qiyam accept it from us first, though it is very very defective. We ask Allah to accept that from us, for He is Generous, Magnanimous. May Allah make that a means for forgiveness and liberation of our hearts from the yokes of the greedy selves inside of us and May He forever reorient our hearts to Him until we meet Him. May our hearts always be oriented towards Him in love and desire for Him and having lived in this life, a life that is serene, happy and successful.Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala aali Muhammad wa sahbahi ajmaeen.(May Allah forgive my mistakes in conveyance. May you all benefit from these notes, inshaAllah. Allahumma taqabal minna wa minkum. Until next Ramadan….

Walaikum Salaam Warahmatullah Wabarakatuhu