SNP Ramadhan - Gem 01

In this information, the speaker discusses the Book of Fasting and its significance in Islam. Fasting is seen as a special action that is associated with Allah and cannot be seen by others. It is an inner action that involves abstaining from eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset. Fasting is a way to please Allah and strengthen one's connection with Him. It helps to control desires and fight against temptation. Ramadan is seen as a training month to develop piety and the ability to resist evil. The speaker emphasizes the importance of charity, recitation of the Quran, and seeking forgiveness during Ramadan. It is recommended to emulate the Prophet Muhammad and engage in virtuous actions such as delaying suhoor, having iftar with the same food as the Prophet, being generous, and having good conduct. It is also suggested to study the Quran and consider performing itikaf in the mosque during Ramadan. Bismillah, Alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalam wa rasoolillah. We are looking at the Book of Fasting in the book Mokhtafa Minhaj Al Qasideen by Imam Sheikh Ahmed Ibn Qudama Al Maqdisi. Ahmed Ibn Qudama Al Maqdisi. The Book of Fasting, its secrets and tasks etc. Know that fasting has special characteristics which aren't in anything else. There is a special way it is associated with Allah, ascribed to Allah like no other action is. So if you look at this Hadith Qudsi in Bukhari, Al-Bukhari. As-sawmu li, fasting is mine and I will reward accordingly. As-sawmu li wa ana, and I will reward accordingly. It is sufficient, this association with Allah is sufficient. So for example, when Allah calls the house his, purified my house. By saying my house, associating it with Allah, it gives sharaf and honour to it. When Allah calls Rasulullah, my slave, my servant, he is raising him in honour. So in that way Allah is raising the fast when he says in the Hadith Qudsi, fasting is mine, as-sawmu li. So aren't other actions Allah's? So scholars of old explained that fasting is an inner action. Because fasting is the absence of action. It is the absence of eating and drinking and participating in sexual intercourse. From the start time, which is the start of Fajr, until sunset. So it is an intention not to participate in the three things that break one's fast. And that intention cannot be seen. So fasting is mine. How determined one is and how passionate one is to please Allah throughout this fast and leave food. How many times one had to leave food. How many times one had to leave one's, for the sake of euphemisms, I will use the euphemism, desires. Leaving one's sexual desires for the sake of Allah. Only Allah knows. It is inner. Because it doesn't get written visibly anywhere. So for people to see how hungry you are. The issue isn't hunger. The issue is how much hunger you left for, to please Allah. So whether one did it because it is a fulfillment of a command, which is a good level. And when one is very tired and struggling, it is sufficient just to have left, stay to the principles of fasting because one is doing, one knows one is not allowed. But there are those who, as they leave things for the sake of Allah, they explore who is Allah, who is the one they are turning to, returning to. Who is the one they are giving everything up for. He is the one who is unique and he is the one who is divine. He is the one, he is not, he created these other things. So surely, surely the creator should have seniority in our hearts and minds than the creators. But Allah has made it natural within ourselves to want food and need food. And the need for procreation and sexual intercourse. He has created that within us. But he wants us to moderate it and bring it back into check, and back into alignment with Tawheed. That between these hours it is not allowed. One is not allowed to participate in those things. And one is supposed to in those hours and in the night time, participate much more in attachment to Allah. Detach from everything else and attach with Allah. Think about his names, think about his words, think about his supremacy, his mercy, his kindness, his judgement. And if a person went through Surah Al-Fatiha, Alhamdulillah, that gives an order. As a person reads the Qur'an, if one is unable to, one reads the translation of the Qur'an. And I urge people who don't know Arabic to try to have a target for a regular reading of the translation of the Qur'an. So that one feels that one is wrapped with the meanings of the Qur'an. So the author continues. The supremacy of fasting can mean two things. One, it is a secret as mentioned, it is a secret and it is an action of the inner. And no one of the creation can see it. And therefore, Riyadh can't really enter it. Showing off Riyadh means to be ostentatious. There could be some people, there have been from time to time, people who might do religious actions because they are trying to get attention from someone. It is one of the biggest sins, isn't it? Riyadh is one of the biggest sins because it means you are putting on a show of praying to Allah, but actually you are trying to get attention from other people. Whenever that happens or comes to one's mind, if it does, reject it as a part of la ilaha illallah. There is no true God but Allah. I am not going to give attention and give God's worship, Allah's worship to anyone except for Allah. Reject it all. So in fasting, you can't really show your fasting unless you utter it. You keep telling people you are fasting. He is trying to say that on one level, on the entry level of fasting, it is just a secret thing in your heart. I hope that makes sense. Secondly, that fasting is mine. One of the meanings behind it is that it dominates the enemy of Allah because it fights the shahwat, one's desires, lusts. So when one goes into the mode of fasting, it is like you are taking divine help into fighting your desires and dominating. And over the days, one gets better and better and better. Even on one day, one does well with it. But the amazing thing about Ramadan is that we have this continuity except for those who it is permissible for them to break the continuity for a few days. So anyway, we have a continuity. And so the second meaning is that fasting is mine, is that I take responsibility when someone fasts to improve them, to make them a better Muslim, a better worshipper of mine, i.e. to fight the desires, the lusts. Often times people find it difficult. But through the culmination of days, it gets easier to fight one's desires. The month of Ramadan is training. And also throughout the years, because we have an easier response rate to food and drink, a lot of us, then when it comes to desires, one could be a little bit more or much more in some cases submissive. And sadly for haram desires as well. Therefore, once we train ourselves in this month to take Allah's strength, not to take the halal desires, then we've got inner ability and power, strength to turn away from haram desires as well, a greater strength. So once a year, we're going through these 30 days, these 29-30 days, we are developing such a rapid rate. We have to stick with the program and believe in Allah. That whole ability is called taqwa. Taqwa means piety, but it's actually an inner ability to stay away and ward off evil. So, if desires are easy for a person to wander into, then shaitans can occupy a person and more easily get them to follow what's wrong. But if around us is our desire for good actions, and around us we're thinking about dhikr, and that dhikr is multiplied thousands of times in this month, and recitation of Quran and reading its meanings is multiplied thousands of times in this month, and our good actions of charity, please, in this month, please be giving charity to, the announcements are given to those around the world and Palestine and so on, who are really in need, really, really in need. Just reach in and give with your debit card and don't think about it. If you have some savings, give some of it as required according to your situation, please. Because when we fight our stinginess for such charities and our local charities and needs, it makes the facilitation of knowledge better for us, facilitation of the deeper understanding of who Allah is through fasting. In the end, what we get through fasting is what we put into it, and that relationship with Allah develops through sacrifice. So that's what we're doing, giving up food, drink and desires, we start giving up our love and attachment for other things like we sleep less, our attachment for sleep goes down, we talk less, we talk more about the dunya, and unnecessary things about the dunya that is, unnecessarily. You know, you might decide I'm not going to watch TV this Ramadan, I'm going to watch a single TV movie, etc. You might have to raise your children in such a way where you manage all those situations, and even yourself, you might manage it yourself. Have a limited amount of things which are more entertainment based, know yourself. At the end of this month, as you go through this month, the goal is to know yourself better as well in your relationship with Allah. So what are the virtuous actions to do around fasting? For example, suhoor, delaying the suhoor, and fitr, to do fitr quickly, meaning, it doesn't mean to be rushed with your food, you can still have decorum, but not to think it's an act of piety to delay it for some time. And to have iftar upon the food the Prophet ﷺ used to have iftar upon. So you'll get reward for emulating the Prophet ﷺ. So it's recommended to be generous in Ramadan, it's recommended to have good conduct in Ramadan and when fasting, and to give a lot of charity as mentioned, especially with those dire needs which exist right now. And all that is in the following Rasulullah ﷺ. The intention is one, following Rasulullah ﷺ, and to actually have the goodness of Allah spread on this in oneself and on earth. And for Allah ﷻ to make you a well of goodness in different ways, your words, your hands, your body, your everything, everything else is a well, a spring of goodness, more and more. And repentance and istighfar in Ramadan, remember our mistakes are magnified as well, so we have to seek forgiveness more. But that seeking of forgiveness for mistakes in Ramadan and before Ramadan, and it continues to become more aware of the diet of the believer, that there are toxins which we have in our system, which we need to say istighfar for. And it's recommended to study the Qur'an as mentioned here, previously about reciting and understanding it. Choose a translation which you like reading. If you think you can finish the whole Qur'an, alhamdulillah. If you think you want to start a particular surah, and you don't want to start at the beginning, make that decision and just start. Just commence if you haven't started already. And it's recommended to do itikaf in Ramadan, in the masjid. Itikaf is meant to be done in the masjid only, but the spirit of itikaf anyway, we can start it. The fasting is, the whole of fasting is, almost like an itikaf with the book of Allah, and dhikr, and charity, and prayer, and dua. Especially the last 10 days, the actual itikaf begins, and one is meant to do ijtihad, really put effort in, exert oneself. One has to daily have a dose of exerting oneself, especially as our power, our energy weakens through the days of Ramadan, and then in the last 10 days really up the gear, and certain times put a lot of effort into dua, into understanding the Qur'an, into reading more Qur'an, into giving much more charity, and the blessings that come in the last 10 days of Ramadan are often related to how much effort we are putting in, in the beginning. So don't fall asleep completely in the early days of Ramadan, first days of Ramadan, especially if you're working, and you have responsibilities and duties, keep your journey towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and think of a way you can do a lot of good, like it could be your reading of the translation of Qur'an, it could be listening to the translation of Qur'an, listening to Qur'an itself, reciting as well, and doing a lot of dhikr, in the hundreds and thousands, if you can do that, in the hundreds and thousands. Jazakumullah khayran, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us a fast that is accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and prayers and charities are accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Let's combine all these good deeds and recitation of Qur'an. This is the month of Qur'an. Wa salallahu ala nabiyyina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. Ameen, ameen, ameen. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.