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My brothers and sisters and elders, all praise and thanks be to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala that insha’Allah He will grant us another Ramadan. This is a gift, the value of which depends on what we choose to do with it. It is up to us to make it as valuable as we wish. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala chose to bless us by granting the month of Ramadan in which He does not only level the playing field but skews the playing field of life in our favour. It is for us to take advantage of this wonderful blessing and opportunity and remember that this may be our last Ramadan because one Ramadan will be our last. And the key therefore is to make every Ramadan the best yet so that if it is the last then we have no regrets. Anabih Huraira r.a. said about the Prophet, peace be upon him, He said, Whoever does the night of Qadr with faith and reckoning, forgive him what he has done for his sins. Whoever does the night of Ramadan with faith and reckoning, forgive him what he has done for his sins. Narrated Abu Huraira r.a. that Rasulullah said, Whoever establishes prayers, the salah on the night of Qadr with sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, imanan wa hittisaban, then Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will forgive all his or her previous sins. And whoever fasts in the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith and hoping for reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven. And in another hadith, the Prophet said the same thing with regard to qiyam. Man qaama Ramadan imanan wa hittisaban ghufir Allah hu dhamma. That the one who stands in salah, and this is not only a Lailatul Qadr but throughout the month, in the night, Salatul Qa’rawi or Qiyamul Layl, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will forgive all his sins. In another hadith in Bukhari and Muslim, Abu Huraira r.a. narrated that Rasulullah said, all the deeds of the son of Adam are for him except a siam. The siam is for me and I will reward it. A siam uli wa ana azzi bih. Rasulullah s.a.w. said in another hadith in Bukhari and Muslim, the fasting person, the sa’im, has two happy moments. One, when he breaks his fast, he is happy and the second, when he meets his Rabb, when we go before Allah, he will be happy because he fasted. Rasulullah s.a.w. also said, again in Thirmidhi and Imne Maja, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has those whom he frees from jahannam and this occurs every night in Ramadan. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to include us among those who he will free from jahannam every night in Ramadan. In another hadith in Musnad ibn Ahmad, in Bayhaqi and in Al-Hakim, Rasulullah s.a.w. said, a siam, fasting and the Quran will intercede on behalf of the person. Fasting will say, I kept this person away from food and drink and from his shahwad, from his desires during the day, so, O my Rabb, allow me to make shafa’a, to be an intercessor for this person’s forgiveness. The Quran will say, I kept this person awake in the night because he was listening to the Quran, he was reading the Quran and therefore make me an intercessor for this person and the intercession of both will be accepted. In another hadith in Bukhari and Nabi Dawud, Abu Hurairah narrated that Rasulullah s.a.w. said, whoever doesn’t give up false speech, now false speech refers to all forms of stuff, whether it’s profanity, lying, cheating, backbiting, whatever you want, anything which is not good, whoever doesn’t give up false speech and evil actions and doesn’t abandon foolishness, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is not in need of His leaving food and drink. I remind myself and you, it’s about fasting, not about starving. Ramadan is the month of fasting, it’s not the month of starvation. Even Omar radiyallahu anhu ma said that a man asked Rasulullah s.a.w. about the salah in the night, and Rasulullah s.a.w. said, prayers, salah in the night are to be prayed two by two, that is two rakat at a time, not three or four. If any of you fears the time of dawn is approaching, he’s talking about praying the entire night, then let him pray one rakat as wither. So the specific number of rakat for Qayam-ul-Lail is not fixed, we pray as many as we want, Alhamdulillah there is ease, we can pray as many as we want or as few as we want, depending on our convenience and ability. Rasulullah s.a.w. said in another hadith in Thirmidhi, whoever stands with the Imam until he finishes, so whatever the number of rakat, until the Imam finishes, the reward of Qayam-ul-Lail will be recorded for that person, as if he prayed the entire night. In another hadith, Abu Hurairah said that Rasulullah s.a.w. said, fasting is a paradise, so there should be no obscene or offensive talk or behaviour during fasting. If a person fights you, if a person insults you, let this person say, I am fasting. Anasahim, say that two or three times, I am fasting. And then he said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, by the one in whose hand is my soul, the smell that comes from the mouth of the fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. And this refers to the smell that comes because of an empty stomach, it doesn’t mean don’t brush your teeth. And then he said, Allah says, this person has given up food and drink for me and I will reward him. Rasulullah s.a.w. said, the people will continue to be well so long as they hasten to break the fast. So it is our practice and it is the sunnah in this hadith in Bukhari Muslim, not to delay the breaking of the fast. As soon as the time comes, immediately you break the fast. In another hadith in Nabi Dawod and Thirmidhi, Anas bin Malik said that Rasulullah s.a.w. used to break his fast with fresh dates before praying. And if there were no fresh dates, then dry dates or if there were no dates at all, he would take a few sips of water. So breaking the fast is not about feasting, it’s about breaking the fast. Anas bin Malik said that Rasulullah s.a.w. said, eat suhor for in suhor there is blessing. And this is in Bukhari Muslim. Again, anything you eat, small amount, not a large meal, small amount, but eat something, even if it’s a sip of water that is fine, one date is fine, one piece of fruit is fine, anything. But make sure that you are making suhor. And finally, the hadith of Nabi s.a.w. he said in Anasai and Ibrahmaaja, he said whoever fasts for six days after Eid-ul-Fitr has completed the year, whoever does a good deed, a hasana will have ten likewise. According to another report he said, Allah s.w.t has made for each hasana ten like it. So a month is like fasting ten months and fasting six days completes the year. So this refers to the six fasts in the month of Shawwal after we have completed Ramadan. There is no fasting on the day of Eid. So one or two days after that you can start fasting. Those six fasts need not be done consecutively. You can do them at your convenience, but complete them before the end of Shawwal inshallah. We get the reward of having fasted the whole year. Allah s.w.t as I mentioned skews the field, the field of life in our favor because Allah s.w.t changed the shayateen. He causes the doors of Jahannam to be shut and the doors of Jannah to be opened. And if therefore the warning note on this is that in Ramadan if you find yourself doing something which is prohibited, ask yourself who is doing it because the shayateen have been changed. There is no shaitan there to make you and me do something or to blame. Allah s.w.t gives the reward in Ramadan of fardh for all nawafil and 70 times the reward for all farai. So one fardh will be, one obligatory act of worship will be rewarded 70 times and a voluntary act of worship will be rewarded like the reward equal to a compulsory act of worship. Allah s.w.t blessed suhoor and iftar and accept duas during that time. So eat suhoor and don’t waste the time at iftar in cooking and fighting for samosas but make use of that time to make a lot of dua.
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