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Bismillah ** الرحمن الرحيم**. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah **ﷺ** Tasliman kathiran kathira.
Wa amma badu. My brothers and sisters. Alhamdulillah bi zindillah ta’ala. Today we are on the last day of Ramadan al-Kareem for this year. So we thank Allahﷻ for granting us Ramadan and granting us the ability to fast. Alhamdulillah in the whole month. And to do whatever we could do towards the Ibadat of Allahﷻ. We still have a few hours left until Iftar today. So let us make the best of that and try to make as much istighfar and tawbah as possible. And today also happens to be Friday, Juma’ah. So Juma’ah has its own fadail and fazilat. And therefore let us use that to gain the forgiveness of Allahﷻ and to build. A connection with Allahﷻ The purpose of all of this. The purpose of Ramadan. The purpose of Salah. Of fasting. Of all the Ibadat. Is only one and that is. To build our connection with Allahﷻ As Ibn Taymiyyah rahmatullah said. Everything has a door. And the door of Ibadah is fasting. Because Sawm reinforces the single fundamental principle of this Deen. Which is the importance of Taqwa. Sama’ana wa atana. Whatever Allah says, we do. Fasting and Sawm reinforces that. And therefore it is so important. And Alhamdulillah Allah ta’ala gave us that. And He gave us 30 days of it this year. Alhamdulillah. So let us make the most of that.
Number two. Let us monitor our life and our actions going forward. Because Ramadan is not for Ramadan. Ramadan is to bring about. Fundamental change in our lives. Change in our priorities. Change in our decision making. Change in our actions. Our akhlaaq, our maamilat. The maashara that results as a consequence of that. Change in all of these things. Change towards the positive in all these things. So monitor every action. Monitor every priority to see. If something has changed. And if that change is taking us closer to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala. No matter how small it is. It’s very important. So let us do that consciously going forward from now on. So that we, our life gets changed. It’s not the same old thing again and again. Because fasting is not only about. Fasting is actually not about being hungry and thirsty and so on. It’s about reinforcing the reason you are hungry and thirsty because. It is the commandment. The command of Allahﷻ in my life? In every aspect. Just like I. Made sure that I did not. Disobey Allahﷻ in the fasting. Whether anyone else was watching or not watching. Because this is the beauty of fasting. You can be fasting. But first of all nobody knows if you are fasting. So this is a pure matter of ikhlas because. Who knows if I am fasting or not. Nobody knows. And second thing is that even if you are fasting. Then you can. You know. Eat something or drink something. Quietly. Hidden from the world. Nobody will know. But you don’t do that. Because you know that Allah knows. The sense of awareness of Allahﷻ presence in our lives. Is heightened. And we know that Allahﷻ continues to watch us. So Allahﷻ doesn’t stop watching on the. First of Shawwal. Allahﷻ continues to watch us. And this feeling of Allahﷻ watching us. That Allahﷻ is connected. That we are connected with Allahﷻ This is the greatest strength in life. Because on the one hand, it has two advantages. The first advantage is that it keeps us free from sin. Because you are afraid. Allahﷻ will see me, I cannot do something. I am ashamed to do something. Because Allahﷻ is watching. I am afraid of doing something wrong because I have to answer to Allahﷻ. Right? So this is a big strength. This is a shield from shaitan. It’s a shield from the nafs. It’s a shield from sinning. And the second big advantage of this is of the sense of awareness of Allahﷻ is a sense of strength and power because I know I am protected. Because my Rabb Jalaluhu is watching. He has the power to prevent anything evil from happening to me and He will protect me. So I seek His protection and I am sure of His protection. So therefore, I feel safe.
That’s what Ramzan gives us. And this is what we need to carry forward in our lives. This connection with Allahﷻ, this awareness of Allahﷻ in our lives. I want to close with one of my favourite stories about connection with Allahﷻ which is a story from a great scholar by the name of Hatim al-Assam rahmatullah Ali in the time of Sayyidina Ahmad bin Hanbal rahmatullah Ali. They were contemporaries. And Hatim al-Assam was the student of Shakiq al-Balqee rahmatullah Ali. Another great scholar of this deen. Now al-Assam means the deaf. So he had this peculiar name Hatim, the deaf. And he was called the deaf. He was not deaf. But he was called the deaf on the basis of one incident where an elderly lady came to see him to ask him about some religious issue. And as she came and she sat down she passed wind with sound. Now obviously it was a hugely embarrassing thing for the lady because she is sitting down and this happened. You know elderly people they have issue of control and so on. So she was sitting down she started talking and saying salam or something and this happened. So Hatim al-Assam his instant reaction was can you please can you shout and speak I am deaf. I cannot hear anything. Can you speak loudly please. So this lady then feels you know safe that oh so he didn’t hear me because he is deaf so he didn . t hear what happened just now. Not only did he do that he then maintained this thing with everyone for years until that lady passed away. So that lady died without knowing that this man could hear perfectly clearly perfectly well and he got this name called Hatim al-Assam Hatim the deaf. He wasn’t deaf. He wasn’t deaf at all. This shows akhlaq I mean imagine this is the consideration for somebody else that this other person should not feel embarrassed she should not feel something happened. So the story about Hatim al-Assam he was he is known for his tawakkur on Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and his way was that anything which he considered zayad az-zaruri something which is more than what is essential he would give it away and show it to him. He was a very generous to the point of you know to that point. So obviously there was never much in the house and so forth.
So one time Hatim al-Assam had this overwhelming desire and urge and desire and this he had this inshara to go for hajj. So in those days you know these caravans and all they took months. So usually people would go before Ramadhan and they would spend the whole of Ramadhan and they would spend the you know the months all until Dhul-Hijjah and they will complete hajj and then end of that month and then come so we are talking about number of months. So he checked how much money and so on he had he had enough for his fare on this to go by this caravan. But he didn’t have much after that. So he asked his wife he said I have this great desire to go for hajj and so on so forth and this is how the situation is. So will you allow me to go? She said ok I will So the wife So she said that unless you have enough money which you can leave behind for us to survive when you are not here you cannot go. So now Hatim Al-Asam is sitting there. He is very sad because his heart is completely committed to going for Hajj. But you know, he doesn’t want to. We are talking about where is Akif? He is talking about Qawwaboon. So you might say, why does he need his wife’s permission to go for Hajj? It’s not a question of permission. It’s a question of Akhwam. It’s a question of Akhlaq. It’s a question of how do you treat your spouse in a marriage? He does not need permission but he takes permission. And when she says, you cannot go because of this, he respects that. But obviously, he is very sad. So he is sitting there and you know, tears in his eyes when his little daughter comes by and she sees him in this state and she says, what happened to you Abhi? Why are you crying? So he says, no, it’s okay. What is he going to tell his little daughter? She said, no, no, tell me. What’s the matter? You are looking like this. You have got tears in your eyes. You are in a crisis. What happened? So he said, this is the story. I want to go for Hajj. My heart is full of this thing but I don’t have enough money to leave behind for all of you here and your mother is not agreeing so I can’t go. This is the reason. So the daughter said, you don’t worry about my mother. I will take care of her. You plan to go. So she went to her mother. She talked and everything else and you know, little daughters are very powerful. If they want something, they get it. So she went and she convinced her mother whatever it was and his wife said, fine, you can go. So Hathim and her son were very happy. He went and joined the caravan. It was the last caravan going. He joined the caravan. He paid his fare and so on and so forth. He is gone.
Now as they were going on the way, a couple of days out from where they were, the caravan chief, he got stung by a scorpion and he was in terrible pain. People knew who Hathim al-Assam was and so on. So they came to him. They said, please make some dua for him or something. He is in terrible pain and he is the chief of the caravan. If something happens to him, then we are all in trouble. So Hathim al-Assam went and he made dua for the man and Allahﷻ said, you are not going to be able to do it. He cured him instantly. His pain disappeared. He was fine. Now that man was so grateful that he returned Hathim al-Assam’s money. He said, here is your money back. You are my guest for this entire trip. I will take you and when you are there in Mecca, you will be my guest and I will bring you back and khalaf. So Hathim al-Assam raised his hand and said, Ya Rabb, you took care of me now take care of my family. So they went away. He is gone. Now, back home, days are passing, week passes, two weeks pass and they are now really short of money because they didn’t have anything. So now there is panic. There is not enough food and there is panic and everybody is on this girl’s case and the mother told this girl, you are the one, you convinced me and now see the situation we are in and you know, we are in a mess. Your father is not here and and to everyone surprise and to everyone’s irritation this little girl is smiling and laughing through all this. So when people are telling her all this she is laughing. So the mother got irritated and she said, what’s wrong with you? We are in this trouble. We have shortage of food and all kinds of you know, we don’t know what’s going to happen. There is no money, nothing. And now you are laughing? How can you laugh? So the girl said, tell me who went? Who has gone? The Raziq or the Marzuq? Who left? The Raziq or the Marzuq? So they said, the Marzuq left. So she said, why are you worried? The Raziq is here. The Marzuq went. The one who provides or the one who receives? So I am laughing at you people. You are panicking for what?
Little girl, I am talking about Ta’alluk Ma’Allah. While all this conversation is going on, there is a knock on the door. And you know those, in the old days, to have houses, you have the house and then there is a sahan, there is a courtyard and there is a wall all around for privacy. There is a door in the wall. So there is a knock on the door. They go and open the door and they see there is a military officer. He is the ADC of the governor of the province, the Amir. And he says, the governor is passing by and we have run out of water. Do you have some water to drink? So they said, of course, and they went and they took out water from the well. They pulled out water from the well and they put it in a nice jug and in a tray and they put a cloth over it and so on because it is going to the governor after all. So they gave this water to the ADC. The man takes the water to the governor. The governor drinks the water. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala puts such barakah in this water that the governor drinks the water and he says, this is the sweetest, the best, best water I have ever drunk. Where did you get this from? So they said, this is from that house. He said, whose house is that? He said, that is the house of Hatim al-Assam. He said, the scholar? He said, yes. He said, I want to meet him. The governor says, I want to meet him. They said, no, he is not there. He has gone for Hajj. Only his family is there. He is not there. So the governor says, from today until he comes back, that whole family is my guest. That family are my guests and whatever they need will go from the palace. Then what the governor does is, he rides his horse to the wall of this house. You know, they used to wear these belts in the thaw and so on. They would wear a belt and this belt would be bejeweled, a belt with maybe gold in it and God knows and the belt had pouches and the pouches would be filled with gold coins. So the governor took off his belt and he threw it over the wall. So now these people are sitting in the house. They have sent the water. They don’t know all this conversation happening. Suddenly, a belt flies over the wall and when it lands on the floor, it bursts open and there is gold coins everywhere. The governor says to the people, whoever loves me, do what I did. So what do you think happens? All these nobles and this and that, they are taking out their belts. They are taking out pouches of money and throwing it over the wall. This whole courtyard is filled with gold. They have never seen this much gold in their lives. There is more gold. There is enough gold there to feed them for the next maybe 10 generations.
Now, on a side note, the historian says that later on, one of the biggest merchants of the place, he came and he told them, I want to buy back the governor’s belt because that’s his favorite belt. I want to present it to him. So, I want to buy it. Sell it to me. They said, take it. He said, no, no, no. I want to buy it. And when they tried to sell it to him, he kept on jacking up the price. He said, no, no, this is not enough. Not enough, not enough. Until he gave them a fortune of money for that belt. On a side note, but now, listen to the story. So, this place is full of gold now, right? And this family, they are so happy. The mother and the other siblings and so on, they have never seen this much gold in their lives. And oh, all the fear of what will happen, everything is gone, right? Then they say, where is this girl? That girl is not to be seen. He said, where did she go? They go searching for her. She is sitting in an inside room and she is weeping. So, the mother said, you are one crazy creature. So, what is wrong with you? When we were starving, you were laughing. Now, when Allah has given all this gold and everything else, you are crying. Why are you crying? The girl says, I am crying because this is the result of a slave of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala looking at us with karam once. What? What will happen when Allah’s Rabbul Izzat will look at us with karam when we meet him? This is one slave of Allah. Who is this governor? He is one slave of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. He looked at us with karam one time and this is the result. What will happen when Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala looks at us with karam? This is the connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
So, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala we are in his house. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to look at us with karam and to give us what we ask with khair and afia and then to add to it from his majesty and grace and his generosity. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala whoever is ill to cure our illnesses. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala whoever is in need to fulfill those needs. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala whoever has any anxiety, any fear to remove that. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala whoever is in need to remove that. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to become sufficient for us in this dunya wal akhirah. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to open the doors of sustenance of all kinds of goodness from places we cannot imagine. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to include us in the list of his muttaqeen slaves. People that he is pleased with. People that he likes. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to include us in the list of his mazlis that we see Rasulullah s.a.w. in our dream before we die and that we meet Rasulullah s.a.w. on the day of judgment when we meet him. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to include us in the majlis of Rasulullah s.a.w. and to decree that we listen to the recitation of the Quran al-Kareem in the voice of Rasulullah s.a.w. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to grant us his didar jalla jalaluhu and to grant us