Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Ma'shar As Saa'imeen wa Adh Dhakireen wa As Sadiqeen; Committed Brothers and Sisters… Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/khutbassermons.htm (12-17-1999) THE FRUIT OF TAQWA IS A REALIZATION THAT ALLAH'S POWER ECLIPSES ANY OTHER "POWER" This month of Ramadhan is in some respects lost on the majority of those who are outwardly observant of its mechanics but who are inwardly failing to imbibe its spirit. What does it mean to fast/abstain from the desires of your appetites? Does that mean that you compensate for that when night falls? Or is there a meaning that is to be acquired beyond the strictly physical aspects of fasting? Allah instructed us quite clearly when He said … the object and the goal of as siyam is to acquire the taqwa of Allah. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 183) The unfortunate world is that when you use the word taqwa- even in the Muslim crowd- rarely does anyone think about the power of Allah. Most of us are accustomed/grow up in a world that indoctrinates us with the concept of physical/material power/the power of matter over mind/force over faith but Allah, in this …fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those preceding you… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 183) For what reason? … so that you may have the conscience/mind/behavior that places the power of Allah above all the rest of the interposing/interfering powers. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 183) With this understanding of fasting when you look around and think with observing eyes at the conditions that the Muslims are in, how many are exercising in the month of Ramadhan to acknowledge/confess that the power of Allah is the one to be reckoned with not these others?! How many khutbahs are delivered in Masjids that explain/outline this strategy of fasting? Let us take a look at this from another angle… How do individuals in this materialistic world gain power? On the personal level they gain power by exercising their muscles. If you have a muscular body you are perceived/thought of as a powerful person. How are societies powerful? If they build up their military with the physical force of technology/warplanes/atomic weapons/intercontinental ballistic missiles then they are thought of as being powerful. In a relative sense they may have power but this is not what Allah intends for us to learn during the month of Ramadhan. We are supposed to know that we have another approach to power i.e. this gained taqwa in the month of Ramadhan. But what do we exercise? What component in our being do we build up during this month of Ramadhan? It is not our muscles because our muscles/muscular bodies may actually suffer in the month of Ramadhan. It is not our militaries because they may also be physically dented in the month of Ramadhan. So what is it in this month of Ramadhan that we are building? We are building our self-determination/will-power that recognizes only the power of Allah. If the power you have urges you to offend other people then be conscious of Allah's power that overwhelms you. When a Muslim gains this meaning of taqwa then these Earthly/worldly powers are marginalized. They have no consequence on a Muslim's thoughts/conscience/feelings. Allah says in another ayah … observe the power of Allah in the rightful way of this observance… (Surah Ahl Imran verse 102) When asked about it, the Prophet of Allah in one definition of at taqwa said at taqwa is here in the heart. It's not in the muscular part of human existence; it's not in the military build up of human societies it's in the God-consciousness build up in the human psyche/heart/cognizance/emotions. We have Muslims who are going through the mechanics of Ramadhan. During the day they abstain from food/water/pleasures but how many of them are building this discipline of taqwa in their character? The Prophet of Allah says whoever does not abstain from speaking falsehood/uttering misrepresentations/verbalizing lies and implementing falsehood/having an agenda of lies then Allah has no need for him/her to abstain from food and water. So this month of Ramadhan is not a simple task of having the stretch of the day empty from food/water and then reacting to that during the night or having twice the food/water and both during the day and night the Muslims character expresses by deed and word what is false. This is not fasting/Ramadhan/As Siyam/taqwa. The establishments will encourage the traditional/cultural/conventional Muslims through their media /Court-clergy and whatever is available at their disposal towards outward/physical/material/worldly fasting. They will wake up early in the morning and have you listen to the Qur'an at sahar time; they will call out the adhaan al imsaak and fajr for you and during the day they will crank up the recitation of in their media and at night they will bring in their cameras and they will celebrate the iftar everyday at nightfall because none of that enhances your taqwa! They are willing to supervise an artificial/superficial observance of Ramadhan but they are not will to have you learn the lesson of Ramadhan/taqwa i.e. that only one power in this world counts and that is the power/force of Allah. They don't want you to learn that lesson because if you do the military image that they have crumbles and the mighty image that Allah has is enshrined in your conscience/mind. You have to build up this determination. The Muslim's muscles are their determination/will-power. The Muslims who are building this will-power in the month of Ramadhan are the ones who are fasting! Why do we part with food/water/pleasures in the month of Ramadhan? Allah says you abandon your food/water/spouse for My sake. Who is doing this for the sake of Allah in this month of Ramadhan and is building his/her will-power/determination. The force of Muslims in this month of Ramadhan- who becomes a disciplinarian in this month of Ramadhan? Very few because we have a world of mechanical Muslims. They observe Ramadhan only physically and they don't gain what they are supposed to gain i.e. the element of taqwa in this month. This (heart) is the area that grows in Ramadhan and this is where Muslims have their power. If Allah dwells here (in the heart) they can be no force in the world that can break the backbone of Muslims and for that reason we should observe these meanings of Ramadhan. We should grow and gain more determination/momentum/morale in this month of Ramadhan or else by the force of habits/customs/traditions we fast a meaningless month and then we go on to a meaningless year- something we don't want to do in this month of Allah. The Prophet of Allah says Allah says: your fasting belongs to Me and I will compensate for it. Observe these meaning in Ramadhan so that you may gain the presence of Allah in Ramadhan so that you can respond to Him when He says And if My servants/subjects ask you concerning Me- I am in close proximity/I will to he who calls upon Me so they should ask Me and they should commit themselves to Me; in that order they will reach maturity. (Surah Baqara verse 186) Ask Allah while you are confident of His response. Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims… During this month of Ramadhan you and I know that the Muslims went to war. The first decisive military battle in the history of Islam was in Ramadhan. Why? Because it reinforces the determination that the Muslims have. Remember- if you are travelling/ill in Ramadhan you have a license to eat and drink during those days of travel/illness but the Muslims were not given the license to be exempt from war in Ramadhan. Have you ever asked yourselves: the Muslims have four months of security/security zones in the course of a year: Dhu Al Qa'da, Dhu Al Hajja, Muharram and Rajab. Ramadhan was not one of the months of the security in the Muslim calendar. If we were to take the status quo Muslims of today and extend their thoughts they would tell us "Ramadhan should be one of these months of passivism/neutrality/disengagement" but Allah is telling the Muslims of today "you are wrong! Ramadhan is a month of momentum/engagement/activism/involvement." That is why Ramadhan is not one of the months of security. Here once again there is a divergence between what Allah says and what the prevalent attitude of today's Muslims is. That is why we had Badr in Ramadhan. The war of Badr occurred in the middle of the month of Ramadhan. When Muslims understood that their power comes from self-discipline (and) reinforcing/building their determination they are ready to go to war in this month and not make excuses/dodge this issue in Ramadhan. Today, in our world, we also have Muslims who are observing these meanings in Ramadhan and who are ready for this activity in Ramadhan from deep down inside where they can sense the presence of Allah all the way to the war-front where they are sure of the presence of Allah. Today- this week and in the coming week- we will have false representatives of Muslims come and go and they want to sign away our God-given rights to Ash Shayateen. All of this will come and go and as long as we are in the presence of Allah and as long as Allah is with us none of this will have any effect to our course to Allah. This khutbah was presented by Imam Mohamed Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 17 December 1999 on the sidewalk of |
http://hashimokera.blogspot.com/p/how-can-you-help.html
No comments:
Post a Comment