Rabu, 29 Ogos 2012

Will you be a better Muslim after Ramadan? - Yasir Qadhi

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Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) says in the Qur'an that this Qur'an contains in it your ruh.  The Qur'an is called your ruh because when you follow the Qur'an, you become alive again.  The Qur'an is called your nur.  In the first khatirah I gave, we talked about Surat'l-Baqarah and mentioned the motif of light and how Allah describes the Qur'an, Islam, and hidayah as light.  All of this goes back to light and life is what we need to live.  Our Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) felt the hilawah in worshipping Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) and knew what it meant to worship Allah.  That is why when a problem happened to him, what did he do?  Aishah tells us, “If something gave him problems…”
Before I finish the hadith, let me ask a question to me and you.  When you have a bad day at work, when you have an argument with your wife, when you have a problem with your kids, how do you relax yourself?  Let's be honest here.  Most of us turn on the Shaytan, which is called the waster of time.  It is one of the biggest ways we relax ourselves, or we may surf the net or check Facebook statuses or what not.  We think this will calm us down.
Aishah says, “If something caused him any problems, he would immediately rush to the salah.”  Why?  He realized re-establishing the connection with Allah will calm you down.  That is what will bring about peace.  This is why when it was time for the salah and if Bilal was a little late, he would say, “Bilal, where are you?  We want the pleasure of salah!  Give us the sweetness of the relationship with Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He)!”
One of the signs of Allah having accepted a good deed, as our scholars of the past say, is that you are better after the deed than before it.  If you go for Hajj, you better come back changed, or else your Hajj is useless. 
Those of us who were not reading the Qur'an read a little bit in Ramadan.  Okay, khalas, you cannot read a juz a day, but read a page a day, two pages a day, half a page a day.  Have some daily relationship with the book of Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He).  This is your breakfast, brothers and sisters.  Your real breakfast is reading the Qur'an.  If you don't have your breakfast, you can't function.  If you don't read Qur'an every day, then your soul will not have its food.  Have some breakfast.  Have something to do with the Qur'an.
Brothers and sisters, the real halaawah is the halaawah of iman.  Al-Hasan al-Basri raḥimahullāh (may Allāh have mercy upon him), the famous ascetic, said, “You seek pleasure? You seek happiness?  You will only find it in one of three things, and if you don't find it in three things, then know that the door of happiness has been shut for you, and you are not going to find it anywhere else.  1 – salah, 2 – qira'at'l-Qur'an, 3 – dhikrullah.”  This is where you find happiness:  salah, Qur'an, dhikr.  If you are not going to find happiness in these three things, you are not going to find it anywhere else.
Brothers and sisters, prayer, salah, dhikr, Qur'an, recitation, being with the Muslims and the brotherhood, realizing we are an ummah – you and I both know that when we go to work and are the only Muslim there, you feel lonely and cut off.  With the community, you feel alive.  Every single day, 500 Muslims gathering to worship Allah is all gone now.  It's not going to remain, but why should your attachment to the masjid be cut off?  The masjid is so packed that people are standing and parking lots have a problem and come Eid and the day after Eid, we have two rows for prayer.  Why?  You are all living in the same city.  You are all close to the masjid.  Why should it be that the tilawah is heard every day and as soon as Ramadan is over, the Qur'an begins to gather dust until the next Ramadan?  What type of attitude is this when Allah has gifted us a Ramadan and allowed us to taste iman?  Let us continue that taste every day, every week, every month.  Look at every door of good, whether it be ibadah, qira'ah, dhikr, sadaqah, and every one of us say, “Insha'Allah, a little bit more.”  Not to the extent of Ramadan – we can't do that.  Just a little bit more. Whatever Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) has allowed us to do.  When you make the intention and take the step, Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) will make it easy.  The Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said, “Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) says, 'Whoever walks toward Me one step, I walk towards him ten.  Whoever comes to Me walking, I come to him running.”  This is the beauty of Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He).  This is the majesty of Allah.  You show the intention and try whatever you can and Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) will bless us with the rest.



2 ulasan:

  1. syukran for this sharing..alhamdulilah ..now i know it..tq sis.

    BalasPadam
  2. i like reading your blog for all these good reminders. And I also like to see the results of your sewing. TQ! Eleena

    BalasPadam