MSH.20 AUG 2010.KHUTBAH.FINAL.ENG.wait video

The Bounties of Fasting Ramadan
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
20 August 2010     Burton, Michigan
Jumu`ah Khutbah     As-Siddiq Institute & Mosque (ASIM)

شهر رمضان أوله رحمة وأوسطه مغفرة وآخـــره عـــتق من النــــار
Shahr Ramadan awalahu rahmat wa awsatahu maghfira wa akhirahu itqan min an-neeraan
The first (ten days) is Allah's mercy, the second (ten days) is Allah's forgiveness, and the last (ten days) is salvation from the Fire.

An-nadhaafatu min al-imaan.
Cleanliness is from faith.

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani´r-rajeem, bismillahi´r-Rahmaani´r-Raheem. Alhamdulillah...man yahdillah fa mudilla lah.. wa ashadu an laa ilaha illaAllah ...wa ashadu anna Muhammad abduhu wa habeebahu wa rasooluh...ridwan allahi ta`la alayhim ajma`een. Bismillahir...shahru ramadan alladhee unzil feehi al-quran ...ayyaamin ukhar wa qaala ta`ala fee kitabihil-kareem: ya ayyuhalladheena aamnoo kutib alaykum as-siyam kama kutiba ala alladhean...

O Believers! The order for fasting in Ramadan came when the Prophet (s) migrated to Madinatu 'l-Munawwara. And as Allah (swt) wrote it for other people to fast, Ahlu 'l-Kitaab, "People of the Book (Jews and Christians), "As it was ordered for those before you to fast, you are also under that order to fast." And also it is one of the five pillars of Islam. Not fasting without an excuse takes one to the Hellfire. Allah (swt) gave a rukhsah that while traveling or sick, you don't need to fast. As narrated by `AbdAllah ibn `Umar (r), Prophet (s) said:

as-siyam wal Qur'an yashfi`an yawm al-Qiyamah.
The Qur'an and fasting will intercede with Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgment.

Ay yaa Rabbu, man`atauhu an it-ta`m wash-sharaab feen-nahaar.
O Lord! You prevented him from food and drink during the day, so let me intercede for him.

So those who fast their whole lives and who are in their homes, Ramadan will intercede for them on the Day of Judgment. And Prophet (s) said on behalf of Allah (swt):

Fasting is for Me, while salaat is for you, and no one knows what I will reward the one who fasts.

Salaat is written for you, but fasting is for Allah (swt). So if He says that for a fasting person, do you think He will reject the intercession of Ramadan for a fasting person? So Prophet (s) said, those who stopped eating and drinking in daytime, Ramadan intercedes for their sins. And for those trying their best to read Qur'an, it will intercede. Man`athu feen-nawm fashi`nee feeh, "I was keeping him awake at night so let me intercede for him," as most people read Qur'an at night and that is a good time to read it. And so the Holy Qur'an will intercede, as narrated by Ahmad (r) and Ibn Umamah (r):

I came to the Prophet, faqultu murnee bi `amalin yadkhulanee al-Jannah, order me something to enter Paradise.

So why are people not doing good in this life, to make Allah (swt) happy with them?

So he said, "O Prophet! Give me something that makes me enter Paradise." Prophet (s) said, Qala `alayk bis-sawm...."Fast, as there is nothing heavier than that in the balance, so fast and you will enter Paradise." So I came a second time and asked a second time, and Prophet (s) said, `alayk bis-sawm, "Fast and you will enter Paradise."

Hakim Abu Sa`eed (r) said that Prophet (s) said, la yasoomu abdan fee sabeelillah illa ba`d dhaalik `abd an-naar saba`een khareefah, "If a servant of Allah fasts

one day for Allah's sake, then Allah will make Hellfire away from him for 70 years."

 

So if you fast two days, 140 years of Hellfire is away, three days, 180 years. And there is a door to Paradise called "Rayyaan," which can suck the beautiful rewards to the believer. And on the Day of Judgment a voice will come when everyone is shivering from what they did, and say, "Where are those who are fasting?" And today there are many people in our countries who are not fasting anymore. They say, "Oh, you are old-fashioned, old-style." People don't care. And if you ask them, "Are you fasting?" they say,"We didn't fast for many years, ten years." It doesn't matter; now you got guidance, so calculate how many days fast to make up or to pay for food for the poor, don't leave that matter unattended until you are near death!

We used to fast when we are five or six years old; we used to cheat and take water from the tap and put it on our face because we were young. And when they were fasting on very hot days, Prophet (s) used to put water on his head. That time the temperature was 50 centigrade and that voice calls, "Where are those who are fasting Ramadan? Inna lil-jannati babun yuqaal lahu Rayyaan. Yaqul ayn as-saimoon.

 

So before judgement on anyone, the intercession of fasting comes until all of them enter Paradise, then that door is locked and no one else can enter that door. Bushra lana ya ma`ashar al-islam inna lana ruknun ghayr munhadimi. "Good tidings to the people of Islam." Islam is one thing and Muslims are something else. From the blessing of our fasts, we have something we can lean on; we can lean on Islam and Allah (swt) will save us. None other than Islam can save you!

 

And it is said, in that verse, Imam Busayri (q) meant "the presence of Prophet," as we are his ummah which, with his shafa`ah, we enter Paradise. So Ramadan is a fasting month and there are three different obligations, al-furood. First, sawmu Ramadan wa sawm al-kaffaaraat wa sawm an-nadhr, "Fasting what is Ramadan and then making up." And when those people nadhr, vow, to fast they have to make up those days.

Lama hadar Ramadan qala an-nabi qad ja'kum shahrun mubarakun. We are coming now to ten days of holy Ramadan. That is a heavenly baraqah month that came to you now, and Allah ordered you to fast. On the third night of Sha`baan in the second year of Hijri, the order came to Sahaabah (r) to fast. "You have to fast its day, and the door of Paradise is opened and the door of Hell is closed, and all shaytans will be chained in that month, and Iblees is chained. And there is in it a night better than one-thousand nights."

Who did not feel that night of Laylat al-Qadr, it means he was forbidden from many blessings. Try to stay up in that night in order to receive those blessings, for that night is better than one-thousand months, then if you worship all that night it is as if you worshipped a thousand months!

Laylat ul-Qadri khayru min alfi shahr.
The night of al-Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months.  (Al-Qadr, 97:3)

And in that month there are a lot of good tidings, and we will continue in the next Jumu`ah about them.

(Salawat and du`a.)