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Jamaat Ahmadiyya al Mouslemeen Friday Sermon of Hazrat Amirul Momeneen Zafrullah Domun 13 August 2010 At
Bait-ul-Rahma Mosque
After reciting the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter of Al Fatiha Imam Zafrullah Domun said:
As I said last week for Mauritius we started fasting yesterday by the Grace of Allah. Once again in our lifetime, Allah out of His Infinite Mercy has allowed us to witness the holy month of Ramadan, the month full of all sorts of blessings, the spring of the believers, as some have said. Let us hope and pray that all of us and all Muslims around the world would know how to profit from all the blessings that Ramadan has to offer. Hadiths books are full of many hadiths which speak about the innumerable blessings that are found in this month. We will talk about some of those blessings today with the hope that all our members will think about them and try to direct their efforts to their achievement. Once on the last day of the month of Shabaan, that is the month preceding Ramadan, Hazrat Mohammad saw mounted the pulpit and spoke lengthily about most of the blessings and characteristics of this blessed month. In view of the importance of this hadith and despite the fact that you might have heard it repeated many times, I like to remind our brothers and sisters and specially our young ones about it so that they might keep it in view during the whole month. First of all the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw said that the month that was coming was full of blessings. The Arabic word used is mobarak. Hence in this month there are blessings that are not found in the other months of the year. Most of us would have noticed that as soon as the moon of the month of Ramadan appears and it is known that we should be fasting by the next day we start feeling elation, a joy in our heart. We are motivated to abandon all futile pursuits and concentrate upon reading prayers on time at the mosque, reading the Holy Quran, protecting ourselves from all sorts of sins. This change of heart is I believe due mostly to the opening of the gates of Paradise and the locking of the gates of hell and the chaining of Satan. If we are honest with ourselves we are bound to say that we do not have such feelings at any other time of the year. Amongst its many blessings what is most important is that the arrival of this month inclines the believers’ hearts towards acts of worship, towards abandoning all evil pursuits and towards doing good to others. Furthermore the Holy Prophet said that this month is full of blessings because in it there is the night of Destiny which is greater than a thousand months. From other hadiths we understand all the blessings that are associated with this particular night which is usually found in the last ten days of the month of Ramadan. Incha Allah we may speak about this in a later sermon. Then the Holy Prophet tells us that Allah has made it obligatory for us to fast during the day in this whole month. It means that it is incumbent upon all adult Muslims to stay without food and drink and refrain from sexual intercourse during the day. However those who are sick and those who are travelling should fast the same number of days later on. But for those who cannot fast at all due to chronic illness or other types of infirmity Allah has allowed them expiation- to feed a poor person. From the Holy Quran we understand, as I said last week that the purpose of fasting is to become righteous. Now most of us are fully aware that just by remaining without food and drink and sex we do not become righteous. To become righteous one needs to live one’s life in obedience to the commandments of Allah and to the accepted Sunna of His Prophet Mohammad saw. We should all bear this in mind. Through our fasts we should strive to become righteous. If that aim is not there then we are imposing these physical hardships on us for nothing. We do not fast because we have excess weight although the shedding of excess fat might be an additional blessing of fasting. Similarly we do not fast because we want to look good although that might be a consequence of our fast, an additional blessing. But the most important blessing that we should be seeking when we fast is to become a god-fearing person. If by the end of the month our level of God-fearingness is not more than what it was when we started fasting then we might have received other benefits from fasting but not its main one. Members should reflect upon what I am saying and not take it lightly. If a Muslim spends his time on Eid day watching immoral films he has not achieved the purpose of his fast. If a Muslim spends Eid day speaking ill of others he has still not achieved the objective of his fasts. Similarly whatever we do after Ramadan or during Ramadan which shows a lack of God-fearingness on our part shows that we have not achieved the purpose of our fasting during the month of Ramadan. So as from now we should be fully determined to become those good Muslims of which the Holy Prophet should be proud of on the day of resurrection and of whom Allah will be pleased and we should strive to get a large measure of God-fearingness through fasting. The next thing that the Holy Prophet saw says in the Hadith under discussion goes a long way to help us to get a large measure of God-fearingness. He says
“….and steadfastly observing its nights in worships is a voluntary act. Whoever undertakes an act of obedience to Allah during this month with a righteous deed, it is as if he has performed an obligatory act at other times; and whoever performs an obligatory act during it is as one who performed seventy obligations at other times…”
Muslims are encouraged to observe the night in voluntary acts of worship. The words used is “qiyaam ul layl” which means “standing up during the night”. Fasting is obligatory but standing up praying during the night is voluntary. But we understand that these voluntary worship during the month of Ramadan are equivalent in reward to obligatory worship during other months of the year. Hence the sincere Muslim who wishes to get a large portion of blessings will do his best to fill his nights with voluntary worship because he knows that he would be amply rewarded.
Then the Holy Prophetsaw tells us that
“It is the month of patience, and the reward for patience is Paradise.”
Because of the hardships that the Muslim has to bear he has to show plenty
of patience. To begin with by midday or even earlier a fasting person
will start feeling the pangs of hunger and thirst. He feels very
uncomfortable. If in addition he has headache he would be very miserable.
In Mauritius these days we are in winter and the outside temperature
hovers around 22 degrees Celsius. So in such an environment fasting is
quite easy for those who work in offices. But in countries where the
temperature hovers above 40 degrees Celsius, you can just imagine the
condition of those who are fasting. If one is not equipped with an
important dose of patience it would be very difficult to fast. Furthermore
for those people who are engaged in hard physical labour it is very
difficult to fast unless one is endowed with lots of patience. But all
these would not be in vain because the Holy prophet says” the reward of
patience will be paradise”. Patience is a quality that one has to develop
in oneself with the help of Allah. We are not born with it. Sometimes we
go through some life experiences that force us to be patient. But there is
nothing better than it to cope with life’s problems. Most probably that is
why in this month of Ramadan particularly we have the opportunity to
develop this marvelous quality in ourselves so that it might serve us to
cope with our life. The Holy Prophet then says “It is the month of goodwill, during which provisions are multiplied.” Definitely we see that during Ramadan we see a lot of giving and sharing. Due to this there is an increase in provisions for all. Similarly since we do not take any food during the day some of our provisions are saved. Since we have more, we share it with those who do not have enough and this increases goodwill amongst Muslims. Then the Holy Prophet says:
“Whoever feeds a fasting person will be compensated with forgiveness of sins and salvation of his soul from Hell. He will also receive a reward equal to that of the person he feeds, without causing him any reduction (in his good deeds).” (The Companions) said: “Not all of us can find something to feed a fasting person.”
The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Allah gives this reward to whoever feeds a fasting person even with just a taste of milk or dates, or a drink of water. Whoever quenches the thirst of a fasting person, Allah the Almighty makes him drink from my pond such that he will never feel thirsty again until he enters Paradise.”
Here we understand the importance of feeding another person. If those who have means feed those who do not have or those who are fasting , they will get remission for their sins besides many other rewards as mentioned in this Hadith and in many verses of the Holy Quran. We understand from this hadith that there are great blessings in giving food or drink to a fasting person to break his fast. On this score we should say that this practice is quite widespread amongst the Muslims. The Holy Prophetsaw then advises us that each ten day period of Ramadan is characterized by something. The first ten days is mercy, its middle is forgiveness and the end is emancipation from Hell. We understand this to mean that during the first ten days Allah manifests His Mercy , during the second ten days He manifest His forgiveness and during the last ten days He gives protection against Hell. So the good Muslim should do his best to profit from all these manifestations of Allah to the full. In other words he should strive to do everything he can to get a large measure of Allah’s Mercy, Forgiveness and His protection from the fire of hell. In the end the Holy Prophet said that during this month a
Muslim “should display four characteristics to a great extent; with two of which you will please your Lord, and two
you cannot dispense with. The two with which you will please your Lord are
to testify that there is no one deserving of worship except Allah, and to
seek His forgiveness; whereas the two which you cannot dispense with are
that you beseech Allah to place you in Paradise and that you seek refuge
with Him from Hell.” [Related by Ibn Khuzaymah and
AlBayhaqi]. So this is the month in which we should constantly
recite “Laa ilaha illallaho” and “astaghfiroullah” and in
our own words ask Allah to grant us His Paradise and to protect us from
Hell. I hope all our members will have a fair idea of what
they need to do to fill their days and nights during the month of Ramadan
with all sorts of blessings. May Allah enable each one amongst us to fast
in such a way that He is pleased with us and He will admit us amongst His
Chosen Servants. Ameen Since the beginning of the month of August Pakistan has been most severely hit with floods that are unique during the past 80 years. I got the opportunity to see some tv and YouTube footage of the damage. Up till now (at the time of writing) the authorities have not been able to assess the extent of the damage. But over huge areas crops, houses and animals are gone. More than 1500 people have died and about 14 million people are affected by the flood. More than 300,000 houses have been destroyed. The damage to the infrastructure is enormous. The scale of the disaster is so huge that it has overwhelmed the coping capacities of the nation. One should be heartless not to be moved by this human tragedy. Let us avail ourselves of the month of Ramadan to pray that Allah intervenes to help these people to cope with this terrible situation. May Allah have mercy on them and on us all. |