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Your Ramadan Uniform | Khutbah
Imagine if Ramadan came with a uniform. Just like the attitude of the Ihram for Umrah or Hajj, the fasting of Ramadan has been likened to a shield.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in their blessed path until the day of judgment and we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. Dear brothers, if we can shift some over here, it's Ramadan, mashallah, and Juma packs up even in Ramadan as well. So, inshallah, if we can move some people here, that would be wonderful to accommodate all of those that are coming, especially to the back corner. So, I want to put you in an image and a realization that maybe many of us don't have in the moment. And it connects specifically to this experience of just coming back from Umrah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all the opportunity to do Hajj and Umrah and have it accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allahumma ameen. And you get to the miqat, you get to the station, obviously, when you're about to transition into the Umrah and the Hajj, and then you put on what is known as the ihram. You wear the two white cloths, the women wear the most basic of abayat, most basic of clothes, and then you make your way to Mecca. Now, I want you to imagine for a moment, if in Ramadan, you had to wear ihram for all 30 or 29 days. You had to go to work in ihram, you had to meet people in ihram, you're driving on the road in ihram, you went shopping in ihram, people would see you and they would think, what is going on with this person? Clearly, they're in some sort of state. You know, when you come across sometimes people in their religious garb, maybe in a place where it's not expected, in an airport, right? The way people probably feel when they see a thob and a turban in an airport, or you see a Buddhist monk, or you see a priest.
And imagine if you're walking around in ihram. How different the world would view you, and how different you would view the world in the moment. Now, here's the thing. Ihram is actually not the cloth, ihram is a state of being. Ihram means prohibited, it's a state of being, and the cloth is merely the maximum of what is allowable when you are in that state of prohibition. Meaning what? You're actually in a state of ihram in Ramadan in a different way. It's just not called ihram, but what it means is that there are temporary prohibitions of things that would otherwise be permissible for you to become more conscious of the blessings of Allah upon you, and the prohibitions that you undertake on a regular basis. So you're in a temporary state in which your permissible intake is forbidden, it is prohibited. And the only thing that's different about Ramadan right now in that regard is the set of prohibitions and the garment that you are allowed to wear. But just imagine if there was a Ramadan uniform for a moment. If you had something that you were wearing that indicated that you were in a state of fasting. And how different you would be when you're dealing with the world, and how much more conscious you would be. And subhanAllah, some of the wisdoms that the ulema mentioned for a non-physical identifying factor of Ramadan is that the goal of Ramadan is taqwa. The goal of Ramadan is God consciousness. It is to make you so aware of the unseen that you're thinking about His watching you at all times, no matter how noisy or how many eyes there are around you outside of His sight and His commands. It's an exercise of taqwa, of God consciousness, consciousness of an unseen God.
Therefore, there is no indication of any seen transition when you enter into this month because you're supposed to activate that in your mind and in your heart. Where you start thinking about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a way that while there is nothing physically restraining you from those things, there is something spiritual. You know, who knows what will be invented and what will be put on Amazon. I hope this isn't a business idea, right? But like if there was a fasting tracker reminder you're about to eat and something buzzes you, right? You don't have that in Ramadan. You have taqwa, you have an idea, you have a thought in your mind where you're proceeding with the world around you. And even though there is nothing physically that distinguishes you from outside of Ramadan and in those moments, it's all in here. You're thinking about Allah in a way, I can't do this right now, I would not dare do this right now, I would not violate my fast because that would cost me my Jannah. That's the mindset. Of course I'm not going to eat or drink. Of course I'm not going to indulge in these things because it's obviously haram and I don't even need the physical reminder in front of me that this is haram for me to engage. So the logic of both Hajj and Umrah is the same and that Allah temporarily suspends your permissible intake so that you could become more aware of your prohibited intake. But the idea is in Ramadan especially taqwa. fasting has been prescribed upon you the way that it was prescribed on every community that came before you so you could be more God conscious. You're more aware. It's an internal mechanism now by which you start to recognize things that you should and shouldn't do automatically. They become so much more natural to you. Fitri, which is an original inclination.
I want you to think for a moment, this was a reflection that I had on Umrah in particular and Hajj. When you're going from the station all the way to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage. At that point, it's amazing to see how everybody, no matter where their religiosity is, goes into this hyper conscious mode of making sure they don't do anything to violate their pilgrimage. So whether you're ultra religious or not religious, whatever that means, all those terms are relative. But I think you all get the point. That subhanAllah, at that point when you transition to Umrah, when you go into your Ihram, all the way to when you finish your pilgrimage. Suddenly, what's the mindset? Everyone's coming up. Sheikh, is this haram? Wait a minute. I accidentally washed my hands with soap. Is my Umrah gone? What do I have to do? Do I have to pay something now? I fell asleep and a little bit of my hair was exposed. Am I okay? I wore a shoe instead of a sandal. Am I okay? I ate this food. Am I okay? I took a shower. Am I okay? I had to do this. Am I okay? Suddenly, everybody is thinking about not compromising their pilgrimage. And they have this mindset. And let me tell you what's not happening in the Umrah. Is people are not sitting there and having these large philosophical discussions. You know, why did Allah make this haram and ihram and not this haram and ihram? What's the logic of this? And can you explain this from a logical perspective because I'm not going to do it unless it makes sense. No. Everyone is there because I paid my way to come here so I could go home forgiven by Allah. So my mindset is, I hear, I obey. I hear, I obey. Allah told me to do it this way. I'm going to do it this way. And my concern becomes not messing up my pilgrimage. Until the moment that I come out of ihram. And then it's my decision whether or not I want to make this a lifestyle change. Or this was just for the moment.
But imagine if we had that mindset in Ramadan. Because the consequence of your being here in this dunya relative to your overall existence is a greater consequence than the time that you go to Umrah or Hajj for a few weeks of your life compared to the rest of your life. Your lifespan here compared to your existence is a smaller window of opportunity than the few weeks that you would go to Mecca for Umrah or for Hajj. And you're so diligent in those moments. I don't want to mess it up. I don't want to do anything to compromise it. Because I have an opportunity for something amazing from Allah. There is no reward for it except for Jannah. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said in an authentic narration about Ramadan in Muslim Imam Ahmed that whoever fasts Ramadan, Iman and Wahtisaban, will be forgiven like the day that their mother gave birth to them. The same reward that we hear for Hajj. Forgiven for all of their sins. Imagine if you had that mindset all the time. That you know what? Allah said don't do it. I'm not going to go Google a way out because I don't do that in Umrah. I'm not going to go find my way out. Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told me that this is my way to Jannah. I hear and I obey and if Allah makes my heart tranquil by giving me some of the greater wisdom and the spirituality then I'm able to submit myself with greater love, with greater joy, with greater longing. But I'm not going to mess this up. And you know what else? When you're on that pilgrimage, there's no small infraction. Subhanallah. Everyone becomes hyper-mutakeen. Hyper-God conscious. Right? A little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of this. Did I mess up? Did I mess up? Did I mess up? And let me tell you what's not happening on the bus on the way to Umrah. Alhamdulillah, all the times I've been to Umrah and Hajj, I've never heard backbiting on a bus or on a train on the way to Mecca. I mean that would be pathetic. Right?
Imagine you have a few hours and people start gossiping and talking about people. No one does it. I don't hear people listening to music on the way to the Kaaba. Right? They now have these trains that go from Medina to Mecca and they put these entertainment systems on the train just like a plane. Alhamdulillah, till now I haven't seen anyone watching movies trying to catch up on the latest Hollywood release when they're on their way to the Kaaba. Because they understand, small window here. Small window. Don't violate this. I have to make sure I get this right. Now look at the Hadiths of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam particularly when he talks about fasting. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam referred to fasting as a shield. He said Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, As-saumu junna ma lam yakhriqha. Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he said fasting is a shield so long as you don't sabotage your own shield. You're walking around right now with a shield. The things that you might have been accustomed to, the small things, the little conversations, the cursing, what you're listening to, what you're seeing. You've got a shield right now. If someone comes at you in a way that typically outside of Ramadan you'd go right back at them. You say, inni saim, I'm fasting. Not now. I am fasting. And you hope that I am fasting, inni saim, in Ramadan becomes inni Muslim, I'm a Muslim outside of Ramadan. That the only thing that changes is the terminology outside of Ramadan because you become more aware of the shield that you're carrying. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave a logic particularly to fasting in regards to how it connects to our other acts of worship. He said in a hadith to Ka'ab ibn Ujja radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, qala ya Ka'ab, As-salatu burhana, prayer is a proof of your faith. As-salatu burhana, prayer is a proof of your faith. Was-saumu junna, and he said Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, fasting is a shield, hasina, it is a fortress that you build around yourself.
So prayer is a proof of your faith, and fasting is a protection of your faith. Because prayer at the end of the day is a temporary state that you enter into at times of the day. Fasting is a state that you are in from the morning to the evening. It's a protection of your faith. So you're keeping the gains that you gain from your prayer of consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There is no time that you're going to exert yourself more in consciousness of Allah than your salah, right, than your prayer. There is no time where you should be thinking more about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala than your prayer. Where it actually becomes sinful to let your thoughts wander intentionally about other than Him. So fasting, think of your prayer as the time where you're exerting yourself, where you're consciously thinking of Allah, filling yourself with that, you're not looking at your phone in prayer, you're not doing anything but thinking about Allah. Fasting now is how you protect that, it's when you put that shield around that faith. And he said, wasadaqah and charity, in this particular narration, tutfi'ul khati'ah. It extinguishes your sins the way that water extinguishes fire. Look at the logic here. Prayer is where you exert yourself and you prove your faith. You enter into the highest alertness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you have. Fasting is where you try to protect that. As if you were wearing a uniform, as if you were wearing an ihram that said, I am fasting, I'm trying to protect my Islam right now, I'm trying to protect my fasting, I'm not going to make myself lose this opportunity because I don't know if I'll have this Ramadan again. Because you know what, you can't pay for a trip to Ramadan next year. Allah knows if we're going to be here next year or not, Allah knows if we'll even make it through the end of this Ramadan. And then charity, tutfi'ul khati'ah. And the ulama mention here that charity extinguishes the way water extinguishes fire. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam mentioned the small sins. The small sins. Meaning what? As much as you exert yourself in God consciousness, you're going to forget sometimes.
And so that charity that you're constantly giving, the small charity that you're constantly giving, the small things that you're constantly doing, they are expiating those infractions that come along the way. And you start to see here, subhanAllah, the logic, the coherence between all of your acts of worship. All of them are to make you more conscious of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a way that the temporary becomes your permanent state. The temporary becomes your permanent state. So I want you to think insha'Allah ta'ala, as you're driving, as you go to work, as you move on with your life, as you're contemplating taking that next step to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What if you were in Ihram? What if you were in Ihram? Someone came up to you and said, brother, sister, you know, this actually violates the Ihram. What are you going to say? Leave me alone? No, you're going to say, oh, wow, all right, let me fix this. What if you were in Ihram right now? You are in Ihram, but you're in the Ramadan Ihram. You're not in the Ihram of Hajj or Umrah. And this is far more consequential to the rest of your life and to your existence. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to develop that shield, to develop that God consciousness, to where even when we can't feel a new cloth on us, we feel the garment of taqwa that Allah talks about, the garment of God consciousness upon us. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow our concern for His pleasure to overcome all of the temporary pleasures that we seek on a daily basis. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow our fear of His punishment to stop us from doing anything that is blameworthy or out of fear of being punished or being in a disadvantage in anything that is worldly or material. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us forgiveness and grant us Jannah in this month. Allahuma ameen. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.
May Allah grant us forgiveness and grant us Jannah. wa ita'a lil qurba wa yanhaa ʿan al-fahshaʿi wa al-munkari wa al-baghi. Yaʿidukum laʿlakum tazakkarūn. Fathkurullahi yathkurukum wa shkuruhu ʿan al-ni'ma yazid lakum. Wala dhikru allahi akbar. Wallahi ya'nou ma tasnaʿūn wa aqim al-ṣalātu wa al-mulk.
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