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 his blessed path until the day of judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahuma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, rather than talking about the month of Sha'ban and its virtues as we have entered into it, I wanted to address an attitude that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sees in some of his servants that particularly comes out in the month of Sha'ban and other times that people neglect. And so this isn't a khutbah just about Sha'ban, but about a particular mindset of being at the right place at the right time and what that means in terms of your relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Being at the right place at the right time. Here you are, masha'Allah, in Salat al-Jumu'ah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept it from each and every single person that is here. It is the right place and the right time. But I want to begin with this idea of a business deal. If a person is able to capitalize on a great opportunity from a worldly perspective, and indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself compares something as routine as Salat al-Jumu'ah to a deal that is available to you that many people will not avail themselves of. When Allah azawajal compares those that pursue tijara, those that pursue a great business deal versus those that pursue a great spiritual deal by coming to Salat al-Jumu'ah.
You see someone that entered into a particular market at a particular time and they struck gold. They got in right at the beginning of a new trend. Everyone is trying to jump onto this trend now and buy into the stock. Everyone is trying to buy this particular type of business. Everyone is trying to invest now and you have those that got there first and they dominate the market share. And I want you to think about this because a lot of times people will say they just happen to be at the right place at the right time. They struck at the right time. But the reality is that success is never an accident or at least it rarely is. Sometimes there are people subhanAllah, they make every bad decision and then something happens for them and they get in. But for most people success is not an accident because at the bare minimum those people were paying attention to things that other people were not. Maybe they were just watching trends. Maybe they were reading articles obsessively. Maybe they were asking a lot of questions that people were not asking but they had an added alertness to them. An added level of attentiveness that allowed them to be at the right place at the right time. To gain something from a worldly perspective that they continue to reap the benefits of. Now here's the thing about the right place in the right time with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim says that from the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is that he has made his times and his places known to you. He's made his time and his places known to you. You know exactly when the best times are. You know the window that you need to be present. You know the place that you need to be present. You know the reward of coming earlier. You know the reward of doing more. Allah in his excellence to you, in his ihsan to you doesn't leave you guessing.
He gives you very limited windows and times that have unlimited mercy in terms of their potential. And the most in terms of variance you're going to see is for example the last 10 nights of Ramadan. But I think we can all agree that for a lifetime of good deeds having 10 nights to exert ourselves in is a pretty good deal with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So from the mercy of Allah is that he lets you know what his places are and what his times are. Leaving to you only the decision to show up, to be present. And there is an element of coming early and there is an element of being present. Coming early, you know if you think of Sha'ban like practice and Ramadan like the game. Alright, if you don't show up to practice eventually that lack of practice is going to show up in the game as well. The lack of coordination, something is going to go wrong. The talent will give out. The equivalent of the talent might be your natural spirituality. Maybe you're a person who immediately gets into the zone in Ramadan. You read Quran right away, you get into the salah, you immediately embrace tarawih. But eventually the faultiness of you not having used the month of practice will show up. A lack of coordination at the bare minimum. So there is getting early and there is being present. Now I wanted to give this a tazkiyah checklist if you will. What does ihsan look like? What does excellence look like? When it comes to showing up at the right time at the right place. There are four things. Number one, it's doing while others are not doing. Doing while others are not doing. Number two, it's doing what isn't expected of you in your circumstances. Number three, it's doing more of what everybody else is doing. Number four, it's doing quicker and with more enthusiasm what everybody else is doing. So I'm going to break these down inshallah ta'ala.
But I wanted to give you the list of four things from the very beginning. What does it mean to have your time to shine in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? And where does sha'ban fall into this in terms of an attitude? The first one is doing while others are not doing. I'm going to use the ibadat, the acts of worship that are very familiar to us. Prayer. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam specifically said, صلوا بالليل والناس نيام. Pray at night while other people sleep. It's expected that people are going to pray five times a day. But when everybody else is sleeping, you have an opportunity to wake up and to pray and to distinguish yourself. And subhanallah you can imagine that at one point on the face of this earth, there were three people that were praying qiyam al-layl. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, his wife Khadija radiyallahu anha, and then his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. This is a famous narration. At one point on earth, imagine the angels going around that night looking for the people praying qiyam. There is only one household in the entire world that was reading the Quran at night. But now that it's all available to us, who are the people that wake up and pray while other people sleep? Who are the people that give when other people withhold? So there are moments of charity, avenues, where people will give of their time, give of their wealth, while other people withhold. And so they shine in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because they literally, I mean if you think about good deeds lighting up a room, there are people there that shine, right? As those that stand out from the rest, and what they're willing to give of their volunteerism, of what they're willing to do in terms of their time and their wealth, right? Because when Adam alayhi salam, as the scholars mentioned, looked at his children, there were lights that were shining.
One of them being the Prophet David, Dawud alayhi salam. There was a shining light, shimmering in the darkness. So your time to shine is giving when other people withhold. Your time to shine is fasting when other people don't traditionally fast. Subhanallah, you'll find a connection with all three of these things. The Prophet alayhi salam mentioning the angels celebrating the household, where someone is awake at night while other people are sleeping. The angels even calling from the gates of heaven, to the one that is giving, saying, اللهم أعطي منفقا خلفا, O Allah give to the one who gave. And he said, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, in another narration of Tirmidhi, that when someone fasts while other people are eating around them, this is not talking about Ramadan per se, right? Usually this is talking about a voluntary fast. When someone fasts while other people around them are eating, the angels keep on praying on that person until they finish their food. So they're getting their share of nutrition, you're getting your share of prayers from the angels upon you. Why? Because you're shining in that place. You're the one person that's fasting there. And the angels recognize that, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends the angels to give that a special recognition. So that's doing while other people are not doing. The second one is doing what isn't expected of you in your circumstances. So giving, وتخشى الفقر. You give even when you fear poverty. The Prophet alayhi salam said, it's so beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You forgive even when you're not expected to forgive. You pull back from an argument even when you have every right to get into an argument. تَرَكَ الْمِرَاءَ وَإِن كَانَ مُحِقًّا It's alright, let it go. You do what's not expected of you in your circumstances. Allah azza wa jalla looks at that, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, والله يحب المحسنين. Allah loves those people, right? They do even what's not expected of them, so they shine there. No one expected you to give at that point. No one expected you to forgive.
No one expected you to exert yourself. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saw what you did there. The third thing is doing more of what others are doing. So this is a quantitative element of shining. Everybody's doing the same thing, but some people are doing more of it. Okay? So when it comes to prayer, there are نوافل. There are voluntary prayers. The gate of salah to paradise, the gate of prayer to paradise, is not meant for those who pray five times a day, you know, particularly. It's for those who add to that, right? They do more of it. Those who will enter through باب الريان are not just the people that fast in Ramadan. The gate of ريان, of paradise, is the gate of fasting. It's for those people that especially fast. So everybody fasts, but they fast more, right? So they have a specific gate. That's not just for people of Ramadan. Or those that give extra charity. باب الصدقة, the gate of charity, to الجنة, is not the gate of zakah. It's not just the gate of paying your mandatory charity. It's those people that give extra charity, and they exert themselves. So doing more of what everybody else is doing. And the fourth one is doing quicker, and with more enthusiasm, what others are doing. So it has a qualitative element to it. A qualitative element to it. Part of that is the hastening to what others are lazy towards. So I give people the spectrum, right? Not me giving it. We find it from the Prophet ﷺ's prayer to the prayer of the hypocrites. The Prophet ﷺ was described that when the time of prayer came, وَثَبَى, he jumped up like a lion. صلى الله عليه وسلم. I mean, he jumped out of his bed. عائشة رضي الله عنها saying that he was so present at home, but once the call for prayer happened, as if he didn't even know us anymore. صلى الله عليه وسلم. Enthusiastic.
So ready for the prayer at all times. Like the adhan immediately triggered that response. A very predictable response from the Prophet ﷺ. That's وَثَبَى. Now, in the same prayer, there are the hypocrites. But قَامُوا كُسَالَة. When they got up for prayer, they got up so lazy, wudu' was improper. Like, ah! Just pulled themselves to it. They dragged their feet to it. All of us are somewhere between وَثَبَى and قَامُوا كُسَالَة. Somewhere in that spectrum, we fall. Between jumping up like the Prophet ﷺ and dragging our feet like a hypocrite. May Allah protect us from hypocrisy and allow us to strive to be more like our Prophet ﷺ. So it's a qualitative element too. And Allah sees that. Allah sees the prepared heart. Allah sees that excitement from a person. The Prophet ﷺ mentioning within the Jama'ah, he said ﷺ, لو يعلمون ما في الصف الأول لكانت قرعة. If they knew the blessing of the first row, they would have cast lots for it. If they knew what it meant to be from أصحاب الصف الأول. May Allah ﷻ allow us to strive to be from أصحاب الصف الأول, the people of the first row. اللهم آمين. And that doesn't mean jumping over people and getting to the first row. That means getting early to the salah. Something we can strive for. There's a qualitative element to that. And being there quickly, looking for Allah ﷻ. And there are so many examples, Salatul Jumu'ah being one of them. The Prophet ﷺ saying, the one who came in the first hour, then the one who came in the second hour, then the one who came in the third hour. And he's paralleling to that a specific reward. So those that came first, got the greater reward. Those that came second, got the lesser reward, and so on and so forth. Now, what does this have to do with Sha'ban? The month of Sha'ban. And I said at the outset for a reason. Just like Ramadan, by the way, appeals to a particular heart,
Sha'ban appeals to a particular mindset. Usab ibn Zayd, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, narrates as well as Aisha, radiyallahu ta'ala anha, that there was no month that we would see the Prophet ﷺ fasting outside of Ramadan as much as Sha'ban. It was as if he was connecting them ﷺ. You know, they say that a perfect practice is the closest you'll get to a perfect performance. Right? Like, to see him ﷺ fasting all of Sha'ban to a point that you could count on one hand, perhaps, what the Prophet ﷺ might not have fasted in the month of Sha'ban, is inspiring. But here's the thing. There's not a single khutbah where the Prophet ﷺ is pushing the community to it the way that he was fasting it ﷺ. Here's where the narration continues and it gets very interesting. They asked the Prophet ﷺ and he said, ذلك شهر يغفل الناس عنه بين رجب ورمضان. That's a month that people become heedless in regards to. They neglect it. Because it's between the sacred month of Rajab and the greatest month of Ramadan. So people toss it to the side. And he said ﷺ, ترفع فيه الأعمال إلى رب العالمين فأحب أن يرفع عملي وأنا صائم. And also the deeds are presented to Allah in this month. And I like that my deeds are presented to Allah when I'm in a state of fasting. But the first reason he gives ﷺ is the interesting one. The particular one of this khutbah. It's a time of ghaflah. It's actually a time of heedlessness. It's a time where most people are not taking their particular journey to Allah ﷻ seriously. It's a time that you rarely find people exerting themselves in these good deeds. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying, that's the best time to shine. That's the best time to stand out.
When other people aren't paying attention, that's when you pay extra attention. Because you stand out amongst the crowd at that point. And Abu Bakr al-Razi, رحمه الله, commented, قال ما أقبح الغفلة عن طاعتي من لا يغفل عن برك وما أقبح الغفلة عن ذكري من لا يغفل عن ذكرك He said, رضي الله عنه, ما أقبح الغفلة How repulsive is heedlessness. عن طاعتي من لا يغفل عن برك A person who becomes heedless in regards to the worship of the One who never stops showing you kindness. And he said, وما أقبح الغفلة And how repulsive is heedlessness. عن ذكري من لا يغفل عن ذكرك How repulsive is heedlessness in regards to remembering the One who never forgets you. غفلة can be sinful. Heedlessness can be sinful. And sometimes it can just be complacency. But what we should be doing in this month is competing for Allah's pleasure when most people are not even paying attention to it. And that's something you have to ask yourself. How can I push myself to do something that other people are waiting for Ramadan to do? How do I exert myself now as practice for Ramadan but also in honoring a particular time that other people are not honoring? As Ibn al-Jawzi said, Ramadan is a time where everyone does ibadah. But your ibadah in Sha'ban is a time where you really show that you want the rida of Allah. You want the pleasure of your Lord. And this was a mindset of the companions. So for example, one of the narrations, some of the companions كانوا يستحبون إحياء ما بين العشاءين بالصلاة. They used to love to worship between the two isha'as, the two night prayers. What are the two night prayers? Maghrib and isha'a in hadith literature. So they would stay in the masjid between maghrib and isha'a, this group of companions. Because they said, most people go home and come back for isha'a.
Let's see if we can take advantage of this time. And the Prophet ﷺ coming out so proud of those young men that came to the masjid and they stayed between maghrib and isha'a, worshipping Allah ﷻ until the next salah. Because they said, that's the time where people become heedless. That's my time to shine. When you go to the marketplace, the best dua'a that you can find, or one of the best duas, is dua'a al-suq, the dua'a of the marketplace. Why? Because most people are not thinking about supplication when they walk into the marketplace. Try it next time you go on amazon.com, right? Your mind is in a different place when you start looking at things in your shopping. And for you to remember Allah at that point, here's a million good deeds for you instead of whatever it is that you're going to get from this particular shopping. Now, the Qur'an in particular. Ramadan is shahrul Qur'an. Ramadan is the month of Qur'an. But do you know what the tabi'een, what the righteous generation used to call sha'ban? They used to call it shahrul qurra, the month of the reciters. So they called shahrul Ramadan, shahrul Qur'an, the month of Ramadan, the month of Qur'an, and they called the month of sha'ban, shahrul qurra, the month of the reciters. Because only the reciters recite in sha'ban. And if you could practically say to yourself, I expect to recite this much in Ramadan, I'm going to do half of that in sha'ban. Or even a fourth. But I'm going to start carving out this time every day, and I'm going to read this many pages. And in Ramadan, I expect to make this times two. Or times whatever. This is your opportunity to shine, and your opportunity to put yourself forward. And finally, as Al-Hafidh ibn Rajab, rahimahullah, said, that part of this is also the qualitative element, trying to hide your good deeds. Ihsan, excellence. In Ramadan, everyone is fasting, everyone's praying, there's a public virtue here. In sha'ban, he says that the sahaba,
the salaf, the righteous predecessors, what they would do is, they would try to hide their fasting in sha'ban. And that's one of the wisdoms perhaps, that the narrations about the Prophet's, fasting all of sha'ban, only come from his family. They only come from Aisha, Usama ibn Zaid, and the people that were in his household, salallahu alayhi wasalam. And so Ibn Mas'ud, radiyaAllahu anhu, said, if you are fasting, he said, if you wake up and you're fasting in sha'ban, go out looking fresh, you know, have your cologne on, have your perfume on, whatever it is, don't let people in on it. Because that's the qualitative element as well, is that I'm trying to shine with some of these secret deeds that only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will know about. Because these are not times that the public expects certain good deeds of you. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to shine when we do what others are doing, and when we do what no one else is doing, and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to drive our hearts, our thoughts, our limbs to please him in sha'ban, and to please him in Ramadan, and to attain his special reward in his special times and places, and to never be deprived of his always special mercy. Allahuma ameen. Alhamdulillah wa salatu was salamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man walah. Allahuma khfirl al mu'mineen wa al mu'minat wa al muslimin wa al muslimat, al ahya'i minhum wa al amwat, innaka sami'un qareebun wujibu al di'awat. Allahuma khfirlana wa rahamna wa a'fu anna wa la tu'adhibna. Rabbana dhalamna anfusana wa innama takhfirlana wa tarhamna lanakunana min al khasireen. Allahuma innaka a'fuun kareemun tuhibbu al a'fu wa fa'afu anna. Allahuma khfirli walideena, rabbirhamhuma kama rabbuna sigara. Rabbana hablana min azwadina wa dhuriyatina qurra ta'ayun, waj'alna lilmuttaqina imama. Allahuma nsul ikhwanina al mustad'afina fi masharik al ardi wa magharibiha.
Allahuma izzal al islam wa al muslimin wa adhillal shirk wa al kadhibin wa dammir a'da al deen. Allahuma ahlik al dhalimeen wa bi dhalimeen wa akhrijna wa ikhwanna min baynihim salimeen. Al Fatiha.
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