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Today we are going to be taking sort of a detour from our general lecture series regarding the 40 Sahaba or the 40 Hadith regarding the Sahaba radiallahu ta'alaihum. And starting today, Inshaallah, for the next three Mondays till the month of Ramadan, we'll be talking about the spiritual dimension of Ramadan, the spiritual aspect of Ramadan. And inshaallah, the last Monday before Ramadan starts, we'll be going through all the fiqh regarding the month of Ramadan. Inshaallah. So these are just, you know, once again, this is all in preparation for the month of Ramadan. So starting off with today's lecture, if I ask you that what is the very first characteristic that is mentioned in the Quran that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us to develop, what is the very first characteristic that is mentioned in the Quran? If you begin with so fatiha and you continue into Surah Baqarah, what's the very first characteristic that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions? Taqwa. Okay, why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mention taqwa? Because taqwa is really the one thing that leads a person to always do the right thing. Okay? When it comes to shukr, a person who has taqwa will do shukr to Allah. A person who has wara, a person who has taqwa will apply wara in their life. A person who has haya is a person who have taqwa in their life. Taqwa is at the forefront. Once you have taqwa, then Allah, these things, they'll become easy for a person to develop in their life. That is why there is so much emphasis on taqwa and especially when it comes to Ramadan. Interestingly, all over the Quran, Allah says Allah mentions Salat, he mentions zakat. All he says is give your zakat. However, there's only one place in the Quran, only one place where Allah talks about Ramadan. He talks about fasting, and that is found in Surah al Baqarah and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The point is that when it comes to Allah, he. He has to. He mentions to us what are his expectations from us, and then we have to do the rest. So when Allah talks about Ramadan and he talks about fasting, what does he say in that same passage? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has two other expectations from us. He says, so when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he talks about fasting in general he says that hopefully I'm giving you the tools. Just like imagine if you went to Home Depot today and you got all the tools that you can get to build a nice house. But because you have no idea how to build a house, you'll put the wood beam here, you put the wood beam there. And the same tools that if a person, on the other hand, a person who's a contractor, a person who is in construction, if they took the same tools and they applied it the right way, they will have a beautiful home. Us, on the other hand, if we have no expertise, then I will have a disaster. Likewise, the point is, Allah is telling us, I'm giving you the tools. Now, if you apply the tools correctly, then then you will have something called what Taqwa. See, taqwa is not a guarantee. By the way, taqwa is not a guarantee that if you fast, you will get taqwa. Allah is telling us you have to fast correctly. You have to apply the month of Ramadan in the correct way. Then only then you will get taqwa. So the question is that, what is taqwa? And I'm sure that many of us, we understand that taqwa, by the way, comes the word, and it does not mean literally. It does not mean the fear of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Okay, this is a very misconception that taqwa means the fear of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta. That's not what it means. Taqwa means that you have the ability is almost like as if you have a shield. Is like a shield. You basically are protecting yourself from falling into the disobedience of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And as Umaru Khattab one time, he was sitting with Ubayy IBN Ka'b and he asks him that, what is taqwa? He asked him, what is taqwa? And he says that, have you ever walked on a thorny path? And he says, yes. He says, what would you do? He says, I will protect my clothes. He goes, that is exactly what taqwa is. Now, probably many of you have probably not got this opportunity to walk through a thorny path. Let me give you an example that you will understand very well. See, not long ago we had a snowstorm, right? You know, for probably one day we had snow, right? And what happened the next day when we had jummah, many people were coming for jummah. Now, as you were coming for jumu'ah and you're walking up to the masjid, what were you doing? You were looking at where the snow is and where there is no snow, right? So you're literally going here, there, making sure that you do not step anywhere where you could potentially slip. That is taqwa. That is what taqwa is for you to be careful. Because we are, we are trying to navigate a world, A world that is filled with the disobedience of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. A world that is taking us away from Allah and his prophet. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. This is where we have to navigate. It's not just a one way road. We're on this road. But then haram comes in our way and we have to go this way. And as we're going in this direction, haram will come in front of us. We have to now go in this direction. This is what our entire life is all about. To protect ourselves from the disobedience of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now, if you were to say that, what are the benefits of taqwa? Okay, if you are telling me that taqwa is so important, okay, then what do I get from applying taqwa in my life? And here's the thing that we need to understand, first of all is that if Allah told us to apply taqwa in our life and he says, I will not give you anything in return, would that be fair of Allah, yes or no? Yes. But Allah is telling us I'm demanding something from you, but in return, I'm willing to give you a whole lot. For example, what is that one thing that you and I, we love so much? We love to be respected. We want respect at home, we want respect outside. Right? Yes or no? Do you agree? Allah is telling us you want that honor, you want that respect, you want that nobility. Apply taqwa in your life. Next. One thing that we all also want is that we want blessings in our rizq. We want blessings in our sustenance. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says, if the people of the city were to believe in Allah and taqwa, they applied taqwa in their lives. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, we will open up upon them the barakahs of the skies and the earth upon them. So taqwa is that one thing, brothers and sisters, that today, you and I, we all want baraka in our rizq. Sustenance. Taqwa is the way to go. We all want success. Allah tells us, as I just recited in Satr Ishaqeena, the ones who have taqwa, they will attain ultimate success. We all want ease in our life. Yes or no, do we want ease or not? We all want ease in our life. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that whoever applies taqwa, Allah will make their affairs easy for them. We all want rizq from places where we cannot even possibly imagine. Allah the Almighty says, allah will give us rizq and sustenance from places we cannot even imagine. Allah says, you want the Quran. A lot of times we don't know what to do in life. You know how many times people come to me and say, I have no idea what to do? And that is a time when we need guidance from Allah. We need to know what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes those lines become very blurred to us. So Allah says in the Quran, all you people who believe, if you apply taqwa in your life, Allah will make the ways easy. He will help us differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. Allah will remove our sins. Allah will forgive us. Brothers and sisters, when it comes to taqwa, there are so many benefits of taqwa, so many benefits of taqwa, so why not apply taqwa in our life? Now the next thing that we find in the Quran is that what is the objective of Ramadan? Allah says, and what's beautiful about this ayah is Sheikh Sha'ramatullahi Alayhi, a great scholar of the past. He wrote that if you were to study the entire Qur'an, Allah uses the word Quran in many different places. But there are many other words in the Quran that are in reference to the Quran. For example, Allah says this azikar is in reference to the Quran. Okay? When Allah Subhan says this tanzir isn't what in reference to the Quran. So the question and Allah says in Surah Baqarah, he not say Quran. He never said that. He says now the question is that why did Allah says, why did he say like other places, he could have said, why mention Quran? Because it's beautiful. The word Quran means a book that is recited over and over again. This is what it means linguistically, a book that is recited over and over again. Hence this is Allah's way of hinting to us, sending a message to us that the month of Ramadan is a month wherein you recite the Quran. And the meaning of the word Quran is it is to be recited over and over again. Hence in the month of Ramadan, recite the Quran over and over again. You know, I'm not going to take the name of countries here, okay? But you know, there are many other places around the world. You will get a five night taraweeh, okay? You know what I'm talking about, okay? A six night taraweeh. Six nights. Go to one place all the way, you get through five duz every single night. Six nights, you're finished with the entire Quran. The rest of the month of Ramadan, they just relax and chill, okay? Because for them it's a quota, okay? For them it's a quota. I have to recite the Quran just one time from COVID to cover. And by the way, it's not just about reciting for them. They think that even if I sit down, if I sit behind someone or I stand behind someone, and if I listen to the entire Quran in six nights or in five nights and my legs will be tired, I have no idea what the Imam is reciting. The Imam does not even know what he's reciting, okay? That's the situation, okay? And in that situation, in that situation he feels like I have heard the Quran. It is equivalent to reading the Quran. And for the rest of the month they are cruise mode, okay? This is not what Ramadan is. This is not what Ramadan is. Ramadan is the month. Even if I, if I'm a fast reader, if I finish the entire Qur'an in seven days, then restart. Al Quran means a book that is recited over and over again. So this is what we need to achieve in the month of Ramadan. Now at the end of that ayah, what did Allah say? He says, you read Allah, you read to become an usr. Why did Allah give us Ramadan? So that we complete the days of Ramadan and you glorify Allah. So what happens is on the day of Eid, what do we do? We glorify Allah. And why did Allah do all this for us? So we are thankful to Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And why are we thankful to Allah? What am I being thankful to Allah for, brothers and sisters? I'm being thankful to Allah that he gave us another opportunity. Going back to the hadith of the Prophet, a very powerful hadith where two people came to the Prophet, they both converted to Islam, they both took their shahadas at the same time. One died in a battle, the other one dies a year later. The Sahabi says, I saw that this man who died not as a shaheed, who died one year later, he goes into Jannah before why it does not make sense. So he goes to the Prophet and he says, ya, Rasulullah makes sense. I mean, this is. It doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't register in my mind. So he says that didn't the person who was alive for one more year, did he not get another month of Ramadan? Did he not get another month of Ramadan? Subhanallah, how many people, you and I, we have performed salatul janaza here at this masjid. How many people have passed away? It may be for many of us, it may have been one of our parents, it may be one of our close friends, it may be one of our siblings. And Allah, he gave you and I another opportunity to utilize the month of Ramadan so we can make the best of the Akhirah. Because Subhanallah brothers and sisters, today we take this lightly. But in the hereafter, every single fast, I mean, think about the blessing of fasting in itself that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says regarding all the other Amal, Qur'an, Sadaqah, Zakat, Hajj, umrah, anything else, it does not matter. Only one deed. Allah says, this fasting is for me. No one is going to take that from him. Many ulamadi say that if you observe the hadith of the Muflis, you know the hadith of the Muflis, the bankrupt person, a person who violated other people's rights, everything will be taken away from them and other people's sins will be put on them. Many ulema, they say, based on this hadith, and this is once again their understanding of the hadith. When Allah says that fasting is for me, fasting is that one thing according to many ulema that will not be taken away from another human being. Everything else may be taken away. Your tilawa can be taken away. Your Sadaqah may be taken away. May Allah protect us from that. The umrah can be taken away. If there's one thing that will not be taken, it's the fasting of a person. Because. Because Allah says so. This is why. This is what we're thankful to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for. We are thankful to Allah that he gave us the opportunity to read the Quran, to connect with the Quran. We are thankful to Allah that he gave us ability to do his ibadah. When a person said to a scholar that I am not performing my salat, he thought as if he's harming Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala that scholar, what did he say? He says, this should Be worrying you that Allah has deprived you from the salat. Allah does not want you to get close to him, so he kept you far away from him. So, brothers and sisters, this is what we are thankful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for. And the third objective and the final objective that we find in this passage. Allah says, when they ask you about me, then I am very close. And once again, we find this often in the Quran. Whenever we find this, when the Sahaba radiallahu anhum would come to the Prophet, they would ask him a question. What did Allah say? What would Allah say? He says, yes, it always starts off yas aloo naka. Then O Muhammad saw, they're asking this question, say this every time. There is, yes, there is a at the end. But think about the process, the sahaba coming to the Prophet. The Prophet is making dua to Allah. Allah is responding to the Prophet, the Prophet is responding and telling the sahaba. It's a long process, right? Yes or no? Dua is one of those things that when Allah says, he not say faql ya Muhammad. Because had Allah said fakul, that process would have been a little longer. Allah is trying to show us when you make dua to Allah is between you and Allah and your duas go straight to Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the third objective of Ramadan. The first one is what taqwa. The second one is what shukr and the third one is rushd. Now we've talked about rushed before. Rushd is that guidance from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that wisdom that a person has, the farsightedness that a person has. And that is why they are known as the four sahaba. After the Prophet, they're known as Khulafa Rashidoon. Now, the question that many people may ask is that how does Ramadan and how does fasting? How does it. First of all, let me go back to taqwa for a moment. Someone can ask because I had a kid who came to me one time. He says, okay, I understand Ramadan is always about taqwa. But how does me staying hungry and thirsty, how does that apply taqwa in my life? How does that bring taqwa in my life? So here's the answer. See, for all of us, there is something called needs and wants. There's needs and wants. When it comes to a person committing haram, is it a need or they want to do it? It's a want. Food. Is it a need or is It a want. It's a need. Sleeping, is it a need or is it a want? It's a need. There are certain things in life that are considered as needs. But majority of the things that you and I, we do when we spend hours on social media, is that a need? Some people be like, no, it's a need. For me, it's not a need, okay? I need to sit on so I can be connected to the entire world, okay? There's other ways you can remain connected to the entire world by giving 10, 15 minutes, okay? But the point is that people spend hours and hours. Is that a need or a want? It's a want, okay? Everything that we do, there's a lot of things that we do. Majority things that we do are considered as wants. Allah is basically telling us, when I'm keeping you away from the things that are a need in your life, if I'm going to keep you away from the things that are a need in your life, then hopefully you will stay away from the things that are a want in your life, you understand? By doing, by staying away from the things that you absolutely need. If you can do that, then that means that you have the ability to stay away from the things that you want to do and it is harmful to you. This is how eating and staying away from eating and drinking applies Taqwa in our life. But now the question is, how does eating and drinking or staying away from eating and drinking and Ramadan and Quran and all this, how does this bring rushd in a person? How does it bring rushd in a person? Let me ask you a question. When you look at all the Khulafah Rashidun, do you all agree that they had discipline in their life? Do you all agree? Yes or no, they had discipline in their life, where does that discipline come from? From fasting, right? Yes or no, does that discipline come from fasting? You're with me so far. What is one characteristic that all the Khulafah Rashidun had? They had direction and they had wisdom, right? Yes or no? They knew what to do and they always had wisdom in all their approaches. Where do you get that wisdom in that direction? From the Quran. The Quran provides you a direction in life and it provides you wisdom when it comes to dependency, like you're being dependent on Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Do you agree that all the Khulafah Rashidun, one of the characteristics was that they're always dependent on Allah? Yes or no, do you agree? Did you have dinner or not? Okay. They had Dependency. Yes or no? Where did that dependency come from? Dua? Okay, when it comes to spirituality, do you agree that you all have spirituality? Where does that spirituality come from? Taqwa? When it comes to self accountability, one thing that we learned about our Khulafat Rashidun, they always had a self accountability. Where does that self accountability come from? Night prayers, Tahajjud. They would wake up and they would turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When it comes to sincerity, do you agree that they would have sincerity? Yes. Where does that sincerity come from? It comes from ikhlas. Everything. There are so many aspects. We talked about fasting is in Ramadan. We talked about Quran. It is in Ramadan. We talked about dua. It happens in Ramadan. We talked about taqwa. We're supposed to achieve taqwa in Ramadan. We're talking about night prayers and its impact, its positive impact. It happens when in the month of Ramadan. We talk about doing all these things for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's sincerity and that is ikhlas. This is where Rushd comes into a person. This is how Rushd comes into a person. They were the Khulafa rashidoon. But does that mean that you and I, we cannot be, we cannot be guided with Rushd? Of course we can. But today you and I, we don't have these kind of things. We don't have that sincerity, we lack that sincerity. We lack that dependency, we lack that taqwa. We lack that sincerity. We lack that discipline in our life. We lack that direction, that wisdom. Why? Because we don't utilize our Ramadan the right way. This is the connection between Ramadan and Rushd that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in the Quran. So this is why we apply these kind of things. Inshaallah. And once again we have to remind ourselves that what is Ramadan all about? It's about these three things. And what's beautiful about this entire passage, by the way. There's only. There's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. There's only six verses in this entire passage. Okay, there's only six passage. Six. Six verses in this entire passage. The last verse is Allah subhanallah gives a general ruling about something. But the five verses that relate to Ramadan, in the last one, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He provides a lot of akam. He says Allah subhan talks about when do you begin your fast? When do you end your fast. But what's beautiful about this ayah is Allah finishes this passage by saying what? Allah begins the passage by taqwa. Allah finishes the passage by taqwa. So taqwa is that one thing that we all need to develop now once again, Taq Taqwa is a journey of a lifetime. It takes a lot of time to develop that taqwa that is required from us, from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But we take every year we take baby steps. Every year we take baby steps and we try to use that to get through the entire year and we try to bring a positive change, a real life, a long lasting impact and change within our life. This is what Ramadan is all about. So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant all of us to apply taqwa. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us a tawfiq to utilize Ramadan in such a way, in the right way, in the prophetic way, in a way that is pleasing to Allah. So that we may inculcate, so that we may develop taqwa, so we may develop shukr, and so that we may develop rush in our life, I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant yes.