After Ramadan: Looking Forwards and Upwards

We praise Allah who has given us the ability to fast in the month of Ramadan. We praise Allah for giving us the ability to pray in Ramadan. We praise Allah for giving us the ability to recite Qur’an in Ramadan. We praise Allah for giving us the ability to give charity in Ramadan. We praise Allah for keeping us alive in and after Ramadan so that we can do more good deeds and therefore increase our status in Paradise. We praise Allah in any and every situation we find ourselves in, whether our stomach is empty or full, whether we are tired or energetic, whether we are in school or outside.

The honest truth is that we can praise Allah day and night and every second of our lives, but Allah does not want us to do that. Allah does not want humankind to spend all of their time saying Alhamdulillah, Subhana’Allah Allahu-Akbar. Allah does not expect us to pray continuously for 24 hours. Allah does not expect us to recite Qur’an for 24 hours. But Allah does want us to spend some time doing good actions, whether it is tasbeeh, reciting the Qur’an, praying, giving charity or encouraging others to do good things and deterring them from committing evil deeds. Moreover, Allah wants us to worship Him with our tongues, limbs, hearts and mind.

Allah said
, اعْمَلُوا آلَ دَاوُودَ شُكْرًا
“Do good deeds, oh family of Dawood, in gratitude”. [34:13]

Here Allah is commanding Prophet Dawood (peace be on him) and his family to do more good actions, as a means of showing their gratitude to Allah. Allah wants us to do the same. Worship Him in whatever situation we find ourselves in. Sometimes that might mean that we spend only few minutes during our lunch break to pray the Dhur prayer. Sometimes it might mean that we spend at least 5 minutes every day reciting and studying the meaning of the Qur’an. Sometimes it might mean that we attend a small class in our local mosque so that we increase our knowledge and love for Islam. I am sure we are amazed at the fact that Muslims spend a huge amount of their time and energy praying taraweeh and tahajjud during the night. Any wise Muslim will tell himself that if he can spend an hour or two every night praying the voluntary prayers in Ramadan then, it makes sense for him to spend a few minutes performing the obligatory prayers outside of Ramadan. It makes sense for him to spend 5-10 minutes for Fajr, Dhur, Asr, Maghrib and Esha prayers.

Second Part

We spent the whole month reciting the Qur’an, and that is very good. For every letter Allah, gave us one reward. Imagine the billions and trillions of reward we have earned; May Allah accept it from us. My question to myself and to you, brothers and sisters is this: imagine if we stood in tarawih prayers and understood the meaning of at least Surah Al Fatiha. And now imagine if when we stood in tarawih and we understood more parts of the Qur’an.

I am sure it felt nice during the last few days of Ramadan because the imams recite the last 16 Surahs which we know and have memorized from a young age. Imagine if we understood few more surahs like that. Imagine if you understood the meaning of Surah Al Fatiha. So, when the imam recited,

Alhamdulillahi rabbil aalamin. Imagine if you knew the meaning.

Arrahmanir raheem. Imagine if you knew the meaning.

Moreover, imagine if we one day we were able to recite the Qur’an like our favourite imam. Subhanallah, we would be in love with our prayer and we would love the Qur’an.

Now imagine the opposite: praying Tarawih year in and year out and not knowing what is being recited, not understanding the meaning of anything and not being able to recite the Qur’an. I am sure we don’t want to be in those situations. The truth is my brothers and sisters, we can all make a difference in our lives by spending few minutes every day studying the Qur’an. Have a suitable plan. Maybe spend 2-3 minutes reciting, another 2-3 minutes reading the meaning, another 2-3 minutes trying to recite like your favourite reciter and another 2-3 minutes memorizing. I promise you all, that if you make the intention and start today, by next Ramadan and for the rest of your life, you will be enjoying tarawih, tahajjud and generally you will love and enjoy spending time with the Qur’an. Spend few minutes every day and persevere and you will see the results. The Arab saying goes ‘a river cuts through a rock, not because of its strength but because of its persistence’. Make the intention today and be persistent. They say intention turns dust into gold, so make the intention to start studying the Qur’an and earn your golden prize in the hereafter, Jannah.

I would end this khutbah by reminding all of us of the hadith about how for every verse we memorise and practice, our status in Paradise will increase. The Prophet ﷺ told us that on the Day of Judgement, Allah will say to the one who memorised the Qur’an,“Recite, and rise up, recite (melodiously) as you would recite in the world. For indeed your rank shall be at the last ayah you recited.” [Tirmidhi]

I ask Allah to give us the tawfeeq to worship and love the Qur’an. Ameen.