Muharram – The month of Allah

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions. May peace and blessings be upon him. Our brothers and sisters, we are in the sacred month of Muharram, one of the four sacred months. That's also the beginning of the new year. We ask Allah to make this a year in which we can gain His Rida. You will notice that I am not saying this will be a year full of peace and harmony and this and that, because all of those are the effects of the Rida of Allah . There is no sense in asking for peace and harmony and prosperity and health and so on, when our life is going in the opposite direction, trying to attract the anger of Allah. You cannot have any of that stuff if Allah is angry. The only way to have peace and harmony and health and wealth and so on and so forth is if Allah is pleased with us. So I don't ask for any of the effects. They will happen. They have to happen. There is no way that somebody who Allah is pleased with will suffer in the sense of this dunya. It may look like suffering even, but that won't be suffering from the sense of this dunya. So we ask Allah to enable us to live lives which please Him . The ayat of Surah Tawbah which I recited before you, the meaning of which is Allah said, Verily the number of months with Allah is twelve. Twelve months in a year. So was it ordained by Allah on the day when He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred. That is the right religion. Abu Bakr narrated that Rasul said, The year is twelve months of which four are sacred. Three are consecutive, meaning one following the other, which are Dhul Qaidah, Dhul Hijjah and Muharram. And then Rajab, which comes between Juma'at and Shaaban. And this is in Bukhari. Allah said the about this ayat, which is the ayat from Surah Tawbah E Expertly Allah said Allah has chosen I'm sure He said Allah has chosen a special thing, a special people, special creations. He has chosen I'm sure the first creation. From among the angels. He chose kinship entourage of Allah and among all mankind, He chose intercessors of Allah. From speech, he chose the remembrance of himself, which is dhikr. From among the spaces on the earth, he chose the masajid, the mosques. From among the months, he chose Ramadan and the sacred months. So venerate that which has been chosen by Allah, because people of understanding and wisdom respect that which has been chosen by him, Jalla Jalaluhu, and this is from Tafseer ibn Kathir. Abu Hurairah, radiallahu anhu, in a hadith reported in Muslim Sharif, said that Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said the best fast after Ramadan is in the month of Muharram. So Muharram is a month in which Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam encouraged us to fast during this month, as much as you can, as many days as you can, with special significance given to the 10th, which is called the Yawm al-Ashara, the second. Ashura, which is the 10th of Muharram, which is tomorrow. And Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the recommendation is to fast not only that one day by itself, but to fast either the 9th and 10th, which is today and tomorrow, or to fast 10th and 11th, which is Saturday and Sunday. So whatever you like, inshallah. Infiqus Sunnah, Sheikh Sayyid Sadiq says, Abu Hurairah, radiallahu anhu, reported, I asked Rasulullah, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, which salah, which prayer is the best after the fardh prayers? Please note, he's asking after the fardh prayer. There's no question about the fardh prayer being the best of all prayers. Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was asked, which is the best deed? He said to pray the fardh salah at its time. At its time, on time, not delayed and so on and so forth, as soon as the time comes. So fardh salah. So after the fardh salah, which is the best? And Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, the prayer during the middle of the night, which is tahajjud. And then he says, Abu Hurairah, radiallahu anhu, I asked, which fasting is the best after that of Ramadan? Because again, Ramadan is the best. That is the rukun of deen. It's a pillar of Islam. It's something which Allah has ordained for us. And Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, the month of Allah, that you call Muharram. And this is in Musnad Imam Ahmed, in Muslim and in Abi Dawud. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, fasting on the day of Ashura has great merit. I hope that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will accept it as expiation, forgiveness for sins in the previous year. And this is in Sahih Muslim. Abdullah bin Abbas radiallahu anhu narrated, when Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam fasted on the day of Ashura and told the people to fast, they said, Ya Rasulullah, this is a day that is venerated also by the Jews and Christians. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, next year, if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wills, we will fast on the ninth day also. Now, on a side note, by the time the next year came around, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam had passed away. But, therefore, fasting on 9th and 10th is mustahab. Fasting, if you can't do that, 10th and 11th. In a hadith in Tabarani, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is reported to have said, one who generously spends on his family on the day of Ashura, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be generous on him for the entire year. Regarding this, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal rahmatullahi alaihi narrates that Sufyan bin Uyayna rahmatullahi alaihi said, I have practiced this, which is spending on the family for 50 or 60 years, and I have found nothing but good in it. And this is in the book called Latayf al-Ma'arif. The day of Ashura was known to the Quraysh. And two Rasulullahs, the Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in Mecca itself. And the Quraysh used to venerate it and fast on that day. It is believed that on this day, the ship of Nuh alaihi sallam reached land on Mount Judi. And Musa alaihi sallam led his people out of the slavery of Fir'aun, also on the day of Ashura. The Quraysh venerated this day and considered it holy. And they used to change the cover of the Kaaba, the kiswa of the Kaaba, they would change it on the 10th of Muharram. And they would fast and pray, especially on that day. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam fasted that day with them during his life in Mecca. Rawahu Shaykhan an Aishata radiyallahu anhaq qalat Qanat Quraysh sumu Ashura fil Jahiliyyah Wa kana Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam yasumuhu Falamma hajar ila al-Madina Saamahu wa amru bi siyami It is narrated that Aisha radiyallahu anhaq said that the Quraysh used to fast on Ashura during the days of Jahiliyyah. And Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam also used to fast on that day. And when he sallallahu alaihi wa sallam migrated to Madina, he fasted on that day and ordered that this fast also be observed. When the month of Ramadan was... enjoined, he said whoever wishes may fast on this day and whoever wishes may leave it Bukharian Muslim. So this is a mustahab fast. But the thing I remind myself anew is these istilahat, these terminologies, these classification of deeds of something is for, something is sunnah, something is mustahab and on the other side something is haram, something is makruh, makruh taharimit, anzih and so on. All of these are categories. These categories for the sake of fiqh. In some cases to determine punishments, in some cases for rewards and so on and so forth. As far as we are concerned, the best way is to follow the way of the sahabah. Because nobody followed Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam better than the sahabah. What did they do? Whatever Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam liked, they did it as if it was fard. And whatever he did not like, they left it as if it was the worst of the worst. They did it as if it was fard. And whatever he did not like, they left it as if it was the worst of the worst. They did it as if it was the worst of the worst. No sahabah went and... First of all, some of these terminologies did not even exist at that time. So if I tell you that no sahabah went and said, Ya Rasulullah, is this makruh, anzih or taharimit, the terminology didn't exist. So no sahabah could possibly have even asked that question. But there is also no instance of a sahabah going to the Nabi alaihi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam when he prohibited something to say, Ya Rasulullah that's true, this is, you know, I agree this is prohibited, there is karaha, but what is the degree of this karaha? Is it very bad or is it only a little bit bad? No one asked that question because this is a question of great disrespect towards Allah . If Allah does not like, khalas. The sahabah left. That is the safest and the best attitude. The reason why I have to say all these things to you in terms of this is, you know, mustahab and this is sunnah, because that's my position, I have to say these things. But as far as you are concerned, ignore all that. If it is something which is good, take it. Because on the day of judgment, believe me, we will value every single good deed like our life depends on it because our life will depend on it. And at that time you will not think that, oh, you know what, that was mustahab, I should have done it, or I shouldn't, it didn't matter, I left it. No. What does it matter? It's not a bad, it's a good deed, do it. Don't get stuck in the, the words of the law. People come and ask me these questions sometimes. One brother comes and says to me about something, he says, Sheikh, is it haram or makruh? So I said, please define for me what is haram and what is makruh in the words of the law. In the law language, I'll tell you what it is. I mean, think about it. You don't even know the meaning of the word you're using. So don't go into all that.