Purpose of Fasting

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe. And peace and blessings be upon the honorable prophets and messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family and companions. And peace and blessings be upon him. Next, Allah SWT told us why he sent Ramadan. Allah SWT said, Ya ayyuhalladheena amanu kutibra alaykumu sriyamu kama kutibra ala alladheena min qablikum la'allakum tattaqoon Allah said which means, O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was prescribed for those before you so that you may become muttaqoon. la'allakum tattaqoon So that you may become muttaqoon. What is taqwa? Taqwa is that state of mind and heart where a person is concerned about Allah SWT's pleasure in everything that they say or they do. No matter how small, no matter how big, the person's question, there's a tape running in the back of the mind, the platform on which the whole person's software decision making and communication software runs is taqwa, which is, is Allah going to be pleased with what I'm going to say or not? So say if I'm going to, for example, if I'm going to say something to Nimab, before I say it, ask myself, what I'm planning to say to her, is this likely to please Allah or not? So if, for example, if I'm thinking of saying something critical about something, somebody to her, that person is not here, which is called backbiting. So if I'm planning to do that, which is also called most of our social life, so if I'm planning to do that, then I ask myself, is Allah going to be pleased with this? Answer is no, so I don't do it. Now the beauty of that is that when a person makes an intention to do something evil and changes that intention because of the fear of Allah's subhanahu wa ta'ala's displeasure, Allah's subhanahu wa ta'ala has, causes a good deed, hasana, to be written in their account. See the mercy of Allah, Jalla Jallalu, you haven't done anything, just change your mind. I had a thought in my mind, I think I'm going to do that, then I said, no, no, no, I can't do that because Allah will not be pleased. That's it. It takes like one second, it has, there's no effort, energy involved, nothing involved, but we get what hasana. What is the value of hasana? What is the value of one good deed? The value of one good deed on the day of judgment can be the difference between Jannah and Jahannam. One single good deed, right? If a person has one extra one, then the scale of good deeds is heavier, so they go to Jannah. If he does not have that one, then he has, he has, he has a problem. And how did I get this good deed? By being conscious of Allah's subhanahu wa ta'ala's pleasure. Will Allah be pleased or not? Right? So taqwa is to have this condition of heart and mind where everything we do, whether in public, whether in private, whether in secret, whether in a place where we think nobody is watching us because Allah is always watching us. We are concerned only about the pleasure of Allah. To bring about this situation and to bring about this condition Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent this month of Ramadan. Now how does Ramadan achieve that? It achieves it by a very simple and beautiful principle. And that principle is that from just before dawn to sunset, we are not allowed to do what is normally halal. Right? Eating, drinking, intimacy with your spouses is normally halal. But we are not allowed to do that during this period. Now if somebody says, why not? What's the answer? Why not? Why not? I'm saying, for example, this is a common question. A person who is not a Muslim, who is probably interested in Islam, so they tell you, okay, you guys are not doing this from this time to this time. Why? Fasting, why? Yes? To cleanse your soul. Yeah? To demonstrate faith to Allah. Demonstrate faith to Allah? Kind of yes, but what is the real answer? Discipline. Because Allah said so. That's it. Simple as that. Why? Because Allah said so. Discipline will happen, I will demonstrate my faith. All of this is happening. These are the beautiful side effects of obeying Allah. But why are you doing it? Because Allah said so. There's no other reason. That is a reason in itself. Right? Please understand this. The fact that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us to fast is the reason in itself. I'm not fasting to lower my glycemic index because I have diabetes or something. I'm not fasting so I become, you know, less fat or more fat or what. No, no, none of that. All of this might happen as a consequence. I've never seen anybody losing weight in Ramadan. Believe me, people actually eat. They actually eat more than they normally eat. But none of that is... the reason is because Allah said so. Now why is that so important for a Muslim? Because who's a Muslim? Who's a Muslim? One who? Believes in Allah? Submits to Allah. Submits to Allah. Right? Believes in Allah and then submits to Allah. Because somebody can believe and they're not submitting. Submitting. The essence of Islam is submission. That is why the symbol of Islam is sujood, is sajda, which is haram to anyone in creation, only to the Creator. We cannot do sajda even to Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. You cannot do sajda to the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. You cannot do sajda to anyone, only to Allah. Submission. So I obey Allah because I'm Muslim. What does it mean? I have submitted myself to Allah. boy is kaal alahu rabbuhu aslim kaal aslam tul rabbi al adhani Allah s.w.t said in surah al-baqarah about Ibrahim a.s. When his Rabb said to him, submit, he said, I have submitted. He didn't say, let me think about it, I'll tell you tomorrow morning. No. Submit, I have submitted. No arguments. Right? Submit, submitted. He's not arguing about anything. He's not saying, no, let me think about it, give it some thought. No. I will submit tomorrow morning. I will submit in five minutes. No. Submit it. This is the essence of Islam, is to submit to Allah s.w.t. So everything we do, we do because it pleases Allah and we submit to Allah. So this is the essence of taqwa. To create this taqwa, Allah s.w.t. has said this. So now what's happening in this period is we are staying away from what is normally good for us, what is normally halal. Allah s.w.t made it permissible for us, yet we stay away because Allah s.w.t said so. So what is the message, what's the takeaway we take from this? That this is how I must spend my whole life, not only these thirty days, but my whole life I must spend in the way which pleases Allah s.w.t. Just like I did it now in these thirty days, even though I was hungry, I did not eat, I was thirsty, I did not drink and so on, in the rest of my life, anything which Allah does not permit me or want me to do, I will not do. So Allah s.w.t said, do not deal in interest, I will not deal in interest. Allah said, don't join partners with me in my worship, I will not join partners in worship. Right? Allah s.w.t said, don't lie, don't cheat, be good to your parents, be dutiful to your parents, Birol Valley, very, very, very important. I will do all that. For parents Allah s.w.t told them, do tarbiyah of your children, teach them, not just feed them. There has to be a difference between how you bring up a child and how you bring up a cat. You have to train the child, feed the, not just feed the child. So this is the duty of the parents and so on. Everything we do to please Allah s.w.t out there. This is the essence of fasting, this is the essence of Ramadan and Allah s.w.t has sent Ramadan for this purpose. Now, how to create this in our lives? Is by filling our hearts with the khashiyat of Allah, with the awe and majesty and glory and thanks to Allah. When you do that, then obedience becomes very easy and automatic. In Islam, we obey whatever Allah s.w.t told us to do without question, not without understanding. So understand this, someone in somebody tells you, you know, you guys in Islam, you are, you believe blindly, right? Is that, is that correct? Do we believe blindly? No, we believe with knowledge. We believe in Allah because we know Allah. Allah s.w.t is not a stranger to us. Imam Ghazali Rahmatullah Ali said, you cannot worship the one you don't know. That is the reason why we teach aqeedah. Right, we do, I mean, I do a whole class on aqeedah. The reason why you study aqeedah is for the same reason, because if I don't know who Allah is, how do I worship Allah? If somebody tells you, please tell me who is Allah? Introduce Allah to me. If some person who is not a Muslim comes to you and says, okay, you believe in Allah? Say yes. So please introduce Allah to me. Who is Allah? What is the answer? How will you introduce? Try. We should be able to know. If somebody says to you, introduce your father to me. I can do that. Introduce your friend to me. I can do that. This is not just friend and father. This is Allah s.w.t. He is my creator. I worship him. So the person says, you are a Muslim, so who should I ask? I mean, I want to know who is Allah. You worship Allah? So tell me, introduce Allah to me. How do you do that? You want to know? Really? There is no introduction of Allah that is better and more beautiful than the way Allah introduced himself. So if somebody says, introduce Allah, introduce Allah in the way that Allah introduced himself. Now, how did Allah introduce himself? Allah s.w.t told us, who is Allah? Allah s.w.t. Allah s.w.t. Allah s.w.t. Allah s.w.t. This is Allah s.w.t introducing himself. They asked him, who is Allah? And Allah s.w.t. was told, Say, He is Allah s.w.t. Allah s.w.t. He was not born nor was He born. And there was not any one who was like him. Say, He is Allah s.w.t. The unique. The alone. The one. Allah did not say Allah ul Wahid. Allah said Ahad. Wahid has a plural, its name. It can be half. But Ahad, no plural, can't be half. Ahad. Allah s.w.t. Allah is the one who needs nothing.