Ramadan Begins Wednesday: Schedule, Service, Wisdom

Just a reminder to everyone that alhamdulillah we will begin on Wednesday night. This Wednesday night coming we will make the first night of and hence the first day of fasting will be Thursday. So the first night of Tawi will be this Wednesday and the first day of fasting will be this coming Thursday. Another point to keep in mind is the way that the program will be set up will be at 8:00 every night throughout the entirety of the month of Ramadan. It's not going to change. After at 8, we will have a very very brief 3 to 5 minutes. After that, we'll make the salah and then begin will be eight as usual for this masid. as it was last year, I'm told. And each night we will be completing one juz so one part of the Quran. We will not go ahead of that and we will not be completing the recitation of the Quran except on the last night of Ramadan. So we will finish with the last night of Ramadan. That will be the night of alim. I know that last year perhaps it was the 27th night we will make it so that every single night when you come the night number will be in accordance with the part number of the Quran. Another thing is that we will be reading the entirety of the Quran in theaw. So we're not going to split it between and at the last 10 nights. If you attend every from the beginning to the end, you you will have listened inshallah to the entirety of the Quran. this doesn't mean we won't have in the last 10 nights. We will. But the bulk of our recitation will be during those leading the will be myself the acting assistant really assistant imam and since I've been here for the past five or six months and Dr. inshallah who was with you last last year as per usual. And so it will kind of be split up mostly thirds. I might have a little bit more than the rest of them but roughly that amount and it will be in that order each night as well. Another thing is we're going to be having here every night. think this is not new to you guys. We had this last year, right? beforear so just 10 minutes before I'll be here to give a few words each night with respect to some rulings and fasting rulings in zak when we get close to the end etiquette and so forth. I know that the this group of folks here that are here now, you guys are the ones that come often I don't think we'll have any issues, but you know, sometimes if people are hungry, people are angry. They're what? Hangry. People come in, they're hangry. Okay. And they're being driven by their biology, an empty stomach at that point. And so there might be a little bit of rough around the edges the first couple days. Let's just try to all be civil and very very easygoing with one another inshallah. Let's try to be patient with each other. We also have lots of volunteers this year perhaps more than previous years. A lot of the youth are signing up to volunteer. There is a signup sheet specifically for the youth. So, this is 25 years and younger, okay? If you want to volunteer, you don't have to volunteer every night of Ramadan. , it's a sign up on Google, the sign up. I think they call it signup genie or what have you. , I will, , send it back out in the WhatsApp a couple more times to remind everyone before starts. You can sign up at any time. , but when you do sign up, , we're expecting that you would come in before MEG and stay with us until after Tawi is completed and everything is cleaned up and ready for the next day. So, if you sign up for volunteering, expect to be here for about 4 hours. That's about what you're going to be volunteering that evening. You can choose to volunteer one night or two nights or 10 nights or every night. It's up to you if you have some extra time. You know, it's a it's a it's very easy for us actually in America to give money. That's the easiest thing, right? And that's the American way. Any problem, just throw money at it. It'll fix itself. But really, giving your time is a lot more difficult. And if you really want to do something meaningful, come and volunteer. Help us out during Ramadan. Inshallah, there will be great reward in that for you. also after we will have the as per usual after we mentioned that on the weekends, Saturday, Sunday we have the Quran all through the year. We will be continuing that throughout Ramadan. It is 45 minutes after fud after the there in the back with myself. We have a group of brothers. We reflect on the Quran. We recite the Quran. We learn certain things. So anyone is free to join us inshallah for that. And then keep your eyes peeled for other programs that may be going on. But that's a quick rundown of the program and inshallah that will be put in print and distributed on the WhatsApp and elsewhere in the coming days. But this is just kind of a breakdown for now inshallah. So you know Ramadan Mubarak. I hope everyone here makes it to Ramadan. I hope I make it to Ramadan. Right? We don't know what tomorrow holds for us, but you know, I'm very excited to be with you here for this Ramadan. you know, I've I've led Tarawa for about 20 years, and honestly, I'm very excited, particularly excited to be here in this Tucson community this year. So, thank you for having me. I wanted to just express that as well.

[Silence]

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the ninth verse of the 68th chapter of the Quran. We've been speaking about this verse for three nights and that is because of how important this verse is in order to try to make it clear and make a clear distinction between mud and mud. Alana is compromise. Compromising on behalf of one's religion. compromising on behalf ofahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahillah compromising an aspect ofahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahillah and this only happens from hypocrisy this is not something that Allah has ever permitted any of his prophets or messengers we either speak the truth or remain silent what has our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam taught us he says Fore.

[Silence]

He saysam if any of you witnesses an evil taking place then if you're able and you have the authority change it physically. And if you are unable to physically change it, then change it verbally by speaking out against it. And if you are unable to verbally change it, then in your heart you must hate it at least. And that is the lowest rung of emen. Meaning that's expected from everyone that we at least hate evil in our hearts. There is no situation where we use falsehood to compromise where we cut corners dilute our message ofahillahillahillah doesn't belong to me. It doesn't belong to you. It doesn't belong to the prophets and messengers. This belongs to Allah. We don't have the authority to play around and plate people withahill and so is compromising. However, this is often conflated often confused with al-mud. What is al- mud? Al- mud is diplomacy. Right? Yesterday we gave two examples of mud, two examples of compromise that is haram. We gave one example of Abu Talib how he compromised accepting Islam to plate his people even though he believed it was the truth in his heart and that landed him in the hellfire for eternity. We have another example of the mud offered to the prophet sallall.aii by the mushri of Quraysh. We will worship your god if you worship our gods. We will leave your religion alone if you don't speak out against the falsehoods of our religion etc. These are two examples of compromise which are haram. Now tonight we want to discuss and bring two examples from the prophet sallall.aii wasallam with respect to diplomacy. Diplomacy is different diplom diplomacy doesn't have to do with doesn't have to do with placating someone with compromise. Al-Mud is often hinged on refraining from something desirable for the sake of diplomacy. And we'll take a couple of examples, one personal example and one general. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran, we know this verse in right, I swear by the ever witnessed and attended house of Allah. Does anyone know what El Mur is? I think you know. You don't know. It looks you know Ibraim. No. Tell me.

[Arabic recitation]

Okay, say it. Okay. Okay. So means two things. Number one, the Kaa itself. Number two, the equivalent of the Kaa that is in the heavens for the angels. Right above the cabba that's on the earth. In the heavens there is its equivalent in the heavens that is called and that is for the angels the equivalent of thea is for us here on this earth it's called and what's interesting about is the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam told us about it he said that This bait, this house of Allah in the heavens is a place where the angels go to make circumambulation, right? To as we do of the ka, but it's a little different and that is that is designed in the same way that thea originally was designed in in the time of Ibraimisam. The Kaa we have today is not exactly how Ibraim built it. First of all, the Cabba originally was not a cube. It was rectangular. It was we know where that that kind of crescent is which is called that actually is the true foundations of the Kaa and that is that Ibraimis when he erected the Kaa that is where the Kaa that's where its parameters were however when the people of Quray just before the prophet became a messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam when he was in his mid30s roughly they decided They were going to rebuild the Ka, a story that most of us are acquainted with. However, they agreed that and stolen money and money earned from alcohol and gambling was impure. And so they did not want to rebuild the Ka using any funds that came from that direction. I'm not speaking about Muslim. I'm speaking about the idoltors of Mecca. They said that this money that comes from gambling or alcohol or prostitution or ribba or usery or from bandits. It is impure and it's and it is not befitting for the house of Allah. So anyone who wishes to contribute to the rebuilding of the Ka must contribute from money that is pure as they framed it. Well, it just so happens that the majority of the people of Mecca, their tar, their commerce is in what? Gambling and alcohol and banditry and all these things. So a lot of it was from yuzerie and ribba. So they didn't have enough money that was pure to rebuild the ka in its original fashion. So they built it as a cube that we have today. And then they marked out what is referred to today as they mark this out to keep always preserve the original foundations of Ibraim. Now that's one of the design features of Bet Mur. That's one. There's another thing about it and that is that the original Kaa that Ibraim built. It had two doors. One to enter and one to exit. And when a person wed to make, they didn't used to make around it this. They used to walk through it. That is how the taw is originally made in the time of Ibraim in the time of Adam. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam says that in the heavens it has one door by which to enter and one by which through which a person exits. And every day 70,000 angels pass through those doors and get back in line to pass through again, but will never get a second chance until the day of judgment. That is how many angels are in the heavens.

[Silence]

Those are the original foundations and the original the original blueprint for the Kaa. But the people of Purish, they didn't have enough pure money to build it that way. So they gave it one door and they marked out and because we can't pass through it, we have to do what? We have to make around it. And that's why we make today in the way that we do. Well, this was during the time of the mushri. Fast forward to the conquest of Mecca. What year was the conquest of Mecca? Fat Mecca. Huh? No. After after Hijra, 13 after Hijra. No, that'd be Abu Bakr's reign and Abu Bakr's. Tell me. Eight after Hijra. It is a difference of opinion amongst the historians. Some say seven, some say eight. Eight is the better opinion. But what month was it in? What month was fat? Come on. It's on everyone's mind. Ramadan. Yes, this is agreed upon. Fatka was in Ramadan. The difference amongst the historians was was it the seventh year after Hijra or the eth? Most likely it was the eth. The point is fast forward from when the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam was roughly 35 years old when they rebuilt the Kaa 5 years before he was a prophet. Fast forward to the conquest of Mecca, the eighth year after Hijra, our prophet sallall.aii wasallam is roughly 60 or 61 years old. And so he arrived to Mecca in the ironclad Calvary. It was referred to as the iron calvary. Why? Because it was impenetrable. The Mushri were so terrified of the Muslim. As a matter of fact, the Muslim were so terrifying to their enemies by Allah's will that some of them when they would prepare for war with the companions, they would chain themselves to the ground. Can you imagine? They would come to the battlefield and chain themselves to the ground. Why? Why? So they don't run away. That's how scared they were. And so the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam arrived in Mecca and the idols were destroyed and the adan was raised and manat were demolished not for the last time but for thousands of years to come and the prophet sallall.aii wasallam restored tohed into the heart of Mecca. Now tells us something very interesting in Muslim. She said that the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam said to her during this time so he used to you know nickname he said foreign.

[Silence]

So he said, "Had it not been that your people," meaning Quraysh, the people of Quraysh, are so new to Islam and are so fresh out of Jahyah and are so yet uneducated and some of them have entered into Islam dragging their feet and begrudgingly. Had it not been that it would shock their minds, I would immediately demolish the Kaa and rebuild it on the original foundations of Ibraim. And I would make for it a door from which to enter and a door from which to exit. Meaning like that is in the heavens. What does this have to do with? This is a very good example of mud diplomacy because that is something that is very good. That is something that is beloved to Allah. that the Kaa be restored to the way it was built by Ibraimisam. However, what is stopping him from that? The reaction that these new Muslims are going to have. What kind of messenger is this? He claims he's a messenger of Allah and the first thing, the first order of business as he tears the Kaba down. What kind of prophet is that? This is what they would think. And so he kept the Kaa as it is in spite of it having the potential to be better which that is but keeping people in Islam is and so this is what is called what this is this is diplomacy he didn't he didn't do mud he didn't change the truth he didn't he didn't compromise the truth rather he refrained from doing that which is better for the greater of the two goods correct that's one example a second example this one will be quick inshallah the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was sitting in his home in Medina and a man came to see him It was said that it was habis or Ib most likely it was Hyb was a very loudmouth character and he was extremely ignorant and not only that but he left Islam as soon as the prophet died. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam joined a false prophet fought with him until he was literally taken in a cage by W in a cage brought back to Abu Bakr and then he said okay I'll become Muslim again right that's that's the kind of guy we're dealing with here so he came to see the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and so you know they came and they said you have someone at the door who is it it's he says He said, "Let him come in. What a foul man." Right. Gosh, what a I hate, you know, he didn't say, "I hate this guy." He said, "What a foul man, right? The foulest of people. Let him in." And so when he came in, says that when he sat down, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam smiled to him. He listened to him and he didn't say anything bad to him. Then the man left. So Aisha was perplexed. She said, "Oh messenger of Allah, I noticed that when you heard it was him, you said, but then when he came in, you smiled in his face and you placated him and you didn't say any of that to his face and then when he left." And so the prophet sallallah.aii Wasam said, "When have you known me to be a vulgar man?" Meaning someone who would insult someone to his face. That's vulgar. That's univilized. That's primitive. When have you known me to be that person? He said,.

[Silence]

This is he says the worst of people are a type of person that people avoid him just to avoid his evil because any way that you try to seriously more than superficially interact with them, they'll bite you. That's the kind of person they are. No one escapes their evil. So the worst of people are those whom people avoid in order to be safe from their evil. Everyone deals with them. How? Superficially. They have no good deep friends. They have no deep family. They have no deep brotherhood because anyone who comes in any way close they get bit. So people just want to avoid him. This is the worst kind of people. And so the prophet here when the man came in he didn't say right when the man said it was and he said what a what a bad man. If the man would have come in and then when he came in he said you're the best of men that would have been mud. That is hypocrisy. That's different. But the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam didn't change the truth for him. What did he instead do? He merely refrained from telling him the whole story or what he truly thought. He dealt with him at a superficial level and didn't deal with him in the way that he would deal with others. This is and this is one of the greatest levels of etiquette and character that the prophets and messengers are given the wisdom to be able to perfect. So we see kind of now the difference here between compromise and diplomacy. We will end this all with this statement of Allah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says Huh? I can't hear because more than one person is speaking at the same time. Say it again. Allah says the believer will never side with the disbeliever against the believer another believer unless and it's not here unless but what the believer will do is refrain because of the sake of harm. This is what we call mud. So the scholars give us a difference. The difference here is a person who becomes Muslim in Mecca and is unable to proclaim his Islam. So he doesn't say I've publicly I've become Muslim. He's Muslim, but he's unable to proclaim it because he will be harmed. So, he keeps it to himself. The difference between that and a person who says the opposite, they're Muslim, but then they worship other than Allah in public in order to plate the enemies. We understand the difference. So there's a difference between not saying the whole truth and because of a necessity and saying falsehood to plate that is I know our talk was a little bit longer this evening but anyways we'll be done with this in the next couple days starting tomorrow night Tuesday night we will be discussing the rulings of fasting inshallah tomorrow night after isa and Tuesday after if you have any questions you can ask me then inshallah yes sir I fear for your safety I've already gone over time uhhuh not during the time of the Malik Marwan, he walked.