Why Allah Exclusively Rewards Those Who Fast

You're my neighbor. You guys friends? Oh, okay. Got a pretty cool pretty fly car. Mo, I always love the Beamer. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Love to burn some rubber in that guy. Alhamdulillah.

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Continuing this book we haven't talked about it very much. kitabiliz is essentially at its core a simplified abridged rendition of by say I think that many of the older perhaps the older brothers the older Arab brothers may have heard or know are familiar with Sunnah. It was authored sometime in the 70s and 80s by a scholar of Fel from Alhar University and it gained worldwide rec recognition very quickly and it became very common place in almost every masid, almost every home. It's a very popular book. However, every good book, every work of art truly, everything that is that is I I don't want to say cutting edge. I mean, it's not he discovered some new thing about Phil. The knowledge and the discipline of Fil is of course 1500 years long. However, the key to this book and why it gained such popularity, one of the reasons is because the books of Fuk are written with very particular terminologies. And a person who is not familiar with these terminologies will grossly misunderstand what the discuss and debate in their books. Say was able to kind of bridge that gap to the general masses by taking a lot of those terminologies, a lot of those rulings, a lot of those books of folk and simplifying them, organizing them and you know kind of summarizing them for the general reader, the average Muslim, someone who is not necessarily a scholar or even a student of knowledge. And so any person could really pick it up and understand for the most part what the conclusions he arrived at were. And so it was a very impressive work, but it's not perfect. the scholars of his time, his contemporaries accepted this book holistically in general and many books were written trying to summarize it or a bridge it or authenticate it or what have you and this is one of those books. oftent times when someone asks you know if I want to read a book on but I you know I don't know anything I'm an average Muslim I want to read a book on where should I start a good starting place is by say it's and alhamdulillah it has been translated into many many many languages because of its popularity ity and it has also been summarized successfully and Alajis is one of those books that summarizes it. Basically it takes the issue takes the gist of it mentions the most prominent evidence for that particular opinion and moves on and so it's very summarized its name its name is what Elajis the simplified in a nutshell if you will right and so it's a very good book and I believe waj has been translated as well so If you're interested in that, talk to me. Inshallah, we will arrange making it available and it depends on the five or the four of Islam and does not usually go outside of those four. So we are talking about fasting. There's an narration on the authority of Abi which we'll deal with this evening with respect to the virtues of fasting. The virtues of fasting. A lot of times when something is obligatory the obligatory prayers, like fasting Ramadan, giving zaka, often times people will fail to recognize the immense reward that is involved because it's obligatory. So it kind of becomes just a part of life. It's just something that we do and we don't really feel as much gratification in the five daily prayers as we would in right to for instance or we wouldn't feel as much gratification in Ramadan as we would fasting outside of Ramadan. we wouldn't feel as much gratification and satisfaction in giving zaka which is obligatory or supporting our family that our dependence as we would in giving additional charity to some cause and it's actually the opposite the greatest reward is always found in the obligations the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam tells us that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself has said.

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He said subhanah in the my servant my slave gains nearness to me with nothing more beloved to me than that which I have obligated upon on him. That is the most rewarding. The highest reward is found in fulfillment of the obligations. He said, "And then and then after a person fulfills the obligatory, my servant continues to gain nearness to me with optional acts of worship until I come to love him. And if I love if I come to love my servant,.

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He said, "And if I come to love my slave, then I will become his hearing with which he hears and his sight with which he sees. I will become his hand with which he grasps and his foot upon which he walks and if he asks me and his foot with which he walks and if he asks me I will answer and respond and if he seeks refuge in me I will grant him refuge. This is the way that we gain nearness to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. So a lot of times we kind of overlook the obligation of Ramadan and it's kind of you know it's just something that we have to do but the greatest reward is found in the obligations of Islam. Abu narrates to us that the messenger of Allah. Wasam said this hadith is a kudi hadith and audi hadith is any narration in which the prophet sallall.aii Wasam narrates to us that Allah said that Allah did something that is ascribed to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He said, "All of the acts of worship that the human being performs are for him except for fasting. It is for me and I personally reward the servant for it." What does that mean? All of the acts of worship are for him except for fasting. It is for me.

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We cannot benefit Allah. We cannot increase him in any way. We just as we can't decrease him or deplete him in any way. So what does this mean? Except for fasting, it is for me. The scholars mention two meanings to this narration and both meanings are correct. The meaning that we're going to focus on is most appropriate for this wording of the narration and that is that imagine with me if a person wanted to use his acts of worship to gain notoriety. Could he do that? for instance, I want to pray and I want to be at the masid every salah in the first row. So people come to know me as a very righteous man who's always at the masid. That's the driving intention. Could a person do that? could they somehow benefit in a worldly gain from their worship of Allah? Yes. Person could give charity so that they be known as generous. Person could make hajj as a kind of notch in his belt so that he be known as a hajj. A person could seek knowledge so that he'd be known as a scholar. A person can go and fight in jihad in war in order to be known as a person of valor and bravery and a person who fights except for fasting. Why is that? Fasting is woo. Nobody knows if you're really fasting except for except for you, from human being, from humankind. I could eat a five course meal. I could eat a meal till I'm busting at the seams and then come out to the masid and say, "I'm so hungry. I am fasting." And who would know the difference? No one. So if I maintain that fasting in private as I do in public, what is the only possible driving force for that? It is Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. That's it. It's wudoo. And this is why the prophet sallall.aii wasallam tells us as a litmus test for e. What is eman? He says it is only the true believer who maintains his wudoo. Who knows if you have wudoo or not? No one. You're the only human being who knows. And so a person could hypothetically pray for a decade without woo and none would be the wiser. The only person who maintains woodoo and if he breaks it re remakes it and maintains his woo in his purity is a believer someone who believes that this is an act of worship and Allah is observing and fasting is no different. So it's really a secret between you and Allah. When you fast, it's a very intimate secret between yourself and Allah. There's no middleman. There's no one that is interfering or interceding between yourself and Allah. It's very direct. And for this reason, Allah says, "Except for fasting, it is for me. If a person fasts, it's only because of Allah. and I personally reward the person fasting Allahbar. What does that mean? That means that instead of the king having his other servants, his angels reward you, he himself will reward you directly. Subhanahu wa'ta'ala. Why? Because it is something between you and Allah. That act of worship is only for him and so only he will reward you for fasting. This is an incredible virtue of fasting that few other if any acts of worship hold. And so every time you fast it draws you near Allah in a way that no other act of worship can do. And that's why fasting has been obligated upon every nation that has come before us. Every messenger, every messenger from to Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam. How many messengers were sent to the earth? Huh? 125. No. Huh? 315 messengers. 315 messengers. Each of them came with a book. Each of them came with miracles. Each of them came and each of them came with fasting. Some iteration of fasting. Did it have the exact same parameters as our fasting? Now the details may differ, but fasting was always a part of every believer's journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. No matter how much you pray, it can't take the place of fasting. No matter how much charity you give, it can't take the place of fasting. No matter how much Hajj you give. Even jihad itself cannot take the place of fasting. And so fasting is for Allah and Allah alone. And for this reason, Allah will personally reward you for fasting. you by name, you individually, he will reward you for your fasting. He says, now that's a great reward, right? So, we want to make sure that we keep and retain our gains. Correct? We don't want to be pouring water into a jug that has no bottom to it. So when you look at the top, a lot of water is going in, but none of it is what? None of it is being retained. Why? Because we've cut the bottom out. How do we cut the bottom out of our proverbial jug of worship? by destroying the reward, by invalidating the reward. A person who doesn't eat or drink anything, doesn't engage in sexual activity until the sunset from the break of dawn with the intention of fasting. This person has technically fasted. However, does that mean that they've been rewarded for fasting? No. Reward is only gauged by your refraining from sin. The more you sin fasting, the more your reward depletes until a person will be fasting in body and have no reward. Listen to this haunting narration. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam said for.

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So we understand the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said there are some that will fast and the only thing they achieve by fasting is hunger. That's it. Imagine how devastating you're resurrected in front of Allah. You look to your reward for fasting, it's not there. It's gone. There's none of it. Why? Where did it go? It was invalidated by sin. Even though you technically fasted. Technically, sure. But fasting of the body is only supposed to act as a as a conduit for the soul to fast. The soul fasts from sin. The eyes fast, the ears fast, the tongue fasts, the body fasts, the heart fasts, the mind fasts. And so this is a great reward except for fasting. It is for me alone and I will personally reward for it. Hence, hence, therefore, if any of you is fasting on a day, then he is not to be vulgar. He is not to be loud and he is not to be ignorant. Those are three things he says. So is vulgarity, cursing, cursing, speaking about illicit things, right? Using your tongue to say bad things. A is that a person is loud and obnoxious and unruly. This is called he says.

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Mashi What is ignorance? The same meaning we have in in English. Ignorance is that a person behave ignorantly. Argumentative, unreasonable, unruly, obnoxious. This is what we call. And so these three things will invalidate your reward. Vulgarity, inappropriateness, unruliness, loud. Some people naturally speak loud. You got to curb that, right? Some people as soon as they arrive at the parking lot of any place, everyone knows that they're here because they're just that obnoxious. This is a time when we learn not to be the center of attention, right? And he is not to be ignorant, unruly, univilized. And we will end with this statement and we'll finish this narration tomorrow morning inshallah. foreign.

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And so he says, "And if anyone attempts to argue or fight with you, then you are to respond, I am fasting." And you are to say it twice. What does that mean? Do you say it to someone who doesn't understand fasting? a average American non-Muslim. They get out to argue with you, say, "I'm fasting. I'm fasting." They're going to think there's something wrong with you. And that's okay. It's probably enough to bewilder them for you to deescalate the situation. But the point is is that you remind yourself and your opponent that you are fasting. And you say it, you say it out loud. You say it in a way that will remind you, that will snap you out of this. I am fasting. This is not worth my trouble. I am not going to be thirsty and hungry all day and frustrated just to give it to you, just to give it away, just to cut the bottom out of my jug, if you will. Allah subhanahu What was it? Nice to see you.