 Wa salatu wa salam ala Sayyidi al-Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi Wa salim tasliman kathira. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, my dear brothers and sisters at the MCC community. May Allah bless you during this month of Ramadan, Ramadan Mubarak. May Allah bless you in the remaining days of Ramadan. May Allah bless you on the night of the Qatam. May Allah bless you for having the patience to forge on and to engage in worship at a time where many people are avoiding even under the conditions that you so wisely put forth of outdoor tarawi with a limited number of people, social distancing, etc. May Allah tally reward all of you and accept your fast. May Allah tally bless us to be thankful. It's not without accident that the verses relating to the fast and Ramadan, they start with the mentioning the obligatory nature of the fast. O believers, fasting has been ordained for you as it was ordained for those who preceded you in order that you may gain taqwa. And those verses end. In order that you extol the greatness of Allah for what He has guided you to in order that you will give thanks, that you will be appreciative and you will express thanks. Brothers and sisters, what is the relationship? Allah SWT has opened up the door for forgiveness in Ramadan. So fasting itself is a door to forgiveness. And the standing in worship which you're doing now during the nights of Ramadan is a gateway to forgiveness. Whoever stands for worship during the night of power since your faith anticipating a reward, the price in their forgiveness, that's a gateway to forgiveness. Whoever gives the fasting person something to break their fast with is a source a gateway to forgiveness. So, and you stop for Allah. So, Abi Huraira relates that everyone will be forgiven rather than Ramadan except one who refuses. They said whoever refuses, Abu Huraira. He said one who refuses to ask Allah for forgiveness. So merely asking Allah for forgiveness during Ramadan is a gateway to forgiveness. But it's not easy, brothers and sisters. Fasting the entirety of the month, adhering to the various sunan, firm sunan, firm prophetic practices surrounding the month, getting up for sahur every day. So you're getting up an hour at least earlier than you normally could or would. That is a challenging thing to do, especially in these northern climates where, excuse me, the summer months and we're moving away from those months which we'll get to in a moment, the implications of moving away from those months. It's not easy. It's not easy. Fasting the long summer days is not easy. Now as we're moving closer and closer to the winter, Ramadan is Qiyam and Ramadan is Tilawatil Quran. As we move away from the summer months in towards the winter months, and now we're like we're in the halfway spot between the two. The emphasis shifts from the fast, which is very easy in the summer, in this part of the world, right? Your msak, time is 6 a.m., 6.15 a.m. And you're breaking fast at 4.15, 4.30. That's in the end of December, the beginning of January, and those years that come, may Allah bless us all to see those years and to live those years and to have the strength and vitality to fast those years. Now the Qiyam, Menqamah Ramadan, the Qiyam now becomes the challenging thing, because the nights are very long. And so in Ramadan, we should be spending a significant part of the night in worship. We shouldn't go to the quickest Tarawee we can find in Damascus. There's a masjid called Masjid al-Nusrah, the picnic masjid. Because in Syria, there's only one day off, Juma. So not two days, like in neighboring Jordan even, or Turkey. It's one day off, Juma. And so people, excuse me, other bin Laden, Shayt al-Nurjin, people would plan their picnics on Juma. And so this masjid, they had like a three minute Qutba. So they call it Masjid al-Nusrah, the picnic masjid. If you go there, listen to your three minute Qutba and then you're out the door to go to your picnic. So out in the countryside, in the reef, out on the way to the airport, and the green dividers in the road, people with picnic in those areas. And so they would look for the quickest Jumu'ah, so they could get on with their picnics. So it was called the picnic masjid. Many of us look for the television masjid for Ramadan, the quickest tarawi, so we can go home and watch television. A lot of people, not everyone, maybe not most people, but a lot of people, that's what they do. They leave the house of Allah as quickly as they can to go home and watch television. May Allah help us all. And only say that to say this. The Qiyam is Shukr. The Qiyam is Shukr. And so we mentioned forgiveness, right? And I did that for purpose. I did that in order that we can begin to contrast our practice to the practice of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in exchange for the forgiveness he had been given from his Lord. So, An-A'ishatah, radiallahu anha. She said, So, An-A'ishatah relates that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, used to stand in prayer so long. And we know the Qiyam al-Layh, the hadith with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, recited al-Baqarah wa al-Nisa'a wa al-Imran, the order was switched to al-Ruq, Baqarah wa al-Nisa'a wa al-Imran in Ma'ida in one Raqa. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And reciting crying, reciting crying, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, his feet swole and his feet cracked. And she said, Why are you doing this, O Messenger of Allah? When Allah has forgiven, And what was his response? In other words, he was standing so long and so late into the night until his feet swole up, until his feet cracked as an expression of his gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his forgiveness. In Ramadan, when we have all of these pathways of forgiveness open before us, the least we can do is to stay in the masjid until the Imam finishes. Regardless of if he does eight Raqats, but a Juz in those eight Raqats, and so the Qiyam is very long. If he does 20 Raqats, devise that up. If he does a Juz and a half, so the Qatim can be after 20 days, what is our Qiyam compared to the Qiyam of the Masjid of Allah? If you want to succeed on the last day to summarize the balance of the verse. He is our example. As-Salaamu Alaykum. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. and it's fatiguing. And we need our strength. Brothers and sisters, the Sahaba needed their strength. They worked, they had jobs. They were in a very, very hot climate. Unlike us, we're in a temperate climate. They were in a desert, arid desert climate. But they stood in worship. In Ramadan, we have an opportunity to do that. And it's genuine. But we challenge ourselves. Eleven months are for the dunya. Eleven months are for us. Eleven months. Now Allah says, what are you going to give me? Sometimes when we reflect on the wassamuli, when HZB fasting is mine, we think of the fasting being exempted from the deeds being multiplied. In the 20th century, until the 70th century, there was a lot of weakness. Allah, the Almighty, said, except for fasting, that it is mine. And HZB except fasting, that it has no numerical limits. But those who suffer, their reward, without account, the patient ones will be given their reward with no numerical limits. And so fasting is a manifestation of patience. And so there's no numerical limits. So we think about that. We think wassamuli. We think about fasting not being a source of expiation for our offenses. When people come and they take our good deeds, if we have wronged and oppressed them. So we think about fasting not being an atonement for our wrongs. Every action the child of Adam undertakes is a source of expiation. And Allah says fasting is mine. I will reward the servant with that. So we mentioned fasting has no numerical limits. Here fasting is not a kafara. Therefore, when people take our good deeds, they can't take the reward of our song, of our fasting. And Imam Sufyan bin Uryayna, Rahimullah, he mentions that because of that, after all of our hasanat are gone, we've wronged so many people. Man il-muflis min umati kaala saala rasulullahi sallallahu alaihi wa salma wa salma man il-muflis min umati kaalu man la maala lahu ya rasulallah. They say one who has no wealth or messenger of Allah. They say that. I'm not talking about that. Well, I can man shatama haadha wa darabha haadha wa akhala maala haadha wa akhala maadha haadha. Yakhubu min hasanati, yakhubu min hasanati. Who's the bankrupt from my ummah, from my community? One who has no wealth or messenger of Allah. I'm not talking at that level. Rather one who comes yaw mil qiyamah, having insulted this one, and struck that one, and usurped the wealth of the other one. And then they will come and take from their good deeds. And some people have done so much wrong to others that all of their good deeds will be exhausted. At that point Allah will return to them the reward of their fasting and they will enter paradise based on the reward of their fasting alone. But this is what we think of. We should consider this. Wa saw muli illa sriyama fa inhuli. Except fasting, that is mine. Consider this brothers and sisters. Fasting is for one month. So eleven months are hours that don't involve Ramadan. Eleven months are hours. Of course we have our duties and obligations to Allah. But now one month is Allah's. The month of fasting illa sriyama illa sriyama fa inhuli. Where an HDB. One month is Allah's. Are we going to treat that month which is Allah's like we treat all of the other eleven which are ours? Or are we going to be especially diligent and vigorous in our worship? Are we going to be especially intense in our prayers and our supplications to our Lord during this great month? Are we going to just pray our Isha and spend fifteen, twenty-half an hour of time in Qiyam and then just go and do what we normally do. Go watch the basketball playoffs. Go listen to the news. Go watch whatever. Binge watch. Leave it to be for reruns. Or are we going to treat this month special? Are we going to treat this month like it really is Allah's? That this fast really is Allah's. And therefore it's different from our other acts. It's different from our other times. It's special. Hani and Nakum. Congratulations to all of you wonderful brothers and sisters that have treated this month like it's something special. You've come to the masjid. You've stood out in the cold at the beginning of the month. You worshipped Allah with passion, with fervent enthusiasm and may Allah reward you and give you the promised reward that He has promised. So brothers and sisters, let's give some time to Allah. Not that we don't, but let's treat it as if it's special as it actually is. During the nights where we might find leilatul qadr, let's go beyond. Let's not just count off the odd nights and say, I can slack up on the even nights. Let's consider the opinion that says the opinion that it's the odd nights of the last 10 days of Ramadan. And in that we don't know. And this is a sunnah that moon calculation has eliminated. Because they say we do know. And so we can schedule everything out years in advance. But before the people adhere to that opinion, people didn't know if it's going to be a 29 or 30 day month. Therefore, based on the possibility that it might be a 29 day month, the last first odd day of the last 10 days started on the 19th. Otherwise, they wouldn't follow you. We wouldn't follow the sunnah of keeping the last 10 days. For example, for anti cap, we'd start on the 20th and then it's a 29 day month and we got nine days and not 10. So let's work with the opinion that it's the odd nights of the last 10 days. If it's going to be a 29 day month, it starts on the 19th. So the 19, the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 29th. If it's a 30 day month, it starts on the 20th. Therefore, the odd nights would be the 20th, the 22nd, 24th, 26th, 28th, the 30th. And so this is one of the secrets for the Prophet s.a., keeping the whole tent and worship and reverence, seeking the night of power and not one day on and one day off. Another hadith will relay from Aisha, radiAllahu anha, and then we will bid you farewell and a good night. And that hadith is the following. When the last 10 days or nights of Ramadan entered the nights because of what he did, s.a., he would tighten his lower garment. Meaning he would get down to work. It's like we say in English, he rolled up his sleeves and got down to work. So the Araf says, shut them, it's Zahrahu. And it also means he avoided any contact with his wives, any relations with his wives, s.a., and he would spend his night in worship. And Aisha, he did that. And he would wake in his wives. So brothers and sisters, let us treat this as a special time. And may Allah reward you for making the sacrifice that you've made to reach this night of khatam. It's a tremendous sacrifice and it's difficult. It's not easy. It is not easy. But these are the nights, these are the nights of the beloved. These are the nights of the meeting with our beloved. And so we will sacrifice anything for that meeting. I was thinking of a verse of poetry that relates to what I'm talking about. So are you one who's sleeping with his night? How long will you sleep? How long will you sleep? Get up, O my beloved. The appointed time of the meeting is near. May Allah keep you all up. May we all make it to the appointed, to the appointment, the appointment with our Lord. And may we continue to do so after Ramadan. This is Imam Zaid Shakir. Jazakum Allah Khairan. Warm Salam. Salamu Alaikum to all of the wonderful brothers and sisters and friends there at the MCC. May Allah give you continued success. And we pray that we will be in your presence very soon. Jazakum Allah Khairan. Barak Allahu Fikum Wabikum Wabal Nassal Allah Al Subhanu Wa Ta'ala An Yubarik Lana Fima Baqiyya Min Ramadan. May Allah bless us in what remains of Ramadan. Wabal Ligna Laylat Al Qadr. And may Allah bless us to attain to the light of power. Wa Sallallahu Ala Sayyidina Wa Habibina Muhammadin Wa Aalihi Wa Sahbihi Wa Saldim As-Salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh Ramadan Mubarak.