 بسم الله الرحمن رحيم إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونستغفره ونتوب إليه ونعود بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيحات عمادنا من يخله الله فلا مُقِلَّ لها ومن يُدِّل فلا هاليا لها واشحد ولا إله إلا الله وحذور لا شريك لها وأشهد أن سيدنا محمد عبدوه ورسول يا أيها الذين آملوا التقوى الله حقا تقاته حقا تقاته ولا تنوتون إلا وأنتم مسلمون يا أيها الناس التقوى ربكم الذي خلقكم من نفسه واحدة خلق منها زوجها وبث منهما رجانا كثيرا ونساءة والتقوى الله الذي تساءذون به والأرحام إن الله كان عليكم رقيبا يا أيها الذين آمنوا التقوى الله وقولوا قولا سيدا يصلح لكم عامالكم ويوفلكم ذلوبكم ومن يطع إلاها ورسوله فقد فازه فوزا عظمة أما بعد فإن أصدقى الهديتي كتاب الله وخير الهدي هدي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وشر الأمور محدثاتها فكل محدثة بلعة وكل بلعة بلالة وكل بلالة في النار الحمد لله الحمد لله الذي أنزل على عبده الكتاب ولم يجعل له إواجاء الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنهتد لو لا أنهدان الله الحمد لله رب العالمين ألحا برزطو to الله سبحانه وتعالى بهي غورفايت and exotted الله سبحانه وتعالى has blessed us to enter into one of the best seasons or to be on the verge of entering into one of the best seasons of the year the winter the winter is a special time for the believer it's related from our prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم عن أبي سعيل المقدر رضي الله عن عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال الشتاء ربيع المؤمن طال ليله فقامه وقصر نهاره فصامه the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is related as saying a hadith related by various versions by man Ahmed, Imam al-Bayhaqi and others on the authority of every sa'id and al-Qudri that our prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he mentioned the winter is the springtime of the believer الشتاء ربيع المؤمن it's night so long طال الليله and therefore he stands for prayer during them فقامه and his days are short وقصر نهاره فصامه so he fast during the days so this is a season where it's easy to do قيام الليل or تهجد and it's easy to fast it's easy to do قيام الليل because the nights are very long so the person can either stay up after isha' and pray and still get a healthy portion of sleep or the person can sleep after isha' and wake up in the middle of the night and pray and still have time to return to sleep or the person can get up well before fadr after getting a good amount of sleep and pray and still have energy and vigor as they go through their daily activities because they've gotten an ample portion of sleep or into the length of the night طال الليله فقامه and the days it's easy to fast because the days are very short during November and December and January the days are very short and also they're very cool they're not half and so it's easy to fast so now the person will be fasting or in a couple of weeks from 6 in the morning until 4.30 at night in very cool days so it's not challenging and straining for the believer so this is a special time and one of the reasons that he mentioned are one explanation we can give we can't say the reason that would be around he has one way we can explain his making this parable between the time we can pray and the time we can fast extra and the springtime اشتعوا ربير المؤمن the winter is the springtime of the believer in the springtime there is much vegetation and so the animals they get fat in the springtime they fatten up the grass is fresh they're not eating dried grass they're eating fresh grass and the grass is very long it's not eaten over and burned out like it is in the summer months as we see here the hills are green in the springtime the grass is very tall so the animals and those of you from agrarian societies in your villages back home you know this very well that's the best milk because it's fresh grass and it's available in abundance and there's a lot of moisture in it and the water is also abundant so the animals get fat the cows their udders get very full with milk during the springtime and the milk is very sweet and so the Muslim fatten himself up or fatten herself up you know sisters don't like to use those words in the same sentence metaphorically speaking the believers fatten themselves up in the winter with the abundance of agrar and the abundance of thawab that here she can earn from the lengthy nights that they're standing for prayer that they will be challenged to stand for in the summertime when the nights are very short and the short days where they're fasting more than they were fast in the summer voluntarily because of the very long and very hot days which would challenge them to fast so brothers and sisters take advantage of this opportunity and we have another great blessing that Allah Ta'al has given us with the entrance of the winter so these two great virtues that are associated with the winter الشتاع الربيل المؤمن طال ليله فقاما وقصر نهاره فصاما the fasting and the prayer these are two great virtues that are also associated with the month of المحرم which we also are entering into what we've entered into so the season that we enter into the winter coincides this year with the season we enter into محرم and so when محرم is mentioned these two great virtues are also associated with it the Prophet ﷺ in terms of the fasting he mentions about Abu Hurraibah قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أو سوء إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عين الصيام أفضل بعد شهر رمضان فقال صلى الله عليه وسلم شهر الله الذي تدعونه المحرم so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم it is related by Abu Hurraibah that a man came to him and he asked him which fast is best after the obligatory fast of رمضان he said fasting the month of Allah شهر الله الذي تدعونه المحرم which you refer to as محرم so it said fasting if any month fasting its entirety the most virtuous of all months the fast in their entirety is the month of المحرم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أي صلاة أفضل بعد الفريغة فقال صلى الله عليه وسلم قيام الليل and he was asked صلى الله عليه وسلم this is the same hadith we broke it up he was asked which prayer rather is most virtuous after the obligatory prayer he said قيام الليل and there is specific hadith mentioning the virtue of قيام الليل المحرم so this is an opportunity for us brothers and sisters to get the virtue of fasting and praying also at a very special time the month of محرم so we should avail ourselves of this opportunity we should avail ourselves of is that الله تعالى is facilitated for us to pray and to fast because this is the essence of what we are doing on this planet الله تعالى mentions in quran off-sided verse where he says اللهم صلى الله عليه وسلم وما خلقت الجن والإنسى إلا لي عبدون I've only created the jinn and the human that they worship me and the two things that embody our worship and our devotion more than any other things they are the prayer and the fasting they're the prayer and the fasting other acts of worship they're not relevant for everyone so Zakat the pillars of Islam naturally the Shahada we enter into Islam but of our devotion but of our devotional acts the prayer and the fast are general for everyone and there are those who exempt it from fasting but they're a very small minority the prayer and the fasting are for everyone the Zakat is for those who possess an excess of wealth and the hot similarly those who have the wealth and the situation that allows them to go so those are situational and circumstantial but the prayer and the fasting is for everyone and it's available for everyone so when Allah سبحانه وتعالى encourages us to seek his help through two great means he's created to facilitate that what does he say seek the help of Allah literally with patience and prayer as many of the exigents remind us as-sabr as-sabri as-sriyami so sabr here means with fasting and with prayer as fasting is called our patience is sometimes referred to as fasting because fasting involves patience we have to refrain ourselves and we have to wait for the period to fast to break our fast we have to be patient with the pains that might come with fasting the headaches or the nausea or stomach ache we patiently deal with that difficulty we have to refrain from that which is lawful for us to say nothing to say nothing of refraining from that which is unlawful at all of our times and so that that involves rather restraining ourselves from that which is forbidden for us during the day of the fast and those are the three aspects basic aspects of patience patience has three basic aspects patience in dealing with the challenges that come and obeying Allah SWT so we're told not to use interest engage in interest that presents certain challenges for us to refrain from alcohol that presents challenges some people if I put alcohol in my store I could increase my profits exponentially and if I increase my profits I can have an easier life no we refrain from that and we deal with the hardship that might come from refraining from that just as we deal with the hardship the headaches or nausea or stomach ache that comes in refraining from food and drink during the day of our fast as long as it's not severe and will force us to break the fast or to be exempted from fasting we were sobru out in Mausia so in being patient in refraining from those things that constitute sin and rebellion against Allah so we refrain from those things that are sinful as we just mentioned selling alcohol consuming alcohol is sinful we refrain from it and that might involve hardship as we mentioned we're patient and obeying Allah and wasabru علي مصريبات and patience in the face of calamity so when we're tested with calamity we don't lose our cool we don't start blaming Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we don't engage in that which forbidden because we see it as something that we have a license for owing to the calamity that's befalling us no we're patient we're patient and we maintain our dignity and our composure we don't fall apart we don't start acting and talking and behaving like people who don't have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in their lives who don't understand the reality of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so those aspects of patients are involved in fasting there's مصريب as sometimes which is the physical pain there's refraining from that which is forbidden which are the food and drink and there's patience in persevering and obeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala patiently enduring the fast as it moves through the length of the day and patience in maintaining our dignity not moping around and trying to show people we're fasting they never know we're fasting just as they didn't know those Sahaba they were poor because of their dignity you would think they were well off and wealthy because of their refusal because of their self-reliance and self-restraint fasting and praying as we mentioned وستعينوا بالصبري والصلاة وما خلقتوا الجن والإنس إلا ليعبدون these are symbols of our worship and this is what humanizes us if Allah ta'ala says وما خلقتوا الجن والإنس إلا ليعبدون I've only created the jinn and humans that they worship me then this is the rationale for our creation we were created to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to the extent that we worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we humanize ourselves because we're doing what human beings were meant to do on this planet and to the extent that we we abandon the worship of Allah and we marginalize the worship of Allah then we denumanize ourselves and we sink down to the level of the animals because why do we fast why do we fast and what does it involve we fast seeking the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we fast implement the orders of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala كتب عليكم الصيام يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم الصيام كما كتب علي الذين من قرلكم لعلكم تتقون so it's been ordained for you this is a commandment for us this is why we fast we fast voluntarily to draw ourselves near to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ولا يزالوا عبدي يتقربوا إليه بالنواف الحتى أحبه my son my servant continues to draw close to me with the voluntary accent until I love him until I love her this is why we fast voluntarily this is why we fast obligatory this is why we pray our obligatory prayers this is why we get up in the middle of the night and we abandon our sleep and the comfort of our beds and we go to the cold water and we make wudu and we pray and we pray because we humanize ourselves and we maintain the legacy or the heritage of human excellence by so doing and when we abandon the prayer and we abandon the fast and we abandon the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we dehumanize ourselves and when we dehumanize ourselves what is left for us except to sink to the level of the animals Allah has created us to worship him as he mentioned in Hadith Qudsi يبنى آدم إني خلقتك عبادتي فلا تلعب oh son of Adam oh child of Adam fairly I've created you for my worship therefore don't play around إني خلقتك عبادتي فلا تلعب and so when we abandon the worship of Allah we sink down to the level of the animals and we consume ourselves and lose ourselves in the emptiness of sport and play all we do is play not out and we consume of sport and play and we amuse ourselves to death literally to spiritual death as opposed to bringing ourselves to life bringing ourselves to life so brothers and sisters take advantage of the opportunity to humanize yourself take advantage in what what is the locus of our humanity it is our hearts it is our heart ألا وإن في الجسد مضغطان إذا صلحة صلحة الجسد كله وإذا فسدت فسدت الجسد كله ألا وهي القلن وإن في الجسد there is an organ if it is sound the entire body is sound and if it is corrupt the entire body is corrupt barely it is the heart so our prayer and our fasting purifies our hearts and it renders our hearts and some say the heart is synonymous with the ruin this quality within us one opinion depending on the stage of its development can be called قل or روح or نفس or we specifically refer mentioning the heart because of the textual reference ألا وهي القلن this this organ is the heart and we purify it it becomes more receptive to the divine messages and divine their compatibility and receptability its compatibility and receptability with the divine message it is enhanced when our prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم mentioned حتى يكون هواه تبعني مجد to be so in a lower stage of development this quality is called هواه no one of you truly believes until their very inclination the whims that emanate in their soul are consistent with what I have brought حتى يفير التراحي of ثمه rather حتى غاية a goal that we move towards and how do we move towards that goal we move towards that goal with the worship of الله سبحانه وتعالى we move towards that goal with the remembrance of الله سبحانه وتعالى which is a manifestation of our worship and a quality which must for our worship to be meaningful must be in all of our worship وعقيم الصلاة لي ذكبي undertake the prayer for my remembrance وإن الصلاة تنه عن الفحشاء والمكر ولا ذكروا الله أكبر the prayer words of indecency and loneliness and the remembrance of Allah is greater the Hajj فذكروا الله عن المشعر الحرام وإذا فقطوا من عرفات فذكروا الله عن المشعر الحرام فذكروا كما هداكم وإن كنتم من قبل من قبل لمن أطبالي so when you go down فما عرفات remember Allah at the مشعر الحرام remember Him as He has guided you too وإذا يقديتم مناسيككم فذكروا الله كذكبي كذكبيكم أباءكم أو أشجد الذكراء and when you finish the rites then remember Allah as you remember your fathers or even more intensely so the Hajj the fasting all of them should be embodied in the dhikr of Allah and our tongue should be moist with the remembrance of Allah as we come and go throughout our day because this is what purifies our hearts and this is what brings us into the realm of divine love as Allah Ta'ala reminds us حديث خدسي which we partially call it but from the beginning of the Hadith عن عدي حريرة رضي الله علي عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فيما يرويه عن ربي عز وجال أنه قال من عاد لي وليا فقد أذنته بالحرم وما تقرب إليه عبد بشيء أحب إليه من مفتراته عليه ولا يزال عبد يتقرب إليه بالنوافل حتى أحبه وإذا أحببته فكنت سمعه الذي يسعر بي وطصره الذي يبسه بي ويده التي يبتش بها والرجله التي يمش بها ولا انسألني لورتيانه ونستعذني لوري ذنه وذلك بأخذ من المساعدة من هذه المساعدة التي يبتش بها أفضل الله ما يقول الله؟ يبتش بها ويأتي بأي حتى أحبه ومن أحبه أحبه ويأتي بها ويأتي بها ويأتي بها ويأتي بأي ويأتي بأي ومن مجرد من الان ويأتي بأي هذا هو المساعدة أخي которой لسنا تدفع هذا هو المساعدة من هؤلاءウائowaased بصوره هذا هو المساعدة when they speak the words touch the hearts of the people يمكنكم تجاحه까지 أنا ق and you can call that Daa'wah أنت ليس داوة ، يمكنك أن تقلق أخرى المسلمين على الأسلحة حتى تقلقوا بكتبك من داوة أنت ليس داوة ، داوة هي when the word that has become internalized in the depths of our soul emerges from our hearts through the translator of our tongue and sinks into the heart of another human being and that is what spread Islam to the far corners of the world that is what created the reality when we look around this masjid we see Muslims from all races and all ethnicities from all socioeconomic classes, male and female that universality is based on the universal nature of the heart and the worship of Allah SWT and the impact universal in terms of the impact they can potentially have on the hearts of any person regardless of their age, their race, their gender their ethnic, social, cultural, economic background this is what we need brothers and sisters this is what we need and when we do that we won't have to engage in public relation campaigns to try to improve the image of Islam that won't improve the image of Islam the image of Islam will be improved when our hearts are improved December which we know every year and when a proper Muslim question them now they fast in December we fast Ramadan Ramadan is the month of the Muslim fast now they fast Ramadan may they continue to grow but they said we are a baby nation so we have a baby fast December is a baby fast for a baby nation the shortest days of the year and some of the coolest days of the year so they were a baby nation so they had a baby fast so it's easy for us to do the baby fast during these days that we're entering to may Allah bless us to take advantage أقول لقول هذا أستغفر الله لي و لكم والسائر المؤمنين أقول لي الله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين سيدنا محمد و لآملي والصحبه والسلم تسلم كثيرا إن الله و ملائك أقول صالون على النبي يا أي حلدنا آمنور صلول عليه والسلم وتسلمه ما رضان و صل وسلم بارف على سيدنا و حبيبنا و نلينا و شفعنا و أصرولنا و كرة عيوننا محمد و على آله والصحبه والسلم تسلم كثيرا الحمد لله رب العالمين to conclude we'll make another reference to the heart الله تعالى mentions in the Quran ألم يقنين الندينا آمنوا أن تخشى قلوبهم لذكر الله وما نزل من الحق ولا يكونوا كالذين أوطوا الكتاب منهم قبل فطال عليهم والآمت فقست كلوبهم و كثيرهم منهم فاسقون الله تعالى mentions has the time not come for those who believe ألم يقنين للذين آمنوا that our hearts become reverent and humble through the remembrance of Allah و تخشى قلوبهم لذكر الله and what has been revealed of the truth and they don't be like those who preceded them and the time becomes long the time between them and their prophet or the revelation or for the convert the time they converted and then the time they're in now relatively speaking and their hearts become hard فقست كلوبهم و كثيرهم منهم فاسقون and many of them lose their moral bearings This can happen to us brothers and sisters What is the cure? يعلنوا أن الله يحيلهم الله يعلم at the beginning of the next verse you should know that Allah revives the earth after his death الله revives the dead earth with the life giving rain all this dead earth around us in a couple months or even less in a month إن شاء الله تعالى it will be brought back to life all this burnt out stubble on these hills will be lush and green in a couple months إن شاء الله if it's a normal winter الله will revive the physical earth with the rain and Allah revives the hearts with his remembrance تخشى خلوبهم لذكري الله يعلنوا أن الله يحيل الأرض بعد الموتها so when the hearts become hard and dried and burnt over like this earth around us sprinkle the remembrance of Allah on that earth brothers and sisters and watch it bring forth its vegetation but its vegetation isn't grass that you can eat but it's good character that will benefit people just as the grass benefits the grazing animals its truthfulness on the tongue its sincerity and the intention its fidelity and faithfulness in the covenants and oaths that's what the revived heart is bringing forth and Allah bless us to irrigate our hearts to saturate our hearts with his remembrance يحلدنا منذكر الله الذكرا كثيرة الله مغفير المسلمين والمسلمان والمؤمنين والمؤمنان أتحيائي منهم ولموت ربنا لا تذكروا بنا بعد إذهديتنا وحبلنا بالله دون قرحنا إنك أنت الوحام ربنا فرق علينا الصبر والتوب قديمنا وانصورنا علي القوم الكافريين ربنا فرق علينا الصبر والسبأقدامنا وتوفنا مسلمين مع withacióنا أنت مولانا فالصورنا علي القوم الكافريين اللهم اننا نعود بالك منło الحمي والحزن وانعود بالك من العجز والكثل وانعود بالك من الدنة ال VERD من قلب الدين قهر الرجال على المقسم لنا من خشات كما ترور به بيننا وبين الآصيك ومن طاعتك ما تبلغنا بها جنتك ومن اليقين ما يهوين علينا ما صائب الدنيا ومقعنا بأسمائنا وأسارنا وكواتنا ما احيتنا واجعله الوارث مننا واجعل فأرنا على ما انظالمنا وانصرنا على من عدانا ولا تجعل مصيبتنا في ديننا ولا تجعل مصيبتنا في ديننا ولا تجعل مصيبتنا في ديننا ولا تجعل الدنيا أكبر رحمنا ولا مبلغا المنا ولا تصدف علينا بذنوبنا من لا يخافك ولا يرحمنا يا أرحم الراحمين رعف عنا وفعلنا ورحمنا أنت نولانا فانصرنا على القوم الكافينين اللهم من أراد خيراً لهذه الامة المحمدية فوثقوا لكم لخير ومن أراد شرر لها وللمسلمين فخفوا أخذ عزيز المقتدير وجعل تدبيرهم تدميرهم اللهم عليك بعداع الإسلام أنت لو لنا فونصورنا على القوم الكافرين سبحان ربك رب العزة عما يصفون والسلام على المرسلين والحمد لله رب العالمين وصل الله وعلى سيدنا محمده وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم أقيم الصلاة يا رحمه يا رحمكم الله