 We begin by praising Allah SWT as He is most worthy and deserving of all praise. We ask Allah to accept of us, from us, all that we have done in the month of Ramadan, all that we intended to do and all that we intended to do perhaps fell short. May Allah accept all of it from us. May Allah SWT bless us individually, collectively keep us safe and healthy. May Allah SWT bless His Noble Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam to bless His Noble Companions, His family and the righteous everywhere. I mean by the fadal of Allah SWT we find ourselves having celebrated Eid in the month of Sha'wal. This is a month of course that proceeds after the month of Ramadan. And I want to use this as an opportunity for us to reflect upon the month that has passed and the context with which I want to do that is to examine a verse, to look at a verse, to remind us of a verse from the Quran. And this verse actually proceeds, comes directly after the verses that speak about Ramadan and fasting. This is in Surah Al-Baqarah in the 186th verse of that Surah. As I said this verse, and I will translate and we'll discuss the verse voluntarily, proceeds comes directly after the command for fasting, which is 183. Then 184 that the month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran is revealed. So it directly connects the month of Ramadan with the Quran, certainly with fasting. And then the verses in between speak about some of the legal issues, the fiqh issues that we often think about in the month of Ramadan. When is it appropriate for me to not fast? When can I break my fast? And so on. The moon, the presiding of the moon. Allah says He does not desire for us. He desires for us ease, does not desire for us difficulty. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us of this verse here. When my servants ask you about me. So let's pause here for a moment and see what's happening. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is of course speaking to His Prophet Muhammad, sahubahu alaihi wa saddam, to the Prophet that O Messenger of Allah, when they, when my servants ask you about me. Now this type of a verse or conversation, if you will, dialectical happens often in the Quran, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say yes aloonaka for example. They ask you. They ask you, meaning they're asking the Prophet and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving an answer. Yes aloonaka and then for say O Messenger of Allah, so on and so forth. Answer the question. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is engaging the Prophet similarly here, similarly here. Yes. When my servants ask you about me. Now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about the servants of Allah. Which is plural of right. We are all servants of Allah inshaAllah, servants of our Lord and Creator. When my servants plural ask you about me. And Ibad ends with a yaa instead of a kasra. And in the Arabic that structure defines or denotes a kind of expansion. Meaning that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about all of my servants when they ask you about me. Any servant of Allah that asks you about me. Anni. Anni is about me in the Arabic where we translated as that. But anni is also kind of distant. So Allah is not distant or Allah is using this expression here. And this is a conditional sentence in Arabic. They ask when my servant asks you about me. Typically it'll say then. And say. As I said earlier. They ask you about something. Here's the answer. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't do that here. He immediately switches from the third person. Meaning one of my servants asks you about me in the third person. And then Allah is immediately switching to the first person. Fa inni qari. I am near to them. I am indeed near. And Allah. So this change in the grammar between the third person and the first person. Allah is foregoing for a moment here. The messenger of Allah. Meaning that he's not using the interlocutor of the Prophet. But rather he is responding directly to the servants who ask about Allah. And the context of revelation is also important. The asbab of this verse. The Mufassirin tell us that because these verses proceeded after the verses that discuss Ramadan. That the community was feeling despondent, dejected. They felt inadequate. That perhaps their Ramadan something was deficient lacking in their fast. Perhaps they weren't doing enough. And imagine that all of us have or should have because we are never doing enough. But have a sense of deficiency in terms of did I do enough this month? Did I avail myself of all of the opportunities that Ramadan afforded me? Or was I somehow deficient? Was I somehow inadequate? I imagine there were all there were things that all of us could have done more of in the month of Ramadan. Fast being more mindful of Tila'u at-ul Quran. Reading in recitation of the Quran. Praying the tarawih prayers or the nafila prayers. Reading as much of the Quran and adhkar remembering God. So on and so forth. So I imagine all of us feel a sense after Ramadan passes that did I do enough? Or that where am I with my relationship to Allah now that Ramadan has passed? Because I should have developed a relation. I should be closer. Or I should feel more connected to my religion. To my faith. To Allah. And so all of us have some opportunity to reflect on and feel a sense that perhaps we didn't do enough. And Allah swt is speaking to us here. He's saying don't feel dejected. Don't feel despondent or inadequate. I respond to the supplication. To the dua of the supplicant. Of the person who calls upon me every time they call on me. That's what the Arabic is. Allah doesn't say that he responds to the dua. He says wujibu da'ua. He responds to the da'ua. The frequency. As much as we call him. Not just this instance. All instances. And wujibu is the verbal form that means continuous. Allah will continue to respond to us. If we ask him. If we call upon him. Wujibu da'ua. That's the condition. We have to call on Allah. We have to call on Allah and then be rest assured that God is going to respond to us. That Allah will respond to our supplications. Our supplicant. As a supplicant. Allah will respond to us. In some form or fashion. And so we don't need to feel dejected or inadequate. Because Allah is always near. We don't need to feel that Ramadan has passed us. And I no longer have the ability. The opportunity. To connect with Allah. Because Allah is Qari. Allah is always near. Allah is always near to us. And always willing and ready. To call. To respond. To our invitation. To our da'ua. To our dua. To our beseeching Allah. And asking Allah sincerely. For what we desire. For what we want. For what we need of Him. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is indeed always close. And then the verse continues. This is the conditional sentence as well. But let them. Meaning the servants of Allah who call upon me. Who require whether I'm near or far. Let them then respond to me. Let them respond. Let them answer. To what I am calling them to. This faith. This religion. This tradition of ours. Devotion. And obdia to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Devotion. And servitude to God. Allah saying respond to that call. What you mean to me. And believe in me. And iman itself is. Has a sense of protection. Trust. Sanctity. A feeling of being protected. Amen. Is to protect. To be. To feel safe. Our iman. Our faith. Should give us a feeling of safety. That we are safe with Allah. That we are. We have an opportunity to speak to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In a way that is secure and safe and direct. We can connect to Allah. We can connect to our Lord. So yes brothers and sisters Ramadan has passed. But the opportunities to connect with Allah. To connect with God. To connect with our religion. To connect with the Book of Allah. Those opportunities have not passed. Those opportunities are everlasting. Are everlasting. And are always present. We always have the ability. When we choose to do so. If and when we choose to do so. To connect with our rubber. To connect with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so let us all continue. Whatever we began in the month of Ramadan. It shouldn't end with shawwal. But rather it should continue. And this is why one of the praise worthy actions. In the month of shawwal are to fast the six days of shawwal. Because we can continue that progress. That journey that we began in Ramadan. Doesn't need to end when Ramadan ends. And Ramadan may have passed and ended. But the Lord of Ramadan. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is ever present. And is ever near. And so I pray. I hope that we all can avail ourselves. Of the opportunities to connect with God. To connect with Allah. To pray to God. To beg Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. To accept us. To forgive us. To forgive us of our shortcomings. Our deficiencies. Our lackings. May Allah bless us. May Allah keep us safe. And our families safe. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In the Noble Qur'an. In the Noble Qur'an. In the Noble Qur'an. In the Noble Qur'an. In the Noble Qur'an.