 We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we send peace and blessings upon his last and final and most noble and most beloved Messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam And I encourage you and I encourage myself. I enjoin you and I enjoin myself I give you nasiha. I give myself nasiha to have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala To observe the limits the hudud of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Outwardly and inwardly Publicly and privately and with that we achieve taqwa and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us from the people of taqwa and Allah has given us this month of Ramadhan as a blessing and as a means to achieve taqwa This is a month that well Alhamdulillah that we have reached that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam used to wait for anxiously throughout the year At the sighting of each moon. He would say Alhamdulillah al-Ladhi adhab abishahri katha Praise be to Allah who has taken away such and such month and then he would name that month Wa ja abishahri katha and brought and then mentioned the month. Allahumma bellighna Ramadhan Oh, Allah allow us to reach Ramadhan This is something our noble Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam would do every single month and maybe we're not doing it Maybe at the beginning and the the the ends and the beginnings of the months We're not thinking about Ramadhan. Maybe we're not conscious about it. He was conscious about it and he is our model and When we look at the things that he looked forward to now we know the status the Qima the value of that thing And Alhamdulillah now we're in that month that he used to wait for Patiently and anxiously every single month When we look at the Quran and we're listening to the Quran and we're reading the Quran at the very beginning of the Quran is a description of the believers of Who we are of who a believer is what does it mean to be a Mu'min What does it mean to be a believer in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and then to contrast that there's a description of the kufar of the non-believers and Then also of the hypocrites of the Munafiqeen and we're listening to these We're listening to the Imams recite this during Taraweeh. We're reading this at home. We're listening to recordings of this We're reflecting on that and then also in the first parts of Surah Al-Baqarah or towards the middle The description of the believers and how they should be fasting during this month During Ramadan, so I want to take a few moments moments to reflect on some of the The wisdoms that we can search for in the way that Allah is telling us about this month It's important to look at the ayahs the verses of the Quran Individually and also how they're connected to each other and what are the lessons that Allah is telling us through that We see at the very beginning when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says yā ayyuhalladīna āmanu and he's speaking to us He's speaking not only to the believers at the time of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He's speaking to us as well As soon as you hold on to the belief of la ilaha illa Allah Muhammad Rasulullah, you are a believer and now every single khitab every single addressing in the Quran to the believers That's to you This is a message not just to people 1444 years ago This is a message to each and every single one of us. So when Allah says yā ayyuhalladīna āmanu He's speaking to you. He's speaking to me. He's honoring us by referring to us by that title khutiba alaykum al-sriyām this month this fasting of Ramadan has been obliged upon you Like it was obliged made far upon the people before you la ilakum taktaqūn So that you can find taqwa in this month So that you can find taqwa not that so we can become thirsty and hungry and tired as In the hadith of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam where he tells us that if a person does not leave foul things if we do not purify our tongues and purify our eyes and purify our Ears and purify our hearts. Allah doesn't need our hunger and our thirst That's not the point of the fast the point of the fast is so that we can use it as a platform as a Method to work towards taqwa. We already have taqwa. Alhamdulillah. If you are a believer in your fasting, you have taqwa We need to now work on increasing that taqwa So this is a month of fasting in preparation for this month sometimes you will see that Sometimes people are looking at the ahkam of the fasting. They're reviewing. Okay, what breaks the fast? What doesn't break the fast especially if they have a very unique situation? Maybe medically Physically, whatever it might be and that is important. It's important to understand the rulings And when we read those ayahs that Allah is telling us about the fasting you'll see various rulings various ahkam You have to do it. This is when you start. This is when you break the fast This is allowed for you at night and you can see the Quran is full of ahkam of fiqh of laws That's part of our deen. So we have to know that as a base. What makes our fast sound? What breaks our fast? When do we owe a kafara? When do we owe an explanation? When do we have to make it up alone? When do we owe have to make it up and do qadha all of those rules are very important But it's not the end of the fast. That's not the end purpose of the fast. What is the fast? Preparing us for in the next ayah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or two ayahs left after that Shahru Ramadan al-Ladhi unzila fihi al-Quran He's reminding us that this month is the month that the Quran was revealed in This is not only a month of fasting. It's also a month of Quran We have to remind ourselves about that because in the nights when we're not fasting or for those people for whatever reason They're not able to fast for various reasons. It's still the month of the Quran for them a Person doesn't lose access to Ramadan because they're not fasting It's a month of fasting and also a month of the Quran a month of reconnecting us with the Quran We're listening to it in the masjid. We're reading it ourselves. We're listening to recordings of it We're trying to get a better understanding of the Quran Maybe it's through learning the Arabic so we can understand what it's saying or if we have the Arabic then we're looking in the tafsir We're looking in the explanations. We're listening to people explain parts of the Quran We're reading it and reflecting it ourselves to make that connection that personal connection to the Quran That's also a very important thing for us to remember We have to have a personal connection to the Quran read it The way you would read an email directed to you a text message to you You open it up. You see those bold things you get it. We get excited. We want to click on that Who's what are they telling me in that email? What are they telling me in the text message in the same way each one of those eyes? And it's the everlasting miracle that will always be speaking to you many people have had this experience where We're reading the Quran. They're reading the Quran. They're thinking about something They're feeling something and then all of a sudden an Aya is mentioned there there was one story of a person who a Person who was interested in Islam and he was reading about Islam and it became convinced of Islam And his story is available on the you on the internet. You can watch him say this He's convinced of Islam and he wants to take a Shahada But then he puts he's reading the Quran and he puts the Quran down and he says ya Allah just give me a sign Just give me one sign. I'm ready. I just want a sign He puts the Quran down and he's looking around. He's looking for some major sign like a shooting star or something Nothing happens. He looks at it. He reads the Quran again Then closes it and say ya Allah. I'm ready to do this. I just need a sign. Just give me a sign even even if it's a little sign Nothing happens What's going on here? He opens up the Quran the very next Aya that he was reading. Haven't we given you enough signs? Of course at that point he took a Shahada Masha Allah and became Muslim It's a true story of the Quran speaking to a person I know other people that when they're reading the Quran they put it down and they might have stopped in Surat al-Murq on Oh, let me get a little tiny folk of them Do they not look at the birds above them put it down and then all of a sudden a bird is right in front of them We can have that connection to the Quran where the Quran is alive in that way and speaking to us How do we get that? How do we get that that connection to the Quran? This is a month where we can develop more of that more of that connection. It's a month of fasting so we should be making sure that we're doing the fast properly and that we're We're following all of the rules and we know all of the rules and we're connecting to the Quran and We're connecting to the Quran A few ayahs later Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says And if you're and if my servants Ask me about ask you about me. Tell them that I am near This is the ayah telling us and that he responds to the to the dua To the calling upon of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So now the way I see the some of the wisdoms in the Way the ayahs are there. You're fasting. Here's some of the rules. It's a platform getting you closer to taqwa This is a month of the Quran Do I call upon me? These are the days and these are the nights when we're fasting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is answering our dua and In the nights. He's answering our dua and Then after that and a few a few more ayahs after that what I tell you I'm going to convey to come back to do not eat And devour the wealth amongst you in falsehood What is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala telling us this look go back to those ayahs like ayah 185 and onward and look on it What is what's going on here? Allah is telling us about the fast and telling us it's the month of the Quran and Telling us to make dua which is our connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala direct our worship Ibadah That's an important connection to make and then he tells us about Transactions business transactions make sure that you do your business transactions properly Make sure that you're not Transacting with each other in falsehood cheating people making false contracts false Oqud facida Invalid contracts taking advantage of people manipulating people This dean is not just about our own Personal connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and our Ibadah and our worship and our dua and our recitation of the Quran That one of the first tests. How are you interacting with other people? That's the lesson behind here. So it's not just business interactions It's any type of interaction we have with another human being Muslim or not muamala Do we have hussnul muamala? Do we have good interactions? Do we have the type of interactions that if somebody saw that interaction? They say that's a Muslim That's not only a Muslim. That's a Muslim who fasts and reads Quran They can see from our actions people don't want to hear They don't want a pamphlet shoved in their face about what this dean is. They want to see action They want to see that your belief translates into actions and interactions with them So many people will cheat others take advantage. Oh, I came up Oh, I was able to skirt the system over here. Is that the way a Muslim is? Is that what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants from us just to fast and just to read Quran But then when it comes to interactions, then all of a sudden we're it's the law of the jungle So those are four things that that we take from there and how do we do that? How do we achieve that? One of the best ways is the connection to the Quran And it might be that our connection through the Quran throughout the year Has become weak. Maybe we weren't regular in our connection to the Quran in our reading of the Quran and This month is a recharge for us. We're able to reconnect with the Quran The Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, one time said on the authority of Ibn Umar, radiallahu anhu maa He said Inna hadihil quloob tasda'u kama yasda'u al hadid these hearts Meaning our hearts Will rust Just like iron will rust So the Sahaba they didn't leave it at that. They wanted to know okay if the hearts get rusty if you know anything about tools You know that rust is not a good thing Rust is not a good thing on anything metal in a computer and a car and an airplane nothing the next question If you understand tools in a kitchen in a mechanic shop, whatever it might be we need to remove that rust And the Sahaba could see that there's a Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is giving them an image They're understanding it and now they're interacting with the revelation from the Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through his Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he said they said yeah, Rasulullah, wama jala'u ha How can you how can you remove it? He said kathratu zikril mot mention or think about remember death a lot What he law at the Quran and the recitation of the Quran? This month is a month that we're cleaning the rusts from our heart This is a month that we're able to through the Qira of the Quran, and it might just be the Recitation even if we don't have understanding the recitation itself will repair the hearts will remove that rust And so as it's removed as we remove the rust from the hearts We'll start seeing actions. We'll start seeing change. We'll start seeing more compassion in our interactions We'll start seeing more sincerity in our Ibadah. We'll start seeing more truthfulness in the way we speak with each other We'll see more Dedication to this Dean will see the effects of the Quran on our lives and only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Give us that I mean ya Rabbi al-Alamin We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us a connection to the Quran We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us from the people who have inherited the Quran. Allahumma. Jalna min al-Ladina Or rough to whom the Quran or Allah make us from amongst the people that you have given as an inheritance the Quran your book your final message to all of the The world I mean ya Rabbi al-Alamin Alhamdulillah was salatu was salamu ala Rasulillah We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we send peace and blessings on upon his last and most noble and final messenger Muhammad Salallahu alaihi wa salam, and I enjoy you and I enjoy myself To have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to observe the limits and the orders of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala outwardly and inwardly Publicly and privately and with that we will achieve taqwa and be from the mutaqeen Oh Allah make us from amongst the mutaqeen when we think about this When this about this month of the Quran and this month of fasting and this month of Clearing the rest from our hearts and this month of being better in our interactions We can make goals for ourselves and Ramadan is a great month to be able to do that and we can each right now Think of one goal one thing that we can change in ourselves and at the end of the day There's nobody who knows you better than yourself from amongst the human nobody knows you better than yourself You are an expert on yourself. You know yourself inside and out only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Knows you better than yourself from amongst the ibad. Oh, you know yourself better than others and you know we know I know What I can change about myself one small change that in this month Through the fasting and through the dhikr and through the Quran and through the tarawih and through the the late nights in the early mornings and Sadaqat and all the good that we're doing all of the ibad that what's one thing that I can change so that I can come out of this month Different and so that this Ramadan can be different than last Ramadan that I can be a better person this Ramadan What's one small change that we can make in ourselves in our ibadah in our worship? Then what's one small thing that we can do in the way we interact with another person our? Spouse our children our parents our co-workers our employees our employer our neighbors fellow human beings wherever they may be What's one small thing that I can do that we can each do? Ask ourselves that one small thing So that the effects of the fasting and the effects of the tilawah of the Quran have an effect on our hearts and are shown Can we make a commitment to speak nicer to our spouse? To our children to our parents to our co-workers in this month So that they can see that this is not just oh you're Muslim you're fasting this month No, they can people human beings around us will see something's different about you the effects of that Quran have now come into your body And the best example and I'll end on this the best best example of the Quran being embodied in a body Is the blessed body of the Messenger of Allah? Salallahu Alaihi Wasalaam When Aisha radiallahu anha was asked What was his character like? What was he like? What was his khuluq? She said kana khuluq khuluq Quran his khuluq his character were the Quran So if we want to know who he was He never wrote a tafsir. He never wrote an explanation of the Quran But if we want to know the Quran explained we look at his life so another thing that we can do during this month in Getting closer to the Quran is get closer to the Messenger of Allah Salallahu Alaihi Wasalaam to read about his life and about his seerah and about his shemael about his description if we don't have Whatever understanding we have of him Salallahu Alaihi Wasalaam We want to increase it during this month so that we can be that much closer to him and that much closer to the Quran and that much closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us from amongst the people of taqwa We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us a complete fast during this month Ya Allah ma taqabil siyamana wa qiyamana Oh Allah accept our fasts and our standing in the nights in prayer Allahumma jaalna min al-muttaqeen. Oh Allah make us from amongst the people of taqwa Allahumma rahmeh al-muslimina wal muslimat wal mu'minina wal mu'minat and oh Allah give, send down mercy upon the Muslims and the believers in all of the all of the lands especially those who are oppressed and under oppression Amin Ya Rabbi al-Alamin. Aqool al-Qa'ool al-Hadi wa Astaghfirullah Ali walakum wa Aqeem al-Sulaa