 We begin by praising Allah as He is most worthy and deserving of all praise. We ask Allah and we ask Allah alone to guide us, to prevent us from being misguided and from misguiding others. And we ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to forgive us of our shortcomings, our sins, those that we commit knowingly and those that we commit unknowingly. And finally we ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to bless His noble Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, to bless His noble companions, His family and the righteous everywhere. Respecting brothers and sisters, we find ourselves by Allah's Father at the cusp at the very beginning or near the very beginning of the month of Ramadan. We are in the final days of Sha'ban. And before you know it, as I imagine many of us feel, we are already and we will already find ourselves in the midst of Ramadan. And so I want to talk to you and speak with you today briefly about Ramadan and the opportunities that the month presents for us and to us. And it is indeed by Allah's Father that we still find ourselves in good health, in good being, in good status and certainly alive to experience this beloved month of Ramadan. Because this is a unique opportunity not only in this particular year but also for a lifetime to be able to enjoy and to be able to achieve the blessings that the month of Ramadan affords us. And I say that deliberately because I think oftentimes we think of Ramadan or we fall into a tendency of just saying well we find another Ramadan upon us. And that's not the ideal mindset certainly to approach the month of Ramadan with. Because the month of Ramadan and by that I mean every single Ramadan presents unique opportunities and presents unique challenges. But those unique opportunities are for blessings that are attained and can be attained only in this particular month. And by that I mean Ramadan of 2018, Ramadan of the Hijri year, this particular Ramadan. Because the blessings that you have in store for us or that we have in store for us individually and collectively are those blessings that Allah SWT has prescribed for us to achieve and to be blessed with in this month of Ramadan. But as we approach the month of Ramadan, I think it's important for us to remember a few things or a few sort of introductory or mindset, the way we can refocus our mindset with regards to how it is that we approach the month of Ramadan. And so first and foremost as a reminder to myself and to all of us that Ramadan is a catalyst. And as a catalyst goes it is there to expedite things. It is there to make things more powerful, more significant. It serves a function. And so when I say Ramadan is a catalyst, I mean that it is an opportunity for us to recalibrate our focus with regards to how we and what our relationship is first and foremost with Allah SWT. But also what is our relationship with the book of Allah, with the Quran? And as we'll talk about momentarily, this is a month that celebrates the or what makes one of the features that makes the month of Ramadan so significant is that it is a month of the Quran. It is a month of the Quran even more so than it is a month of fasting and I'll explain what I mean shortly. But the fact is that the month of Ramadan affords us an opportunity to increase in our relationship with Allah, his book, his prophet, all of the ibadat that we are able to achieve and able to do in the month of Ramadan. So Ramadan is that catalyst that's there to allow us to recalibrate our focus, to be resolved in what we want to achieve in the month of Ramadan. Ramadan beyond being a catalyst is a boot camp. And by that I mean it is a month of 29 to 30 days where we must give it our all. And much like any other boot camp we are going to have challenges in that month. These days are going to be long. These days may be very hot. And so certainly that poses a challenge for us physically. We may have challenges that are unique to us individually. That is to say something that is unique challenges that we face. Perhaps we've been not as diligent in our ibadat to Allah SWT. Perhaps we've seen some of our prayers not have that khushua, that tranquility. Or perhaps we've not been as regular with our prayers as we would like. Or perhaps we haven't been able to strengthen our resolve with regards to how we our relationship with the book of Allah. Perhaps we've been negligent in recitation of the Qur'an on a frequent or daily or any kind of with any great deal of frequency. And so what this month of Ramadan allows us is that it allows us an opportunity in these 29 to 30 days to really give it our all. And to engage in the ibadat to engage in the recitation of the Qur'an. So that we can strengthen our relationship with Allah SWT. But much like any boot camp brothers and sisters. Is that what really the challenge or what the opportunity of a boot camp, if you will, presents. Is that the lessons that we learn, the activities that we do in these 29 or 30 days. That these are activities and opportunities that we should avail ourselves for the rest of the year. For the remainder of the year. It's not just something that we do in the month of Ramadan. So if you are increasing in your salawat, in your prayers. If you're increasing in your recitation of the Qur'an. It's not just meant for the sake of the month of Ramadan alone. But rather Ramadan affords us an opportunity to engage in these practices. So that we can continue those practices for the remainder of the year. It allows us an opportunity to increase in these things. Not so that they fall to the wayside as soon as shawwad hits. But rather they continue for the remainder of the year. So yes Ramadan is a catalyst. Yes Ramadan is that boot camp. But if this is the sprint. If Ramadan is seen as the sprint. If any of you run on any occasion. You know that a sprint is where you run at your fastest. With full speed you give it your all. And it's usually for a shorter distance of time. But Islam is not a sprint. Our relationship with Allah or our relationship with His Book. Or our relationship with His Deen is not a sprint. It's a marathon. It is a marathon. We're in it for the long haul. We're in it for the long period. And so if Ramadan is the sprint. Then what we are preparing ourselves for is the marathon. This is the month that we can prepare ourselves for the longevity of our relationship with Allah. That's what Ramadan is. If Ramadan is the sprint and it is. Remember that Islam and our relationship with this Deen is a marathon. It's for the long run. It's for the long term. And so that is how we should collectively and individually calibrate our mindset as we begin to approach the month of Ramadan. And so now, beyond the mindset alone. We can begin to look at some of those Deen, some of those qualities that are unique and essential to this month of Ramadan. As we all know, Allah SWT says that the very purpose The very purpose of the month of Ramadan is In the oft-repeated verse that we hear probably more often than ever in the month of Ramadan or in the days preceding Ramadan is the verse in Surah Al Baqarah where Allah SWT ordains fasting upon us. So, oh you who believe, oh people of faith fasting has been ordained for you, has been prescribed to you. As it was ordained and prescribed to people before you to communities and nations that came before you. There is a illa here. There is a purpose. So that you may develop God consciousness. And the word Takwa, brothers and sisters comes from Waqaya in the Arabic language. And Waqaya means to prevent oneself or to prevent oneself from certain things or to protect oneself. So it is an act of prevention and an act of protection. And what we are preventing ourselves from as we know in the month of Ramadan is even those things that are lawful to us. We are preventing ourselves from even those things that are lawful. We're allowed to drink water. We're allowed to drink juices and enjoy the bounties of the food and beverages that Allah has given us. We're allowed those things. But in the month of Ramadan we give up even the lawful. Even those things that are lawful. Why? So that we may achieve God consciousness. But Waqaya also signifies a kind of protection. Because as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reminded us that fasting, a Siam, that fasting is a shield. It protects us. And the way in which fasting protects us and preserves us is that when we engage in giving up even the lawful, even those things that are lawful, then what can we say of those things that are unlawful? So by challenging ourselves to even give up those things that we are allowed to enjoy, those things that are permitted to us day in and day out, it is a reminder that we should be protecting ourselves, preventing ourselves from engaging in the unlawful. In those things that are unlawful to us either in the month of Ramadan or outside of the month of Ramadan. So we give up even the bounties of Allah so that we can strengthen ourselves. So that we can strengthen our spirits, our resolve, so that we can protect ourselves and shield ourselves from those things that are forbidden to us. And that is what the month of Ramadan affords us an opportunity. The God consciousness that we are to achieve and obedience to God that results from that God consciousness is the purpose of the month of Ramadan. And so when we fast day in and day out, when we turn up to the masjid to offer the tarawih prayer, the night vigil prayers, when we engage in the extra asghar and the extra recital of the Quran, when we engage in it asghar in spiritual retreat in the last and final days of the month of Ramadan, all of that has a purpose. And that purpose is to achieve God consciousness because God consciousness once achieved it will lead to obedience. It will lead to obedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that is the purpose of the month of Ramadan. But to move beyond this takwa as a lesson, as I said, that the month of Ramadan even more than being a month of fasting is a month that celebrates the Quran. And what do I mean by that? This verse that I just recited that is often recited in conjunction with Ramadan. O you who believe fasting is prescribed to you. This verse was actually not revealed in the context of the month of Ramadan. That is to say that this was revealed before the prophetic community was prescribed to fast in the month of Ramadan. It was simply a reminder to the believers that fasting was prescribed to them like it was prescribed to earlier communities, the earlier nations, Jews and Christians and other faith communities that came before the Muslim community, the prophetic community, that they also fasted. And so it was a reminder of the fact that these earlier communities practiced this form of ibadah, this form of worship, fasting. The context of this verse was not Ramadan. It was not a prescription or Allah was not ordaining the fast of Ramadan but rather simply the ibadah of fasting. The ibadah of Siam was what was revealed or ordained in this verse. And so this verse speaks not specifically to Ramadan. But interestingly enough, the verses that follow that verse in which Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, actually names explicitly shahlu Ramadan. He talks about it in the context of what? Shahlu Ramadan al-Ladhi unzida fihi al-Quran. Hudadi al-Nas Wa bayyanati min al-Qudab al-Furqan. That the month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed as a source of guidance for all of humanity and as a criterion to distinguish between right and wrong as a Furqan, as a criterion by which we judge. And so the month of Ramadan is inextricably connected with revelation, with Wahi, with the Quran, with the Book of Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And we know, according to the prophetic biography, that revelation began for the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, by the vast majority of opinions in the month of Ramadan. That it was the habit of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to engage in a kind of spiritual retreat in this month where he would go to the caves and he would engage in a kind of vigor and a kind of self-reflection. Yet to hannah is what the hadith tells us, that the Prophet would engage in this kind of exercise of adkaar and remembering his Lord and self-reflection and devotion. And so it was during this time that the Angel Jibril al-Ali sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reveals or begins the process, the revelatory process, the process of revelation. And so the month of Ramadan, what makes it unique and apart from the other months, yes, we fast in it, but the true connection to the month of Ramadan is with the revelation of the Qur'an. And so this is Shahru Qur'an. This is the month of the Qur'an. And so this is why the scholars tell us, the ulama, they tell us, and our spiritual elders inform us that the best form of ibadah in the month of Ramadan is recital, is tilawatul Qur'an, is the recital of the Qur'an. Whether we know it, whether we understand its meaning or not, that simply engaging in tilawah is the best form of ibadah in the month of Ramadan. Now I say that and some people say, well brother we're supposed to read the Qur'an and understand it and we're supposed to reflect on it and we're supposed to implement it. All that is true. But in the month of Ramadan uniquely, it is the tilawah of the Qur'an. Just recital as much as possible. That is the best form of worship. And this is why in Muslim tradition throughout our history, our intellectual history, the various schools and madrasahs in where educational endeavors would take place, in the month of Ramadan they would close the books of tafasir, they would close the books of commentary, they would close the books of law and jurisprudence and theology and grammar and rhetoric and everything else will be put aside, except the book of Allah. And the students would engage only in tilawah because that is the most beloved devotional act that we can do in the month of Ramadan. And so we, it is our challenge then, whether we have been recalcitrant, we've been negligent in how we've been reciting the Qur'an or how often, whether it's gathering dust on our bookshelves, regardless of where we are with our relationship to the book of Allah, this is the month. This is that catalyst. This is that catalyst. This is that boot camp that we can recalibrate and reconnect with the book of Allah SWT. Finally brothers and sisters, the month of Ramadan is a reminder of the fact that we belong to a community, that we belong to a community. We are not individuals that but rather we find happiness and joy and meaning and comfort and fraternity and sorority in our communities. And the month of Ramadan is a month in which by the fuddle of Allah SWT we have an opportunity to reconnect with our community. If we've been, again, absent, if we haven't been able to dedicate as much time as we would like in the house of Allah with our fellow brothers and sisters, then Ramadan allows us an opportunity to celebrate and to reconnect with our community. And this is why so many things that occur in the month of Ramadan are communal and not individual. They are collective. We come every night and we gather and we recite and we stand in prayer in the Tariq prayers. This is a form of communal worship. This is a form of communal ibadah. We have opportunities to feed others who are fasting. We have opportunities to celebrate and break fast with our kith and kin, those that are close to us. Even strangers, we break fast with members of our community and we celebrate this community and we celebrate those things that make this community so beautiful, so unique, so special. And so this month of Ramadan is an opportunity for us to connect with and engage with our communities. And so we pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala affords us all the ability to achieve all of the blessings that we can possibly achieve in the month of Ramadan. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us all success, gives us all the energy and the commitment that we need to fulfill the best that we can be in the month of Ramadan and to achieve the utmost in this blessed month. In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful. After the return of the devil, Allah says in a very brief way, he will dress you with your servants and he will forgive you your sins, and whoever Allah and His Messenger has, he will be a great victory. O my beloved ones, may Allah be pleased with them. O my beloved ones, may Allah be pleased with them. May Allah be pleased with our master, and with the family of our master, and may Allah be pleased with them. O our Lord, take us, our children, our parents, our children, our beloved people, our Lord, do not raise us without our forgiveness and forgiveness, we forgive you and we forgive you, you Mawlana, let us be relieved of this torture for the people of the infidels. O my heart, the hearts of your religion have become stable. O my heart, the hearts of your religion have become stable. May Allah be pleased with us in your sake, and may God bless us. May Allah be pleased with you, and may God bless you. May your Lord bless you. Wa Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen Wa Aqeel Al-Sara'ah