 We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as He is most worthy and deserving of all praise. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us of our shortcomings, our sins. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept of our Ramadan all that we did and all that we intended to do but perhaps failed to do but may Allah accept all of our intentions and our actions. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless His noble Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, to bless His noble companions, His family and the righteous everywhere. I mean, may He be blessed. We find ourselves by the fatala of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the month of Sha'wal, second of Sha'wal. We all celebrated the Eid yesterday, insha'Allah. And it is an opportunity for us to reflect upon the blessings of the month of Ramadan to evaluate perhaps what we accomplished, what we attempted to accomplish and where we may have fallen short. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us of our shortcomings. Ramadan is an interesting opportunity for us to evaluate and gauge where we are with our relationship to Allah and His Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Ramadan is an opportunity for us to evaluate where we are with our relationship with our Creator. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the verse that I want to speak about today wa idha sa'ala karibadi anni fahinni kari wujibu dahu wa tadahi idha la'ani fal yastajibu li wal yubi nubi la'allahum yarshidun. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in this verse is found in Surat al-Baqarah and interestingly enough this verse follows, proceeds after the verses that we have reflected upon in past Jumas I imagine in the month of Ramadan which speaks specifically to fasting which speaks specifically to Shahru Ramadan and then detail some of the legal elements of the fast when we can abstain from fasting if you're traveling or if you're ill and so on and then this verse comes which is the 186th verse of this Surah and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when my servants ask you about me let's pause for a moment here and reflect upon what is happening Allah is speaking to who? Allah is speaking to His Habib, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam His Prophet, our Habib and he is saying to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when they ask you about me and here it's interesting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses ibadih and ibadih ends with the ya here instead of just a kasra and the ya here in the Arabic language is expensive it's broad when all of my servants, when any of my servants ibadih ask you about me this is a conditional sentence in the Arabic language typically in the Quran we find where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says he says they ask you a prophet of Allah they ask you Ya Rasulullah about so and so matter such and such matter and then the response comes say to them here's the answer but here the conditional sentence is instructed that way Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't say and say that I am near rather he switches from the third person to the first person immediately drawing us close near to him and also Ya Sallahu Alaihi Wasallam ibadih is kind of distance there's a distance so it's afar they ask you about me and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is immediately switching to the first person this is in the Arabic language again Arabic rhetoric where the person switches third person to the first person immediately and this again denotes the sense of closeness and nearness that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is forgoing the interlocutor of the prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he is responding directly to the person to the servant of Allah who asks about him I am indeed near I am indeed close and when we look at the asbab the context of revelation of this verse the Mufasirin tell us that there's perhaps two contexts one, as I said these verses were preceded the verses that speak about Ramadan and speak about the fasting in the month of Ramadan and some of the community were feeling inadequate deficient in their fast some maybe have even had to have broken their fast because it was intense or what have you they were feeling dejected feeling inadequate that perhaps we haven't done enough perhaps my fast isn't being accepted by Allah isn't being accepted and I imagine all of us as we sit here today and we use this as an opportunity to reflect back upon this Ramadan we may also share those feelings of inadequacy perhaps we didn't do enough perhaps I didn't pray as much as I should have perhaps I didn't read as much of the Quran as I should have perhaps I didn't do as much in charity and so on and certainly in this pandemic Ramadan has been strange interesting we haven't been able to congregate at large as a community or even perhaps visiting loved ones and breaking bread and breaking a thought so certainly we may all feel that sense of dejection or inadequacy and Allah is speaking to us here the other context of this verse the Mufassirin tell us is that one of the Bedouin came to the Prophet and he asked the Prophet where is Allah is Allah near or is he far and this is a response to that regardless of which context we that we go with it's speaking to a theological question is Allah accepting what I give to him is Allah accepting my limited devotional acts of worship in the month of Ramadan is Allah near to me or is he far and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is answering that theological question that existential question with a practical answer Fa-inni qareeb I am indeed near I am close to my servant Fa-inni qareeb I am close to my servant I am close to my servant I respond to the one I respond to the supplication of the person who is calling upon me every time they call on me and for the sake of time there's so much to go into with regards to the intricacies of the Arabic language here but nonetheless for the sake of time Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is stressing that every time my servants ask about me when they call upon me I respond in some form or fashion and sometimes we may not see that response we may not immediately get what we ask for in our dua but we should be rest assured we should have a sense of assuredness that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is listening and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is responding to that dua to that supplication regardless of how feeble we may feel how weak and inadequate and deficient we may feel Allah is listening Allah is listening and he is responding to the supplication of the supplicant he is responding to the dua to the dua to the dua every time we ask about Allah Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is responding and then Allah says and so here Allah is saying but in return in return of being near and being present and listening to the supplicant of this supplication then let them respond to me what you mean to me and believe in me believe in me and iman is a feeling of sanctity is a feeling of comfort protection all of that is within is enveloped in the term iman it envelops us in a feeling of of sanctity with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that Allah will respond so that they may be guided dua as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam reminded us dua is worship that dua begging Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala beseeching Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala calling upon him is an act of worship is worship another hadeen dua that dua is the core is the innermost the inner core of worship because the very devotional act of turning to Allah of begging Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to listen to us to accept from us is an act of devotion is an act of ibadah is an act of devotion of the individual who is a servant of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and so in these days as we reflect upon the passing of the month of Ramadan let us not feel dejected let us not feel that we don't have opportunities to continue to develop and to draw near to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala because Allah is indeed close He is near to us if we just turn to him if we just walk to him if we just turn our direction to him he is near and so the month of Ramadan may be over but the opportunity to connect with our Rabb is not over the opportunities to avail of his blessings of his fadal of his mercy of his affl of his forgiveness are not over these are opportunities that are ever present throughout the year for us to avail ourselves and we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to accept of us as limited as we do to accept all of our deeds may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala bless us as a community may Allah bless us individually may Allah forgive us and forgive us and who will give Allah and His messengers a great pause after that may Allah pray upon our master Muhammad and our master Muhammad may Allah bless us may Allah protect us may Allah protect us as we do to those before us may Allah protect us may Allah protect us may Allah forgive us I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah come to prayer come to success come to success come to success Peace be upon you