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Adieu Ramadaan!
Shaykh Abdur-Rahmaan As-Sudais.
Ramadaan 29, 1422 (December 14, 2001)
All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the worlds. May peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allaah, his household and companions.
Fellow Muslims! Fear Allaah, for that is the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. It is the best provision for the Abode of Peace and whoever possesses it will prosper and be saved from all evils.
Fellow Muslims! When one ponders over the history of nations, one will realize that all are in the process of constant changes. That is the course destined for them by Allaah and nothing can change that.
Brethren in Islaam! Tell me, if an honourable guest visits you in your dwellings, showers you with a lot of good things and loves you and you also love him; and then came the time for his departure, how are you going to bid him farewell and how are you going to feel?
What separation is then greater and more emotional than that from the beloved guest of the Muslims, the blessed month of Ramadaan?
Ramadaan is the month righteousness and generosity, the month of forgiveness and liberation from Hell. It is getting ready to go now and nothing remains of it but few moments. Yesterday, we were congratulating each other on the arrival of the month but today we are consoling one another over its departure and invoking Allaah to accept all our acts of worship.
In this noble month, many have done good deeds while others have done the opposite and it is going to testify for or against us as to the righteous deeds we carried out in it or our negligence and acts of disobedience we committed during the month. Nevertheless, we do not know whether we are going to live to witness it once more or not. Therefore, the fortunate Muslim in this month is the one who was able to perfect his acts of worship with sincerity, self-examination and ends it with sincere repentance, for acts are judged according to their ends.
Brothers in faith! Our righteous predecessors used to exert efforts in perfecting their acts of worship and have concern about its acceptance or rejection. ‘Alee Ibn Abee Taalib admonished,
“Have a greater concern for the acceptance of your deeds than the one you have for the deeds themselves. Do not you hear the saying of Allaah: ‘Verily, Allaah accepts only from those who are pious.”
Fudaalah bin ‘Ubayd said, “Knowing that Allaah has accepted a single act of righteousness from me is dearer to me than this world all that it contains.” These are the conditions of the hardworking people. O Allaah, forgive us our negligence and have mercy on us.
May peace of Allaah be upon the month of fasting and night prayers! May peace of Allaah be upon the month of the Qur’aan and remembrance of Allaah! It has now passed like a twinkle of an eye and yet it was arena for those who race to do good deeds. Endeavour then to utilize the remaining hours of it in good deeds for Ramadaan can never be substituted with any month. It is a month in which hearts are refined, sins are forgiven and a month of security and peace for the frightened. In this great month, many a hand has been raised in prayer and many a tear has been shed and many a heart has been struck with the fear of Allaah. Allaah has showered His Mercy and Favour on many of His slaves in this month particularly in the last ten days.
Brethren in faith! When will the one who is not forgiven his sins in this month get forgiveness? When will the one who is rejected in Lailatul Qadr (the Night of Power) get accepted? Ibn Rajab narrated that ‘Alee bin Abee Taalib used to proclaim in the last night of Ramadaan: ‘How I wish I know those whose acts of worship have been accepted so that I can congratulate them; and how I wish I know those whose acts of worship have been rejected so that I can console them!” Which loss is greater than that of the one who missed the blessings of Ramadaan? When will the one who did not reform himself during the month of Ramadaan do so? When will the one who did not get cured from his ailment of ignorance and heedlessness get cured?
O you who have committed great sins! These few blessed days are opportunities for you to repent, for whoever is librated from Hell has indeed won a great reward. As for you, who have been liberated from Hell by your Lord, do not put yourself into the shackles of sins again. Does it make sense to be moving closer to Hell while your Lord has saved you from it?
Hasten therefore, dear brethren to do more good deeds, for some of you may not live to see the end of this year. Let the negligent one among you seize the opportunity of this outgoing month in doing righteous deeds before it is too late and let the heedless one wake up and remember the horrible states that are in front of him and let him try to make his life end with good deeds.
Fellow Muslims! Let us look into our present condition in the light of the impacts of Ramadaan on us. Let us make a comparison between our condition at the start of Ramadaan and our condition now:
Did Ramadaan create in us piety? Did it reform our acts and conduct? Did it unite our ranks against our enemies? Did it remove hatred and rancor from our midst? Did it eliminate the evil deeds from our societies?
Brethren in faith!
You have responded to the call of your Lord by fasting so respond to His command in other deeds and at all times. Humble your hearts for the remembrance of Allaah and be united in adherence to the Book of Allaah and Sunnah of His Prophet so that the Muslim nation may be saved from the shackles of calamities.
Brethren in Islaam! It is appropriate for us, while we are bidding farewell to this blessed month, to bid farewell also to those calamities that have characterize the very essence of this nation and to take serious steps to put an immediate end to the shedding of the Muslim blood that is taking place in the blessed land of Palestine, and in Kashmir and Chechnya with impunity. Is it credible that the Muslims who are numbered more than a billion will be so powerless as to protect the blood of their brethren and win them back their security and glory?! Will the Muslims, while bidding farewell to Ramadaan spurn that weakness and disunity that characterize their position on the issue of Al-Quds and the Al-Aqsa Mosque that are under the occupation of those devilish Zionists?!
As regards the Afghan issue, let the Afghan groups burry their differences and give their support to those who will govern them by the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Prophet in order to protect the lives of Muslims and for the security of their land and safety of the Afghan people. Let us do more to alleviate the pains and sufferings of the Muslim minorities throughout the world. Let the leaders of the Muslim countries and their scholars champion this cause by exerting more efforts to exalt the religion of Allaah and help the Muslims’ causes in every land especially in present situations that have great effects on the conditions of the Muslims worldwide. Will the Muslims not put an end to the vicious campaign of the mass media against Islaam, the Muslims and their lands particularly the land of the two Holy Mosques? Is it not time for the Muslims to make positive use of the intellectual and da‘wah capabilities and modern information technology to propagate the beauties of Islaam, its provision for human rights, its establishments of the real concepts of truth, justice and peace and its abhorrence of violence and terrorism especially in this time of vicious globalization and the so-called clash of civilization? Will the meaning of terrorism be based on the whims of the Zionists who themselves are known terrorists, O world leaders?
O nation of Muhammad! We are a nation known by our outstanding history of glory and strength. We should come out of the degradation and humiliation, which have now become our lot and take up our divine role by liberating the oppressed humanity from error, misery, materialism and anarchy through Islaamic truth, justice and peace. It is actually our responsibility to do that for our path is that of correct Faith, truth and piety. It is our duty to nurture the youth on moderation and lay down a strategy for uplifting of the Islaamic propagation and protecting the Muslim communities from side disagreements, which have been with us for ages.
It is time for the Muslims to know that nothing of their condition will change for better except by holding unto the correct Islaamic belief in this age that atheism and paganism are the order of the day. By Allaah! Degenerated nations and communities did not become so except as a result of their religious and moral decadence and their abandonment of the Divine teachings. Will the Muslims now understand the position of their belief and unite on the path of their righteous predecessors in order to actualize blessing for the world and its inhabitants?
Fellow Muslims! Bid farewell to the month of Ramadaan with good deeds that will testify in your favour on the day of Resurrection.
Brethren in faith! Allaah has prescribed for you at the end of Ramadaan great deeds by which you can amend your deficiencies in that month and which can increase you in reward like a lot of Istighfaar [seeking for forgiveness] showing gratitude and repentance. Allaah says,
“He wants that you must complete the same number of days and that you must magnify Allaah for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him.” (Al-Baqarah 2:185).
Allaah also prescribed the Zakaatul-Fitr [end of Ramadaan alms giving] for you as a sign of gratitude to Him for facilitating the fasting and night prayers for you, to purify you from any obscenity you might have committed and as a feeding for the poor and the needy in order to promote the brotherly feeling and unity among Muslims. It is a saa’ [approximately 3 kg.] of wheat, rice or any other stable food of the land. It is to be given on behalf of the young, old, male and female. It is also rewardable if it is given on behalf of the unborn fetus. It is best given between the Fajr and Eid prayers and there is no harm if it is given a day of two before Eid.
The Sunnah is to give it out in foodstuff as it has been explicitly explained in the Hadeeth and in accordance with the practice of our righteous predecessors. So give this charity out, for Allaah has asked you to give an insignificant part of the many that He has provided for you.
Brethren in Islaam! Continue in your good deeds even
after Ramadaan. Be constant in observing the five obligatory prayers and other acts of worship.
Know that, among the signs of the acceptance of a good deed is to do more good deeds after it and that it is only evil people who only know Allaah in Ramadaan.