Is this my last Ramadan? – #1

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. This was said in another place, O ye who believe, the Day is written for you as it was written for those before you, that haply ye may be righteous. My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders, let us remember all those of our family and friends who were with us last Ramadan, but are no longer among us. Maybe if you look around the masjid, especially the ones who come regularly for all these salahs, you will remember a place where that person used to pray. Most people are creatures of habit, so if they stand in a particular place, they will always stand in the same place. And today you look there and you see somebody else standing there, because that person is no longer there. So let us make dua for them and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive them and fill their qubur with nur and to forgive all their sins and to grant them Jannatul Firidhahs without hesaab inshaAllah. And then let us ask ourselves two questions. The first question is, did they know that last Ramadan would be their last? Second question, had they known that, what would they have done differently? The reason to ask these questions, of course, is not for them, because their books of deeds are shut. The questions are for ourselves. And to remind ourselves, and I remind myself first and foremost, that this Ramadan, which we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us in good health and with the tawfiq to maximize its benefits, and with the fursa with the free time to maximize its benefits, to enable us to spend in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala more and more and more, to remind myself that this may be my last Ramadan, the last Ramadan of my life. And I request all of you to think about it like that. Because the reality is that there will be one Ramadan, whether it is this one, whether it is 10 years from now, whether it is a thousand years from now, there will be one Ramadan which will be the last in the life of that individual. And nobody knows which one it is. Nobody. Nobody. And therefore, the guarantee and benefit is to treat it like it could be the last, as if it is the last, because it could well be. Regret is useless. Planning and action are what make a difference. Therefore, I remind myself and you, let us not waste the opportunity. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent us Ramadan to enable us to draw close to Him. And that is why He said about the purpose of Ramadan, the ayah which I recited, O you who believe, fasting, a sawm is prescribed upon you, prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you that you may become al-Muttaqun. You may become people who are conscious of the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in their lives and who do everything with only one consideration and that is, does it please Allah? That is the definition of the Muttaqi. Somebody who is conscious 24x7 of the presence of Allah in his or her life and every decision they take, small or big, every single decision, every speech, every action, every decision is taken only with one consideration and that is, will this please Allah? If the answer is yes, it will please Allah, they do it. If the answer is no, it will not please Allah, they do not do it. And if the answer is I don't know, then they do not do it until they find out. And then they decide to do or not to do. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's promises in the Quran, all of them without exception, are for people of taqwa. Not merely for muslimoon but for Muttaqun. When you and I become Muslim, we enter the door. But to avail the benefits, we have to go to the mosque. But to avail the benefits, we have to go further inside, go to the centre. Just standing in the door is not enough. That is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Innallaha maa allatheena taqaw wa allatheena hum muhsinoon. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, truly Allah is with those who have taqwa, the Muttaqun,