Prepare for Ramadan – #1

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters and elders, all praise and thanks be to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that insha'Allah He will grant us another Ramadan. This is a gift, the value of which depends on what we choose to do with it. It is up to us to make it as valuable as we wish. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose to bless us by granting the month of Ramadan in which He does not only level the playing field but skews the playing field of life in our favour. It is for us to take advantage of this wonderful blessing and opportunity and remember that this may be our last Ramadan because one Ramadan will be our last. And the key therefore is to make every Ramadan the best yet so that if it is the last then we have no regrets. Anabih Huraira r.a. said about the Prophet, peace be upon him, He said, Whoever does the night of Qadr with faith and reckoning, forgive him what he has done for his sins. Whoever does the night of Ramadan with faith and reckoning, forgive him what he has done for his sins. Narrated Abu Huraira r.a. that Rasulullah said, Whoever establishes prayers, the salah on the night of Qadr with sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, imanan wa hittisaban, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive all his or her previous sins. And whoever fasts in the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith and hoping for reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven. And in another hadith, the Prophet said the same thing with regard to qiyam. Man qaama Ramadan imanan wa hittisaban ghufir Allah hu dhamma. That the one who stands in salah, and this is not only a Lailatul Qadr but throughout the month, in the night, Salatul Qa'rawi or Qiyamul Layl, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive all his sins. In another hadith in Bukhari and Muslim, Abu Huraira r.a. narrated that Rasulullah said, all the deeds of the son of Adam are for him except a siam. The siam is for me and I will reward it. A siam uli wa ana azzi bih. Rasulullah s.a.w. said in another hadith in Bukhari and Muslim, the fasting person, the sa'im, has two happy moments. One, when he breaks his fast, he is happy and the second, when he meets his Rabb, when we go before Allah, he will be happy because he fasted. Rasulullah s.a.w. also said, again in Thirmidhi and Imne Maja, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has those whom he frees from jahannam and this occurs every night in Ramadan. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to include us among those who he will free from jahannam every night in Ramadan. In another hadith in Musnad ibn Ahmad, in Bayhaqi and in Al-Hakim, Rasulullah s.a.w. said, a siam, fasting and the Quran will intercede on behalf of the person. Fasting will say, I kept this person away from food and drink and from his shahwad, from his desires during the day, so, O my Rabb, allow me to make shafa'a, to be an intercessor for this person's forgiveness. The Quran will say, I kept this person awake in the night because he was listening to the Quran, he was reading the Quran and therefore make me an intercessor for this person and the intercession of both will be accepted. In another hadith in Bukhari and Nabi Dawud, Abu Hurairah narrated that Rasulullah s.a.w. said, whoever doesn't give up false speech, now false speech refers to all forms of stuff, whether it's profanity, lying, cheating, backbiting, whatever you want, anything which is not good, whoever doesn't give up false speech and evil actions and doesn't abandon foolishness, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not in need of His leaving food and drink. I remind myself and you, it's about fasting, not about starving. Ramadan is the month of fasting, it's not the month of starvation. Even Omar radiyallahu anhu ma said that a man asked Rasulullah s.a.w. about the salah in the night, and Rasulullah s.a.w. said, prayers, salah in the night are to be prayed two by two, that is two rakat at a time, not three or four. If any of you fears the time of dawn is approaching,