By Mohamed Haroon Sait
We ask Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) to send His choicest blessings upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wassallam). Allah (SWT) gave us the greatest blessings of all, made us Muslims. We are passing through the blessed month of Ramadan. Just a few weeks ago, we were saying Ramadan is coming. We were getting ready for Ramadan. Many masajid were changing their carpets, painting outside and inside, shampooing, cleaning to see Ramadan. We all individually also look forward to Ramadan. We all started making our plans, “How am I going to adjust work schedule with the taraweeh, qiyaamul lail, and different ibadah additionally that we do in Ramadan?” Alhamdulillah, Allah blessed us to be alive in the month of Ramadan. There are people who passed away just one day before. There are people who passed away the first day of Ramadan. Globally, everyday 150,000 people die which is 6,000 people every hour, but Allah (SWT) gave us the blessings of being here, enjoying, taking benefit from the month of Ramadan. Alhamdulillah. May Allah (SWT) accept the ibadah that we did in the last 18 days, today is the 19th. May Allah (SWT) help us do the best in the last 12 days, 11 days that’s left behind.
One of the blessings of Ramadan among many, the 11 months that we have outside of Ramadan, we are so busy, we are so occupied chasing the material things. Ramadan helps us take an exit out of the material highway and puts us on a spiritual highway in this month. We get more time to come to the masjid. We get more time to read the Qur’an. We get more time to pray, to do dhikr. We are always constantly remembering Allah these 30 days, and that makes us think, take a pause who we are, who I am, where are we heading, what our future is, what tomorrow will be like, what the purpose of this life is because if we are on that 11-month superfast highway, we don’t have time to even sit, phone calls, sports, Facebook, you name it. You don’t have a minute to think who you are, but come Ramadan, we pause, that enables us to think who we are.
I want to give you an example from myself, and then I’m sure you all, insha Allah, you all can relate to it. I know my parents. I know my father and my mother because they were alive when I was still in college. May Allah (SWT) give Magfira to all of our parents who passed away. Ameen. I know that, and I remember them all the time because they are my parents. But my grandparents, my grandparents from my father side and mother side, I know a few sights, if I think. I can say, “Okay, I saw him there. I saw him here. I saw he here.” A few thoughts, vague thoughts, not even clear pictures, that’s all I know about them. But my great-grandfather, I don’t know who he was. My great-grandmother, I don’t know who she was. I don’t remember them. I don’t remember them because I never saw them. I’ve never been with them. They are gone, never to come back. Today, when we come to the masjid, people are wishing, “Assalamu alaikum, Brother Haroon.” “Assalamu alaikum, Brother Ashraf.” “Assalamu alaikum, Brother Arshid.” “Assalamu alaikum, Brother Muhammad.” Twenty-five years down the road, most of us are not going to be here. Fifty years down the road, majority of us are not going to be here. A hundred years, people don’t even know us. We think the whole world circles around us. A hundred years down the road, we don’t even exist.
People will still be praying here Jumu’ah insha Allah. People will still be here sitting in front of the khatib and listening to him, our children, our grandchildren, and insha Allah a lot of Muslims. They will line up for iftar, they will line up for breakfast, but there is no more Brother Haroon, there is no more Brother Muhammad. There are other brothers. They don’t know us. We don’t exist for them. We are gone for good. Nobody noticed. The only thing that remains is the hasanat is the good things that we did in the Books of Allah, that will never get away, that will never be erased, that will stay. If you spend a dollar for the masjid, Allah has it in His Book clearly inscribed for good till Yawmil Akhirah, till you stand up in the Day of Judgment It is coming to you, the hasanat is coming to you, it will never end. Allah (SWT) says this in Surah Al-Muzzammil, establish prayer, and give a goodly loan to Allah. Whatever you sent forth for yourself, not for Allah, Allah doesn’t need our money. Allah is much wealthier. Allah is the Owner of the whole universe. Allah says, “Whatever you sent forth from your wealth, for yourself, you will see there. You will get the reward and on top of it, the best reward.
What we do, brothers and sisters, is what counts. Today is the 19th of Ramadan, just two days ago, 17th of Ramadan, is a very important date in the history of Islam. It was the criterion that separated right and wrong, the Battle of Badr. What was that battle? The Companions of Rasulullah (SAWS), they left their families, they left their wealth, they left their everything, and came to sacrifice for what? To support Islam, to support our Prophet (SAWS), and his cause, no material benefit. By all means of worldly measures, they were weakness compared to the enemy. All measures of weakness, if you calculate the number of people, the number of horses, everything, they were much lower in comparison to the enemy. What do you think? The trust in Allah. When Rasulullah (SAWS) came forward to meet the caravan of Abu Sufyan, he was in his prime to come to Badr, but it happened that Abu Sufyan escaped on a different route, and then Rasulullah (SAWS) is now about to meet Abu Jahl and his thousand-people army. It was clear that they were going to meet Abu Jahl in the battlefield. The expectation was to meet and stop the caravan, but now an army of a thousand people, well prepared against 313 people who have basically nothing.
Rasulullah (SAWS) called his companions to do a discussion, “What do we do? You tell me what do we do?” Prophet (SAWS) is asking his people, his companions. All the muhajjir, the migrants, they said, “We are with you. You go, we are with you.” Again he is asking, “Tell me, people, what’s your opinion?” Again the muhajjir are saying, “We are with you. Let’s go fight. Let’s look.” Again, he is asking, “Tell me your opinion.” The Ansar of Madinah, they realized that he is basically asking us our opinion, you know why? Because Rasulullah (SAWS) came to Madinah, the agreement that he had with the Ansar was that if anyone attacks Madinah, they will defend as one unit. The pact did not have attacking or going for war outside of Madinah, so he was not sure that the Ansar would still support because it is not an obligation on them to support a war which was happening outside of Madinah. They didn’t have to, that was outside of the contract, but they realized that he was asking them, he wanted to know what they thought.
When he asked three times, Sa’ad bin Wahar (radhiallahu anhu), he’s one of the chiefs of the Ansar, he got up, he said, “Ya Rasulullah, it looks like you are asking our opinion on what to do. Let me tell you, in behalf of the people of Madinah, we will not say what the companions of Musa told Musa (alayhis salaam). If you take us to Birkal Ghimar, a remote area, we will follow you. If you were to cross the sea, we will jump behind you. We will jump into the water behind you. We will not say what the Musa’s companions said to Musa when Allah told them to get inside Palestine, this land is yours. They said, “Fad hab!” Go You Musa and your Rabb, you go fight. We are sitting here.” We will not say that.” We’ll say, “You go fight, we will be with you fighting.” What happened? The result of what happened there is what is here right now, under one roof, a Pakistani is sitting, an Indian is sitting, Bangladeshi is sitting, Arab is sitting, Ajam is sitting, African-American is sitting, White American is sitting, everybody in one roof. Why? The sacrifice that they did. If it was not for their sacrifices, if it was not for their unselfish move for the sake of Islam, we wouldn’t be sitting here under one roof.
What a beautiful deen that they passed on to us. What a beautiful deen, we line up under any imam. We don’t care who is the imam as long as he can recite, a Pakistani, a Bangladeshi, all these different nationalities, they eat differently, their colors are different, they dress differently, they talk differently, the culture is different, we come together shoulder to shoulder stand like brothers and sisters. No parallel in any other examples you go, search it. Why? The sahabah, the companions who trusted Allah (SWT), who gave everything they could and more than that to the Prophet (SAWS) when he talked, that’s Islam. Success came to them because of what they did. Success is ours today. All of these are ours today if we follow the same way. If we can support Islam wholeheartedly, honor this service to keep. Success is ours to keep. Victory is ours. Brothers and sisters, may Allah (SWT) help us take this Ramadan to pause and really sit down and think where we are heading. Tomorrow, I won’t be here. I will be not known to people. I will be gone and nobody will even talk about me. Nobody will know about me. But before I go, I need to make for my akhirah. I need to make my Hereafter, that’s the opportunities that come year after year in Ramadan. We don’t know if we are going to be here next Ramadan. How many of us will be here? No idea. May Allah (SWT) help us think and do the best insha Allah.
Allah (SWT) says in Surah Saf, something that really applies today. Allah says, (Quran – 61:08). Allah says, “They, the enemies of Islam, they put out the light of Islam by their mouth, by back talks, by scandals, by all kinds of lies and accusations. They want to put out the light that Allah has kept.” Allah will complete no matter how much the kaffir, the disbelievers dislike it. Allah’s guarantee, it is not upon us. It is not upon us to make things right, Allah said, “I will take care of it. Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of it.” The opportunity is given to us to hop into the bus, to hop into the train, to hop into the shoe just to be part of it. We’re not the ones doing it, Allah has guaranteed it. We just happen to be there so we become a part of it. With or without us, Allah will do it. Do you think Allah is in any way needing our help? No. It’s an honor for us to be part of it. Allah said, (Quran – 61:09) “It is He who sent the Prophet who will guide us, and the Deen and the way of life that is truth so that it will be victorious over all other teachings. It will be victorious.” Allah said, “I sent the Prophet no matter how much the mushriq, the pagans, disliked it.” Allah says, (Quran – 61:10) “May I tell you, of a trade which will save you from severe punishment? (Quran – 61:11) Believe in Allah and striving in the path of Allah, doing jihad in the path of Allah, striving and struggling in the path of Allah with your wealth and yourself, your time that will be better for you if you know.” (Quran – 61:12) “Allah will forgive your sins, and Allah will enter you into paradise under which rivers flow, and beautiful mansions in the highest part of Jannah this is a great victory.” Allah says. Do you know what Allah said? On top of it, something that you all love. (Quran – 61:13) Help from Allah, and a victory that is near for people who strive and struggle in the path of Allah with their wealth and themselves.”
Allah said in the last ayah, (Quran – 61:14) Oh you who believe, be the helpers of Allah like Isa (AS) told his companions, his people Who among you are going to help Allah? Who among you wants to be the helpers of Allah?” They said, “We will help Allah. We will be the helpers of Allah.” Many people in Bani Israil believed and many disbelieved. “Allah helps those people who believed against their enemies.” The same question is with us today, who among us wants to help Allah? My question would be who does not want to help Allah when Allah has already guaranteed that victory is for the Deen of Allah? I want to end here.
We come from Charlotte, North Carolina. We represent American Islamic Outreach Foundation, a da’wah organization, trying to do da’wah using different methods. We have a free clinic that we run every month, free for Muslims and non-Muslims. We have the Qur’an Mobile project which you can see outside. We do open-house seminars. We go to churches, We go to schools, colleges. We send packages to prisons. We have a booth in the flea market every week. There are so many stories that I can say as I stand here about the da’wah that we are doing and its effects. I want to just give you one or two examples in the next minute, and then inshaa Allah, we’ll end. In Charlotte, we are installing Qur’an racks, information racks, in Muslim businesses. It stands this high. It has Qur’an in English and Spanish. We have been doing it for a long time in a different way but now we are installing the racks.
On the first day of Ramadan, or maybe one day before that, we installed in several places. One of the Muslims restaurants where we installed it, we gave him a box of about 52 Qur’an translations, but he said, “No, no, no, just give me 10, not 50, 10.” We put 10 there. On the morning of the next day, he said, “Brother, bring me the whole box. The 10 Qur’an was gone in one day.” Five or six days later, he called again, “Brother, give me one more box. They’re gone.” I think he called three times for three boxes in two weeks, 19 days. There are so many people who are looking to learn about Islam. All these media thing going on about Islam is actually benefiting us if we know how to take the benefit. This is the time to provide the right information. Let them do the advertisement with millions of dollars. We could never spend that much money, let them do it. But we provide information for people who want to know what Islam is.
One more example, I come from India. In one of the southern states of India, there’s a city called Bangalore, it’s an IT city. IT people will know Bangalore. A Muslim brother set up a three-wheeler auto rickshaw, it’s a taxi. He set up the taxi with the message of Islam pretty much like what we did with the Qur’an Mobile. Inside he put a TV so riders can watch something about Islam while they are traveling. He has all the brochures in local languages, all the Qur’an translations in different Indian languages, Kannada, Urdu, Hindi, you name it, he has all of that. He was on the road, a cop stopped him to check his papers, which usually happens. He asked about the TV, all the books. He said, “This is the Qur’an.” “Really?” This is a Hindu cop. He said, “I’ve been looking for a Qur’an for six months. I’m fortunate, I’m glad I stopped you. I thought of standing in front of any masjid, but I was afraid they will beat me up.” In India it’s not like it is here, the community there is very much divided. They cannot go to a church, it’s not possible.
Brothers and sisters, there are so many people looking Islamic information, and we are here to provide that. I want to end asking the same question, who among you will help Allah (SWT)? Be part of that moment. Inshaa Allah, we’ll be outside the salah. Meet us there, do whatever you can. If you can give us monthly donations, do it. If you can do it one-time donation, do it. Whatever you can for yourself, not for Allah. Allah is not benefiting, we are benefiting. May Allah (SWT) send His blessings to Rasulullah (SAWS) and his companions, and his family, and all those who follow him in goodness. May Allah (SWT) accept it. Jazakallah khair.