Shaikh ‘Abdur-Rahmaan As-Sa’dee’s Sermon On The Advent of The Month of Ramadhaan

Shaikh ‘Abdur-Rahmaan As-Sa’dee (rahimahullaah) said:

 

As for that which follows; O people – be fearful and dutiful to Allaah, The Most High:

 

{يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنْظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَأَنْسَاهُمْ أَنْفُسَهُمْ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الْفَاسِقُونَ}

 

((O you who believe; be fearful and dutiful of Allaah; and let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow – and fear Allaah. Indeed, Allaah is well-acquainted with what you do. And be not like those who forgot Allaah and so He caused them to forget their ownselves. Those are the Fasiqoon [wrongdoing/disobedient ones])) (Al-Hashr: 18-19)

 

Know that He has sheltered you within an immense month; and a blessed and noble season. Allaah has made the fasting of it as one of the pillars of Al-Islaam and has authorized the undertaking of it. Thus; whoever completes it out of true faith and anticipation (of reward); then his religion is complete for him and so is upright.

By way of it Allaah forgives the sins; just as He discharges the burdensome misdeeds. Within it the commodities of the righteous Muttaqeen become lucrative – as a market-place of traders and a profit for the successful, and a means of happiness for the worshippers and an opportunity for the repentant ones who turn in repentance.

Whoever fasts it and stands (in prayer) during it out of true faith and anticipation (of reward); then he will have his previous sins forgiven for him. Whoever strives hard within it with goodness; then he has succeeded in obtaining the most amply abounding share and the most complete portion.

Therefore praise your Lord Who has given you life and allowed you to remain until you reach it, and ask Him to aid you in establishing its rights until you complete and conclude it. Receive it with honest sincere repentance, and turning in repentance to Allaah in all of its times – continually.

Indeed; successful is the servant who recognizes its significance – and so immerses within it with an array of means of drawing close, such as in fasting and giving in charity and in reciting (the Qur’aan) and in making dhikr as well as in prayer. Thus he receives it being happy with it and content; seeking aid from his Lord upon fasting it and standing within it in order to attain a great bounty by way of it.

Know that every time a hardship is magnified by way of heat and hunger and thirst and in the abandonment of that which is customary; then likewise the merit and reward too are magnified. For this reason; Allaah has specified it for Himself in contrast to the other forms of worship.[1] Therefore whoever fasts for Allaah on a warm summers day encountering severe thirst; then Allaah will cause him to drink from Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtoom. And whoever leaves something off for the sake of Allaah; then Allaah replaces it with something better than it and will find it stored with Al-Hayy (The Ever-Living) and Al-Qayyoom (The Self-Subsisting One upon Whom everything depends).

So O believer who abandons his desire despite its severity and difficulty; glad tidings – for you have traversed towards the pleasant comfort of your own soul and in bliss of it. Do you not know that Allaah rewards the patient ones in full without reckoning? And that fasting is from the most noble forms of patience – without doubt and uncertainty?

Therefore O seeker of goodness – this is its time.

O expectant one who awaits the noble grants and the paths to mercy – here in close proximity lies its grants.

O eager one upon repentance – this is its period.

O fervent desirer of acts of obedience and in turning (to Allaah) – this is its interval.

So be plentiful in remembrance of Allaah within it and in reciting the Qur’aan and in making repentance and seeking forgiveness. Inhabit its times with obedience to Al-Malik (The King) and Al-Ghaffaar (The Oft-Forgiving).

For happy is he who knows and recognizes the distinguished eminence of his own time – and so takes to enriching himself by way of it. Yet the wretched one who is prohibited is the one who squandered it and disregarded it. For truly; the one who reached Ramadhaan and was not forgiven due to his own negligence and squander; then his nose is rubbed in dust (in abasement).

Toobaa to the one who is successful in attaining forgiveness and mercy within it – due to the soundness of his own doing.

 

{يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ}

 

((O you who believe; fasting is prescribed upon you just as it was prescribed upon those before you, that you may attain Taqwa [piety and fearfulness])) (Al-Baqarah: 183)

 

(Taken from: Al-Majmoo’ah Al-Kaamilah le-Mu-allafaat Ash-Shaikh ‘Abdur-Rahmaan bin Naasir As-Sa’dee vol 6 [Al-Khutab] p.230-231.)