The Month of Shabaan
Like
you are aware, we are in the month of Shabaan and this is the second
Friday Sermon that I am doing during this month, and so I chose
Shabaan
and its importance
as
subject of my sermon for today.
Shabaan
is the eighth month of the Islamic calendar. And after the month of
Shabaan, we have the blessed month of Ramadan. Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh)
gave Shabaan all its importance.
On
the authority of Hazrat Aisha (ra), “The
Messenger of Allah (pbuh) used to fast till one would say that he
would never stop fasting, and he would abandon fasting till one would
say that he would never fast. I never saw Allah’s Apostle fasting
for a whole month except the month of Ramadan, and did not see him
fasting in any month more than in the month of Shabaan.”
(Bukhari and Muslim)
In
another Hadith on the authority of Usama Ibn Zayd (ra), he reported
asking the Messenger of Allah (pbuh): ‘O
Messenger of Allah, I do not see you fasting during any month as much
as you do in Shabaan.’
He said: “That is
a month to which people do not pay much attention, which is found
between Rajab and Ramadan. It is a month in which the deeds are taken
up to the Lord of the worlds, and I like that my deeds be taken up
when I am fasting.”
(An-Nasa’i).
We
learn from these Hadiths that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) used to
maximize this month in acts of worship. Through him, through his
Sunnah, we have learned that our actions are presented to Allah, and
therefore we must do our utmost best to make sure that Allah accepts
our good deeds and forgives us our sins and mistakes. And Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh) had such a deep love for Allah that he used to
sacrifice himself a lot for Him so that Allah would be pleased with
him.
So
imagine, weak humans that we are, if the Rahmat-ul-lil-Aalamin
had a very great fear and love for Allah, and he loved that his
actions go up to Allah while he is in a pure state of fasting and of
submission, then, imagine how many precautions we must take, weak
humans that we are, to continue his Sunnah
in the most correct way and not adding any innovation to these pure
practices, because if we do not follow his example in the right way,
it is not good deeds that we will do, but sins. We shall thus add
innovations to the religion of Allah instead of following the right
path.
It
is true that the month of Shabaan is a very great month, and the
Sunnah
of the noble prophet (pbuh) even showed us all that!
Shab-e-Baraat
As
you will find in my Friday Sermon of 05 June 2015, I mentioned that
according to Baihaqi, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) spoke of the importance
of the mid-Shabaan night (15th
night of Shabaan). He used to do a lot of Ibaadat,
and fasted. And he said that during this night, Allah forgives the
one who asks for His forgiveness, and He sends His mercy on those who
seek His mercy and He gives a delay to the jealous, to those who have
an illness in their hearts (so that they may reform themselves).
It
is true that as Muslims we must respect this Sunnah,
but only to the extent that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) used to practice
it! We must not go beyond the limits where we take non-Islamic
practices and we add them to Islam. This is extremely condemnable in
Islam.
Alhamdulillah,
I see that all Muslims, especially in Mauritius, have begun to
realize that we should not add innovations to the religion of Islam
and the Sunnah
of our beloved prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) . This is actually a
very big step that they have taken to follow only the practices of
Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), where they observe fasting and do a lot of
Ibaadat,
a lot of supererogatory prayers and they seek the proximity of Allah.
And many Muslims stopped this non-Islamic practice of baking Indian
breads with sweets (Halwa
and Roti)
to place them on the graves of their dead family members.
It
is not forbidden to go to the cemetery and invoke Allah (do duahs)
for the dead. On the contrary, it is recommended, not only during the
mid-Shabaan night but also the rest of the year, to go to the
cemeteries and pray for the dead, as this practice will remind one
who does so that a day shall dawn upon him when he also shall die.
And so this thought about his imminent death will keep him on the
right path, and help him to do good deeds to reap the pleasure of
Allah. Insha-Allah.
Allah
and His Messenger Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has given us - Muslims - an
ocean of knowledge through the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith and
Sunnah of our beloved Prophet (pbuh). Those who follow the Qur’an
and Sunnah properly will never go astray. And when the time comes
when people will corrupt the teachings of Islam and the Sunnah of our
beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), then, as in our present time, Allah
will send one of His representatives with the Ruh-il-Quddus
(Holy Spirit) to show them the right way.
The
duty of a Khalifatullah is to warn you, to give you advice and then
it is up to you now to see if you will take these advices into
consideration and reform your life as per the wishes of Allah (for
you).
The
night of the 15th
of Shabaan is a night filled with blessings, but as in the month of
Ramadan and especially the last ten nights of Ramadan, Muslims must
realize that Allah knows and sees everything, and He knows the
deepest of hearts and with what intention someone is doing such and
such actions. If he does many acts of worship on a specific day
thinking that all his sins are forgiven and the next day he falls
into sin once again, then this type of Ibaadat
is without any value in the eyes of Allah.
The
month of Shabaan is a training for Muslims to begin to prepare
themselves physically, morally and spiritually for the fasting of
Ramadan. The month of Shabaan prepares them for the month of Ramadan
and it is up to the believers to take the initiative not to exceed
the limits of the permissible; they must not fall into Shirk.
Stay
within the limits of what Islam has prescribed. Do your acts of
worship with a lot of love and respect. Nafil
(surerogatory) acts in the month of Shabaan are not obligatory, but
the more a person consecrates himself in adoration, in meditation,
not only in the months of Shabaan and Ramadan, but throughout the
year, then this person is a true believer who knows the importance of
his relationship with Allah and His prophet (pbuh) and Islam, and
such a true believer does all he can to practice and preach the
teachings of Islam in its authenticity, without adding or removing
anything from Islam.
Moreover,
we must bear in mind that as believers who claim belief in Allah and
His Messenger (pbuh), we must fulfill all the duties that Allah has
entrusted to us. Remember the explanation I gave you during the month
of Rajab. During his Miraj
(spiritual
ascension) Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) had been instructed by Allah to
tell his Ummah
(his community) to perform the obligatory prayer 50 times a day, but
then with the advice of Hazrat Musa (as), in a state of vision,
Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) went to plead with Allah to reduce the number
of prayers, and then the mandatory Salat
was
reduced to only five. Then out of His mercy for us, Allah said that
He will count these five mandatory prayers as the initial 50 prayers
He ordained for us.
So,
first and foremost, we must respect and practice all Farz
(mandatory) acts. A Muslim must first and foremost establish himself
firmly on the obligatory acts, and then, when he has firmly
established himself on them, he can thereafter perform the Nafil
(voluntary) acts to strengthen his bond with Allah (twa), and a Nafil
act that is highly recommended by Allah Himself and also by our noble
Prophet (pbuh) is the Tahajjud,
where Allah says in a Hadith-e-Qudsi:
On
the authority of Abu Huraira (ra), the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)
said: Our Lord
(glorified and exalted be He) descends each night to the earth's sky
when there remains the final third of the night, and He says: Who is
saying a prayer to Me that I may answer it? Who is asking something
of Me that I may give it him? Who is asking forgiveness of Me that I
may forgive him?
(Bukhari, Muslim,
Malik, Tirmidhi & Abu Dawud).
In
another version by Muslim the Hadith ends with the words: And thus He
continues till [the light of] dawn shines.
In
another Hadith-e-Qudsi narrated by Anas (ra) that the Messenger of
Allah (pbuh) said: “Allah
the Almighty said: ‘O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and
ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall
not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the
sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you.
O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as
the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I
would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it’.”
(Tirmidhi, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ibn Majah).
Then,
I advise all my disciples and the rest of the Ummah
of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) to remain engaged in acts of worship
(Ibaadat
and Zikr)
every day, because every day of your life is a gift that Allah has
given you, through which you can accede to His presence. Do not wait
for a specific day to receive Allah’s forgiveness for your sins or
mistakes. Enjoy the blessed nights that Allah has given you, YES,
but do not rely ONLY
on these nights thinking that you have freed yourselves from all your
sins and mistakes, that Allah have forgiven you, and so once again
you succumb to the attractions of this world, and fall into sins.
You
must learn to maintain a balance between the material and the
spiritual. You must maintain a balance between the two, seeking the
help of Allah so that you succeed in the mission that Allah has
entrusted to you, that Allah have entrusted to us all when He sent us
on earth. We should not become the helpers of Satan, but we must do
such actions that will attract the pleasure of Allah upon us.
Insha-Allah,
Ameen.
----Extracts from the Friday Sermon of 19 April 2019~12 Shabaan 1440 AH delivered by Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hadhrat Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (atba) of Mauritius.