Summary of Ramadan 1439 Last 10 days Discourses:

Sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammed Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve & protect him) said,

Whatever actions we perform, such as prayers, fasting, Hajj, Zakah etc. are like a body. However there is a soul behind these actions without which these actions become useless in the Hereafter. The soul of all actions depends on three things:

1) Eeman, i.e. belief. This means that a person must be a Muslim for any action to be acceptable in the Court of Allah. Alhamdulillah Allah has given us Eeman. We must continue to ask Allah to protect and strengthen this Eeman.

Shaikh mentioned the following duas taught by the Prophet (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) related to this:

a) اللهم إني أسألك إيمانا يباشر قلبي

“O Allah! I ask you for Eeman which settles deep in my heart.”

b) اللهم اني أسالك إيماناً لا يرتد

“O Allah! I beg you for the Eeman which will not be shaken.”

c) اللهم اني أسالك إيماناً دائما

“O Allah! I beg you for perpetual Eeman.”

2) Ikhlas, i.e. sincerity. Normally Satan does not openly incite us to do an action just to show to others, as it is unlikely for a normal practicing Muslim to fall into this trap. However Satan attacks a person’s Ikhlas by telling him “What would people say if you don’t do this action”. As a result, the person may do some action to avoid being criticized by people, hence tainting the Ikhlas.

Shaikh mentioned that the reward of a single action can be increased if multiple intentions are made for it. For example, the following intentions can be made for eating or drinking:

a) I will make Shukr (gratitude) of Allah after eating/drinking.

b) I will be following the Sunnah of  the Prophet (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him), as he would eat food when it was brought in front of him.

c) I will use the energy I get from this food in fulfilling the commandments of Allah.

Similarly several intentions can be combined in many daily actions. Since it is normally difficult to remember to make all these intentions each time before doing each action, an easy way of achieving this is to make all these intentions at the beginning of the day. Inshallah all these intentions will be rewarded in this way as well.

Beyond this, Shaikh explained that sometimes a person’s intention can be better than his action. He quoted a Hadith the gist of which is:
“A person will be brought on the Day of Judgment and angels will present his book of deeds. One by one all his good deeds will be rejected as they were not done for the sake of Allah. After all the deeds will be rejected, Allah will command the angels to write so and so good deeds in his record. The angels will remark that he had not performed those good deeds. At this Allah will say that he had made an intention to do them.”

Further, Shaikh explained the following Hadith regarding the benefits of good intentions and the dangers of bad intentions:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The likeness of this nation is that of four people: A man to whom Allah gives wealth and knowledge, so he acts according to his knowledge with regard to his wealth, spending it as it should be spent; a man to whom Allah gives knowledge, but he does not give him wealth, so he says: “If I had been given (wealth) like this one, I would have done what (the first man) did.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘They will be equal in reward. And a man to whom Allah gives wealth but does not give knowledge, so he squanders his wealth and spends it in inappropriate ways; and a man to whom Allah gives neither knowledge nor wealth, and he says: “If I had (wealth) like this one, I would do what (the third man) did.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘They are equal in their burden (of sin).’”

3) Sidq, which is a comprehensive word which includes the meanings that the actions must be in accordance with Sunnah. Shaikh gave examples that Wudu done with wastage of water would not have complete Sidq as wasting water during Wudu is prohibited even if Wudu is done at a flowing river.

Ramadan 1439, malfuzaat collated by Br KaiserNizamani