8th Ramadhan 1432H

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah, we heard the Ramadhan message given by one distinguished contemporary scholar Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. He said, "this month is the time for asking where is your heart? Is your heart with God, your ego, lust, passion, greed, pride, envy, resentment or revenge? Ramadhan is a time of immense transformation, a time to reassess our lives and reprioritize. The Quran ask us 'where then are you going?' So we have to ask the question, where are we going as an individual, as a family and as a society. It is a time to return to God and to give the heart back to God who is the possessor of the heart. It is a time to get close to God, a time to become aware of the nearness of Allah. That Allah is qarib."

The subject of nearness and getting close to Allah is being constantly reminded by scholars of past and present. And we are also being asked to evaluate ourselves on our direction and progress each time and at each moment.

Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Jilani in his Ramadhan tausiyah said, "the knower (ariff) is one who at every moment comes closer to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) than he was the moment before. At every moment his humility toward his Lord is renewed, as is his submissiveness toward Him. He humbles himself to One who is present, not absent. His humility increases in proportion to his witnessing (mushahada)."

May with hidayah and tawfik from Allah, and barakah of the shuyukh past and present, we are able to take advantage of this Ramadhan to assess ourselves and do what is needed to become closer and humble toward Allah.

Listen to Shaykh Hamza Yusuf's Ramadhan message here.