HIBAPRESS – Casablanca
The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs circulated the Friday sermon in Morocco this week to various preachers and imams in the mosques of the Kingdom, and the sermon, for which the following topic was chosen: Following the Guidance of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in Welcoming Ramadan.
The sermon came as follows:
Praise be to Allah, who made fasting a shield and paved the way leading to Paradise. We praise Him for the blessing of fasting and prayer, the pilgrimage of the righteous, and the habit of the righteous. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, who has no partner, and we bear witness that our master Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger, the chosen one of His creation and His beloved, the best of those who fasted the day and prayed the night. May Allah bless and grant him peace as the souls yearn to welcome the month of good deeds, and rise above pleasures and desires, and the souls long for the gardens of remembrance and prayers, and hands are raised to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and upon his good and chosen family, and his righteous companions, and upon those who follow them with good until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows; O community of believers, from the guidance of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in welcoming the month of Ramadan, he used to give his companions the good news of its arrival, saying:
“Ramadan has come to you, a blessed month in which Allah has made fasting obligatory for you, in which the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are chained. In it is a night that is better than a thousand months, and whoever is deprived of its good has been deprived.”[1].
Servants of Allah; In this hadith and others like it, the Prophet, peace be upon him, gives his companions the good news of the coming of the month of fasting, encouraging them and preparing them to receive it with what befits it of piety, sincerity, patience, altruism, and giving; And that is indicated by his saying, peace be upon him: “A blessed month” meaning a month of blessing and much good, so the Muslim has only to seize it by fasting, praying, spending, and doing good in intentions, words, deeds, and actions.
He also points out, peace be upon him, that among the blessings of this month is that the gates of Paradise are opened in it, which is pure worship of prayer, fasting, remembrance, reciting the Qur’an, and good deeds, with perfection in it, performing it as it should be, and not being negligent or careless in the responsibilities entrusted to the Muslim, and all of that is based on good faith in the truth, and good treatment of creation.
And his saying, peace be upon him: “And the gates of Hell are closed in it” means that its causes are closed from the evils that people avoid in Ramadan, and that is from its blessings and goodness, as everyone feels the sanctity of time, place, and situation, and wakefulness lasts in the hearts of the servants, and it is enlightened by the light of fasting, so the gates are closed on the devils; As the devil's access to man is negligence and desires, if wakefulness lasts and man is prevented from his desires, the gates will be closed on the devils.
Therefore, fasting was a shield, as the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
“Every deed of the son of Adam is for him except fasting, for it is for Me, and I reward it, and fasting is a shield. If any of you is fasting, let him not speak or shout on that day. If anyone curses him or fights him, let him say, ‘I am a fasting person.’ By the One in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the smell of the fasting person’s mouth is better with Allah on the Day of Resurrection than the smell of musk, and the fasting person has two joys that he rejoices in: when he breaks his fast, he rejoices with his breaking of the fast, and when he meets his Lord, he rejoices with his fasting.” [2].
Servants of Allah; In this hadith, there are many virtues of the month of Ramadan from the valuable and beautiful prophetic advice, and the great benefits.
The summary of that is that the aim of fasting is to protect the limbs from sins in order to acquire the virtue of piety, which is the comprehensive fruit of fasting.
As the Prophet, peace be upon him, said in an eloquent summary:
“Fasting is a shield”
That is, a protection from sins in this world, and protection from the Fire in the hereafter.
As the Almighty said:
“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.” [3].
May Allah benefit me and you with His clear Qur’an, and with the hadith of the master of the first and the last, and our last call is that praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
The Second Sermon
Praise be to Allah, a praise befitting His majesty and great sovereignty, and may prayers and peace be upon His Prophet and Messenger, who is distinguished by his truthful argument and decisive proof, our master Muhammad, and upon his family, companions, and all those who adhere to his guidance in secret and in public.
O community of believers; Among what should be taken care of and recommended, and we are in the year of the blessed and fragrant prophetic biography, is to connect it to our daily lives; So that we may be happy with it and make others happy, and live a good life with it, and from that is to ask ourselves how was the guidance of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his noble companions in the month of Ramadan? And how did they prepare for it? Was Ramadan for them a season to compete in acquiring all pleasures and desires, or was it a season of high prices and the monopolization of goods in the markets?
And is it from the guidance of the Salaf (predecessors) to extravagance and waste in a month that is more appropriate to be a month of economy in food and drink, and did they stay up at night and sleep during the day on the pretext that they are fasting? Or was the month of Ramadan for them a month of work par excellence, in which they witnessed many scenes that have history; Such as the Battle of Badr, which was immortalized by the Qur’an, and the conquest of Mecca, which was the conquest of conquests.
The righteous predecessors of this nation used to rejoice at the coming of the month of Ramadan and rejoice in it, and they were optimistic about its arrival, six months before it, and they ask Allah to accept it six months after it, so they lived with Ramadan in their hearts throughout the year.
Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “The end of this nation will not be righteous except by what its beginning was righteous with.” And he, may Allah have mercy on him, when Ramadan entered, he turned to the Mushaf, reciting the Book of Allah, following the guidance of the Prophet, peace be upon him, who used to recite the Qur’an in every Ramadan and presented it to Gabriel, peace be upon him; Because the month of Ramadan is the month of the Qur’an, Allah Almighty revealed it in it, and it is Sunnah to recite it, contemplate it, and act upon it.
Abdullah bin Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, says:
“The Prophet, peace be upon him, was the most generous of people with goodness, and he was most generous in Ramadan when Gabriel met him, and Gabriel, peace be upon him, met him every night in Ramadan, until he departed, he presented the Qur’an to him, peace be upon him, so when Gabriel, peace be upon him, met him, he was more generous with goodness than the wind sent.” [4].
That, servants of Allah; Some flashes from the prophetic guidance in welcoming the month of Ramadan, we ask Allah to bring it upon us and upon our Master, the Commander of the Faithful, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, and all the members of his family, with Yemen, goodness, and blessings, and to grant us health and wellness so that we may fast and pray, and benefit from its goals for which it was legislated. Amen.
This; And increase prayers and greetings on our master Muhammad, peace be upon him, so O Allah, bless and grant peace to our master Muhammad, the Seal, as You blessed and granted peace to our master Abraham in the worlds, You are Praiseworthy and Majestic.
And may Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs; Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, and with all the other companions from the Muhajirin and the Ansar, and with us with them, by Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful, O Lord of the worlds.
And may Allah grant victory to the one whom You have entrusted with the affairs of Your servants, our Master, the Commander of the Faithful, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, a victory by which You strengthen the religion and raise the banner of the Muslims until the Day of Judgment.
O Allah, bless him with health and wellness, and delight his eyes with his beloved Crown Prince, His Royal Highness, Prince Moulay El Hassan, supported by his happy brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, and the rest of the members of the Sharifian Royal Family.
And have mercy, O Allah, with Your vast mercy on the two noble kings, our Master Mohammed V, and our Master Hassan II, O Allah, make their resting place good, honor their abode, and reward them with the best of what You have rewarded the benefactor for his good deeds.
O Allah, deliver us to Ramadan, and grant us from its blessings, good deeds, and goodness, and grant us in it a body, soul, and mind near You, and make us among those who are grateful for Your blessings, O Allah, help us to remember You, thank You, and worship You well.
O Allah, forgive us, our parents, and all our dead and the dead of the Muslims, and the believers, men and women, the living and the dead.
Our Lord, give us in this world good and in the Hereafter good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire. Glory to your Lord, the Lord of Glory, above what they describe, and peace be upon the messengers, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
[The second translated paragraph here]
[The third translated paragraph here]
[The fourth translated paragraph here]
[The fifth translated paragraph here]
