05. HAVE TAQWA
Prof. Dr. Mahmud Es'ad COSAN
Aùzu bi’llâhi mine’sh-shaytàni’r-rajîm.
I seek refuge with Allah from Satan
Bi’smi’llâhi’r-rahmâni’r-rahîm.
In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent.
Al-hamdu li’llâhi rabbi’l-àlemîne hamden kethîran tayyiben mubâraken fîh... Kemâ yenbaghî li-jalâli wajhihî wa li-'azîmi sultânih... Wa’s-salâtu wa’s-selâmu alâ seyyidinâ muhammedin wa alâ âlihî wa sahbihî wa men tebi'ahû bi-ihsânin ejmaîn...
Praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Universe. We praise Him with the best of the praises endlessly. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammed, his family, his companions and his sincere followers.
a. Fear Allah!
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Almighty Allah says:
يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهََّوَلْتَنْظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَد ، وَاتَّقُوا
اللهََّ، إِنَّ اللهََّ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ (الحشر:٨١)
(Yâ eyyuhe’lledhîne âmenu’ttequ’llàh) "O you who believe, fear Allah! (Waltenzur nafsun mâ qaddemet li-ghadin) And observe what you send to the hereafter ahead of time. (Wattaqu’llah) Fear Allah! (İnna’llàhe habîrun bimâ ta'melûn) Verily Allah is aware of all what you do" (Qur’an 59:18).
What does a person send to the hereafter? All the good and bad
deeds carried out in this life are sent to hereafter. Inviting people for iftar, paying money for charity, paying zakah, building a mosque, fasting, offering formal prayers, performing umrah, performing Hajj, participating in jihad, and doing other kinds of worship are sent to the hereafter. Each person sends these deeds to the hereafter. Likewise, committing offenses, drinking wine, gambling, oppression, injustice, shameful acts, and other deeds that are offensive to Almighty Allah are sent to the hereafter, too.
Almighty Allah states in the Qur'an: "Each person will receive the reward for an atom's weight of good deed and the punishment for an atom's weight of bad deed. Each person must watch out what he sends to the hereafter." In other words, Almighty Allah says: "O My servants! Pay attention to your deeds! Send good deeds to the hereafter! Send deeds that would make you happy in the hereafter and deeds that would earn the pleasure of Allah and blessings in the hereafter. Do good deeds!"
Almighty Allah says:
(Wattaqu’llah, inna’llàhe habîrun bimâ ta'melûn) “Fear Allah! Verily Allah is truly aware of all what you do." In other words, "Almighty Allah sees all what you do, so do not do bad things." Even if you do it secretly, Almighty Allah would know about it. You could not be absolutely alone because Almighty Allah will be with you:
وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَاكُنْتُمْ (الحديد٤)
(Wa huwa me'akum eyne mâ kuntum) "Wherever you are, Allah is with you" (Qur’an 57:4). Almighty Allah and His angels are with you all the time. The angels are on your shoulders.
كِرَامًا كَاتِبينَ . يَعْلَمُونَ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ (الإنفطار٢١-١١)
(Kirâmen kâtibîne ya'lemûne mâ tef'alûn) “The angels register
all of your deeds.” Each person has a registry book where the angels record the good deeds and bad deeds. There are angels that stay with the person all the time. There are angels for each member and joint of the body; there are guardian angels to protect the person.
There are angels to register the deeds. There are other angles that are responsible for earth, sky, rain, clouds, wind, and sun. That means a person is surrounded by angels. There is no place a person could be "alone." There would be so many witnesses even if no human being observes a person while he commits an offense.
Almighty Allah sees all things.
Each of us should be aware of the fact that Almighty Allah sees us, and each of us should be very careful of what to send to the hereafter accordingly.
What does Almighty Allah say?
اِتَّقُوا اللهَ (الحشر٨١)
(Ittequ’llah) "Fear Allah! Be aware of Allah and avoid deeds that are unpleasant for Him."
In another verse, Almighty Allah says:
يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهََّ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ (اۤل عمران:٢٠١)
(Yâ eyyuhe’lledhîne âmenû) "O you who believe! (İttequ’llàhe haqqa tuqàtihî) Fear Allah the way how He should be feared. Have taqwa! (Wa lâ temûtunne illâ wa entum muslimûn) Do not die in any way except as Muslims!" (Qur’an 3:102)
Hadrat Ali RA said: "My Lord! You are a Lord as I am pleased with. I praise you. Make me a servant that You are pleased with."
What kind of a person would Almighty Allah be pleased with?
When a servant has taqwa, Almighty Allah is pleased with that person. You must know some people around who do not hurt
anybody, have a rosary in hand, keep saying prayers, who are gentle, sweet, and like angels. We refer to them as "people who have tawqa." What does taqwa mean?
Taqwa comes from the root wiqàya that means to protect something. Taqwa means for a person to protect himself from Almighty Allah, for Almighty Allah has absolute limitless power and He will reward or punish people in the hereafter according to their deeds in this life.
Almighty Allah is,
مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ (الفاتحة: ٤)
(Mâliki yawmi'd-dîn) "The owner of the day of Recompense" (Qur’an 1:4) when the rewards or punishments will be given to people according to their deeds in this life.
Since Almighty Allah is the Sovereign on the Day or Recompense, He will reward the good servants and punish the bad servants. That is why we have to fear Allah and protect ourselves from the hellfire where the bad servants will end up. There would be unimaginable forms of torture in Hell. That is why we have to fear Allah and avoid Hell.
b. Purpose of Fasting
We fast in Ramadhan because Almighty Allah made fasting an obligation on us with the following verse: Bi’smi’llâhi’r-rahmâni’r- rahîm:
يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن
قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ (البقرة:٣٨١)
(Yâ eyyuhe’lledhîne âmenû) "O you who believe!" —We have
been addressed— O Muslim servants who say "We believe in Allah, His messengers, His scriptures " in the creed. (Kutibe aleykumu’s- siyâm) "Fasting has been prescribed on you as an obligation (kemâ kutibe 'ale’lledhîne min qablikum) as it was prescribed upon those before you (leallekum tetteqùn) that you may attain taqwa and become righteous." (Qur'an 2:183)
We understand from this verse that fasting is an obligation (fard). It is an obligation on every believer who is healthy. It is an obligation because the verse says (kutibe) "prescribed." The verse also states, "as it was prescribed upon those before you." We understand that fasting had been an obligation on the ummahs that lived before us.
Why did Allah prescribe fasting on people who lived before us and on us? We all are the children of Adam. Our nature has been the same. We have the same [spiritual] diseases, and the cure has been the same. That is what we infer from this verse.
The last part of the verse points to the purpose: (leallekum tetteqùn) "that you may attain taqwa and become righteous." That means when a person completes his fasting, he should attain taqwa.
He should become a righteous servant of Allah, a good Muslim.
In the verses that I recited above Almighty Allah asks us to have taqwa:
يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهََّ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ (اۤل عمران:٢٠١)
(Yâ eyyuhelledhîne âmenut tequllàhe haqqa tuqàtihî wa lâ temûtunne illâ wa entum muslimûn.) (Qur'an 3:102)
يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهََّ وَلْتَنْظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَد ، وَاتَّقُوا
اللهََّ، إِنَّ اللهََّ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ (الحشر:٨١)
(Yâ eyyuhe’lledhîne âmenu’ttequ’llàhe weltenzur nefsun mâ qaddemet lighad, wettequ’llàh, inna’llàhe khabîrun bimâ ta'melûn.) (Qur'an 59:18)
These verses instruct us to have taqwa and be righteous Muslims. We shall be righteous Muslims, avoid all offenses, have good manners, be trustworthy and truthful. Almighty Allah has pointed the path for us to be righteous in the verse 183 of Surah Baqara: fasting.
Dear brothers and Sisters! Almighty Allah prescribed fasting for us, as He prescribed it for ummahs before us, so that we may attain taqwa. This verse indicates that fasting is a method to attain taqwa. Fasting will help us attain taqwa and become righteous servants.
c. The Nafs Demands the Evil
Dear Brothers and Sisters! As you know each person has a body consisted of our hands, arms, head, eye, ear and other organs. We also have a spirit, a soul. When the soul is in the body, the body has a value. When the soul is gone, the body has no value despite the presence of the eyes, eyebrows, and other organs. A person becomes speechless when his soul leaves his body. The soul and body together make the body move. Without the soul, the body becomes a pile of meat.
We also know from the verses of the Qur'an that each person has a nafs. There is a being called nafs in each of us. The nafs in each of us has been created to tend the needs of the body. It is the manager of the body. When the body feels hungry, the nafs wants food and warns: "Go eat food. I have been completely drained. I cannot even stand up. I am losing my vision. Go eat something.
Hurry up!" When the water in the body goes below a level, the nafs warns again: "My lips have been dried up! Go find some water so I can drink it!"
When the body works too much, the nafs says: "I feel tired! If you work with this pace of the work, soon you will collapse. Take a break! Rest a little. You need some sleep!" The nafs points out to the needs of the body.
The desires of the nafs are called Shahawât-i Nafsâniyye.
Shahawât means desires and wants. The nafs produces desires: "I feel hungry, thirsty. I want food and water. I want some rest. I want some sleep. I want to get married." These are some of the desires.
Of course these desires are needed to maintain the body.
Almighty Allah has not created anything in vain; there is a reason, wisdom, in the creation of everything. The nafs is needed to protect and maintain the body.
Man needs control. That is why the famous people have managers. The professional sportsmen, actors, and other famous personages have secretaries and managers. Some of the business is taken care of by the managers for the person. The manager, the director, the coach of the body is nafs. Nafs is needed because it informs about the needs of the body.
Dear Brothers and Sisters! When this nafs is left alone, then it would not limit itself. In other words, the desires of the nafs have no limits, and they go on and on! When they exceed the limits, these desires lead to sin. For instance, they could make a person steal, dishonor another person, or do other bad deeds. The nafs could make a person get lazy, stay in bad and sleep for long hours. Under the influence of his nafs, a person could wish that he takes it easy while everybody else works hard. Such a person becomes degenerate; his nature, corrupt.
For the reason above, this stage of nafs is called an-nafs al- ammarah (the evil self). (An-nafsul ammâratu bis sû'i) It is the evil self that orders a person to do the evil. When a person's nafs is not trained, it orders the person to do evil. This is stated in Surah Yusuf:
إِنَّ النَّفْسَ َلأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ إِلاَّ مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي (يوسف٣٥)
(Inna’n-nafsa le-ammâratun bi’s-sû'i illâ mâ rahime rabbi) "Indeed the nafs is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy." (Qur'an 12:53)
The excessive desires of the nafs must be limited. Who is going to do the limiting and control? The father of a child puts the limits: "Do not go out to play soccer! Do not go to the movies! Sit here and finish your homework! Wake up and get up! You cannot go outside unless you finish your homework!" Somebody outside manages the child.
Sirri Kirimlioğlu Mosque, ANTALYA
When the child becomes a strong grown-up, an independent person, who is going to direct him? Who is going to manage and train the nafs from outside? The nafs of the person needs training.
If the nafs is trained, the person reaches salvation. It is stated in the Qur'an:
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا. وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا (الشمس: ٩-٠١)
(Qad aflaha men zekkâhâ) "Prosperous is he who trains and purifies his nafs (Wa qad khàbe men dessâhâ) And failed is he who seduces it." (Qur'an 91:9-10) The tazkiyetu’n-nafs, the training of the self, leads to salvation. One who fails to train his nafs will be disappointed in the hereafter.
That is why training of nafs is one of the most important tasks for a believer and the most important subject of Tasawwuf. The nafs of the person must be trained. Whose nafs? Who is the person? A director, a minister, a president, a man, a woman, everybody. The nafs of everybody must be trained. A person becomes mature if his nafs is trained just as Mawlânâ Jalâleddîn-i Rûmî, Yunus Emre, Eshrefoghlu Rûmî, Ibrâhim Haqqi Erzurumî and other personages we see around, we have heard about or we have read about in history books.
Let me give you an example: Hadrat Qadi Shurayh was a judge. Two persons entered his court. One of them had the Muslim attire while the other one had the Christian attire. When he saw them together, he wished that the Muslim person was right. His heart took the side of the Muslim before they even stated the matter of disagreement. He had both of them sit across from him. Then he asked what the matter was and he listened to the claims and defenses. He came to the conclusion that the Muslim person was wrong and the Christian was right on the matter of disagreement.
He issued the verdict that way, yet he felt the pain in his heart for the rest of his life for wishing that one of these two persons who
came him to seek justice was right. He felt sorry for himself for not looking at them as equals. The self of the person is trained, a person controls himself.
d. Fasting and Training Nafs
The nafs needs to be trained, and one way of training the nafs is fasting. That is why Almighty Allah has the Muslims practice every year not for a short time but for a month. It is a training on limiting the desires of the nafs and controlling it.
Now, what does our nafs want? It wants food, beverages, and intimacy with our spouses. What does Almighty Allah say? "You
shall not eat food from dawn until sunset in Ramadhan!"
"Is it haram?"
'The food itself is not haram, but you shall not eat it from dawn to sunset O My servant! you shall not drink water, either!"
"Is water haram?"
"The water is not intoxicating; it is not a prohibited matter.
However, you shall not drink it from dawn to sunset in Ramadhan."
The water and food are essential for the body for the maintenance of life. Almighty Allah tells us to stop taking these two important matters from down till sunset.
What do we do? We want them. Imagine it is a summer day and you are fasting. Think about the heat of the summer, the heat of Antalya in summer. You would want water and cold beverages.
You would want some when you see it.
Doctors immunize children to protect them from the diseases.
Could we say, "why do you hurt children by inserting a needle into their arms? You know that they are going to get discomfort when you inject the immunization."
The doctors would respond: "I insert the needle because I am giving them some of the microbes of the diseases to them. Their body overcomes these microbes and gets immunity to these diseases. They will get some discomfort, but is it temporary."
In the past, when these contagious diseases come to a locality, it would kill many people. Ottomans knew about smallpox and some ladies would do the immunization in the neighborhood. The epidemic of smallpox would pass like a breeze in Ottomans, yet it would kill one-half or one-third of the population in Europe. It was a terrible disease. When people are immunized, the diseases do not do any harm to them because the body learns how to defend itself against the diseases. The immunization produces antibodies against the microbes.
We, too, learn self-control by abstaining from the lawful and essential matters from dawn to sunset. We are training ourselves to gain control over our wills. We learn how to hold ourselves and be patient.
As you know, once a man in a white dress came to the Prophet SAS. He had a white, illuminated face; his dress was extremely Prof. Dr. M. Es'ad COŞAN
clean. Nobody had seen him before. He was not from Madina, yet there was no sign such as dust or sweat indicating that he had traveled. He sat by the Prophet and had his knee touch the Prophet's knee. He looked very close to the Prophet SAS.
Everybody was amazed: "Who could be this stranger?"
e. What is Ihsân?
The man in the white dress asked some questions to the Prophet and the Prophet answered them. Every time the Prophet made a statement, he confirmed: "You have said the truth." The companions were puzzled: "How could a person talk to the Prophet in this manner? Who is teaching Islam—the Prophet or the stranger?"
One of the last questions was the following:
وَمَا اْلإِحْسَانُ ؟
(Wa ma’l-ihsânu) "What is ihsân o Messenger of Allah?"
Ihsân means doing something well. What could be that something? It is the servitude. Ihsan means being a good servant to Allah. We had asked ourselves in the beginning of the discourse: "What kind of a servant does Allah want us to be?" He wants us to be good servants. The man in the white dress asked: "What is ihsân? How does a person become a good servant?" The Prophet SAS answered:11
11 Buhàrî, Sahîh, c.I, s.27, no:50; Müslim, Sahîh, c.I, s.39, no:9; Neseî, Sünen, c.VIII, s.101, no:4991; İbn-i Mâce, Sünen, c.I, s.25, no:64; Ahmed ibn-i Hanbel,
Müsned, c.II, s.426, no:9497; İbn-i Huzeyme, Sahîh, c.IV, s.5, no:2244; İbn-i Hibbân, Sahîh, c.I, s.375, no:159; İbn-i Ebî Şeybe, Musannef, c.VI, s.157, no:30309;
Neseî, Sünenü’l-Kübrâ, c.VI, s.528, no:117222; Ebû Hüreyre RA’dan.
Müslim, Sahîh, c.I, s.36, no:8; Tirmizî, Sünen, c.V, s.6, no:2610; Ebû Dâvud,
Sünen, c.II, s.635, no:4695; Neseî, Sünen, c.VIII, s.97, no:4990; İbn-i Mâce, Sünen, c.I, s.24, no:63; İbn-i Hibbân, Sahîh, c.I, s.389, no:168; Beyhakî, Sünenü’l-Kübrâ, c.X, s.203, no:20660; Neseî, Sünenü’l-Kübrâ, c.VI, s.528, no:11721; Ebû Nuaym,
اْلإِحْسَانُ أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ، فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ
(خ. م. ن. ه. حم. خز. حب. ش. حل. عن أبي هريرة؛ م. د. ت. ن. ه. حب. ق. عن عمر)
(Al'ihsânu en ta'budallàhe ke-enneke terâhu, fe-in lem tekun terâhu fe-innehû yerâke) "Ihsan means worshipping Allah as though you see Him. You do not see Him, but He is everywhere and observant; He sees you." The man in the white dress said: "You
Hilyetü’l-Evliyâ, c.VIII, s.383; Beyhakî, el-Erbaùne’s-Suğrâ, c.I, s.61, no:23; Hz. Ömer RA’dan.
Kenzü’l-Ummâl, c.III, s.44, no:5249; Keşfü’l-Hafâ, c.I, s.57, no:140; Câmiu’l- Ehàdîs, c.X, s.494, no:10108.
have stated the truth." He asked another question and left.
After the man in the white dress left, the Prophet turned to the companions and asked: "Do you know who the person was?"
"We could not recognize him o Prophet of Allah."
"He was the angel Gabriel; he appeared as a human being. He asked these questions for me to answers so that you learn your religion. He came here for that."
This hadith is called hadith-i Jibrîl, and it was reported by Hadrat Omar.
According to this hadith, the servitude has to be good: We shall worship Allah as if we see him. In the presence of another person, when we feel that we are observed, we pay more attention to what we do; we would be more careful as we sit down, get up, talk or do anything. Almighty Allah sees us all the time; hence, we should do our servitude and worship accordingly.
"How are we going to do our worship?"
"We have to do our worship with taqwa. We have to pay attention to make sure that what we do is not offensive to Allah, false or leading to the hellfire. We have to avoid all that could prevent us from entering paradise. We have to be on our toes all the time. Every move we make has to be planned.
Hadrat Omar RA was a curious person. He used to ask people around him questions. Let me tell you one anecdote about him. I will return to our subject later.
Abdullah ibn-i Abbas was a young person, yet he was extremely knowledgeable. When Hadrat Omar became the Caliph, he asked Abdullah ibn-i Abbas to be among his council of advisors. The elderly of the Quraish and other companions questioned the wisdom of Hadrat Omar: "Why do we include this young man among us? We have children of his age. Why does the Caliph ask him to be present at our meetings?"
Hadrat Omar RA was one of the awliyaullah. All of the companions were awliyaullah, yet he was among the asher-i mubash-sharah, i.e., the ten people who were told that they will
enter paradise. He was among the top companions. He had Abdullah ibn-i Abbas RA called. May Almighty Allah bless this young companion as well as his father and grant them His consent.
May Allah grant their intercession on us, too. Hadrat Omar RA had Abdullah ibn-i Abbas sit among the elderly companions and asked them:
"Tell me the message of Surah Nasr":
إِذَا جَاءَنَصْرُ اللهِ وَالْفَتْحُ . وَرَأَيْتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ
اللهِ أَفْوَاجًا . فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَ اسْتَغْفِرْهُ، إِنَّهُ كَانَ تَوَّابًا
(النصر:١-٣)
(Idhâ jâ-a nasru’llàhi wal fethu wa raeyte’n-nâse yedkhulûne fî Conquest of Makkah
dîni’llâhi efwâjâ... Fesebbih bi-hamdi rabbike wastaghfirhu innehû kâne tawwâbâ)
The elderly men responded: "O the leader of believers! As people got interested in Islam and became Muslims in large groups, Almighty Allah asked the Prophet (Fe sebbih bihamdi rabbike) to glorify and praise his Lord and (wastaghfirhu) and seek forgiveness from Him, (innehû kâne tawwâbâ) verily He accepts the repentance of His servants. It is an order to the Prophet that he should praise Allah and Turn to Him when victory and the help from Allah arrived."
Hadrat Omar turned to Abdullah ibn-i Abbas RA: "What is your opinion? Do you agree with the statement?"
"No I do not agree with them."
"What do you think it is?"
"In this Surah Almighty Allah informs the Prophet that he would depart from this life soon."
The word al-fat-hu in this verse refers to the conquest of Makkah. Makkah was conquered. Earlier, Muslims had been expelled from Makkah by the unbelievers of Quraish. Muslims had immigrated to Madina due to the oppressions. Then there were battles of Badr, Uhud, the Ditch (Handak). Later Makkah was conquered. There were no centers in the Arabian Peninsula to insist in disbelief. People accepted Islam in large groups.
Abdullah ibn-i Abase said: "In this Surah Almighty Allah informs the Prophet that he would depart from this life soon."
Hadrat Omar RA commented: "I do not know any other interpretation but this. That is the deeper meaning of this Surah.
'O My Prophet! You are about to complete your mission. Praise your Lord for that and ask forgiveness from Allah. Your departure from this life is close.'"
Abdullah ibn-i Abbas was young but knowledgeable. His knowledge elevated his rank.
Hadrat Omar was the reporter of the Jibrîl Hadith. According to the hadith, each person shall do his worship as though he sees
Almighty Allah. That means, he shall do worship with taqwa, in a state of mind that is based on taqwa. If he does something wrong, he shall think that Allah sees him and will punish him in the hereafter. If he does something good, he shall expect its reward from Allah.
We can conclude that ihsân, i.e., doing the worship in the best way and having taqwa, which is recommended in many verses of the Qur'an, are essentially the same thing. Both of them mean for a person to be aware of what he does, to fear that Almighty Allah will punish him when he does something wrong, to avoid all that could lead to hellfire, and to avoid all that could prevent him from entering Paradise.
f. What is Taqwa?
Hadrat Omar RA was very knowledgeable person, and he would ask questions. He asked Ubey ibn-i Kâ'b RA: "Almighty Allah orders taqwa in the Qur'an. I want to hear from you. What is taqwa?"
Ubey ibn-i Kâ'b RA was one of the companions. He was a scholar; he knew the Qur'an well. He was one of them who collected the verses of the Qur'an. Hadrat Omar RA, too, was a knowledgeable person, yet they would exchange knowledge by asking questions. Hadrat Omar RA asked: "How do you understand taqwa?"
Ubey ibn-i Kâ'b RA asked a question in response:
"O Omar, have you walked in a field that had thorns?"
"Yes, I have."
"How did you walk?"
"I picked up the skirt of my dress."
"Why did you do that?"
"I lifted up the skirts of my dress because I did not want it to be torn. Then I paid attention to where I stepped to avoid the thorns.
They could hurt the feet and make it bleed. They could tear the dress."
"That is taqwa."
What a great answer! Ubey ibn-i Kâ'b RA explained it with an example, in a way that would stick to the minds.
Taqwa is living a life as though walking in a field full of thorns.
A Muslim must lead a life as though he is walking in that field. The thorns of this life are the offenses and sins. If you step on a thorn of sin, you will injure yourself spiritually. If you commit an offense,
you will wound yourself spiritually. You have to avoid the offenses and sins. You have to be extremely careful in life.
"Do people commit sins because they don't know what is sin?"
"Not at all! They know it well what is haram. Everybody knows that drinking intoxicants, gambling, uttering lies, and involving in usury are sins. Very few people would be committing a sin without knowing. People commit sins knowing it is prohibited by Allah.
They do it because they cannot control their nafs. They say afterwards, "I am sorry. I could not help it! I could not control myself. I followed the path of Satan; I followed the desires of my nafs."
During the month of Ramadhan, a Muslim practices controlling his nafs. He does the training by not drinking water, not eating food and not getting intimate with his spouse. Almighty Allah put up our strongest and stormiest desires to train us. By not doing them from dawn to sunset, a person learns avoidance and taqwa.
Do we understand the verse of the Qur'an better?
كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
(البقرة:٣٨١)
(Kutibe aleykumu’s-siyâm) "Fasting has been prescribed on you as an obligation (kemâ kutibe 'ale’lledhîne min qablikum) as it was prescribed upon those before you" because they had the same responsibility. They had nafs, too, and they would become better persons if they controlled their nafs. "(Leallekum tetteqùn) that you
may attain taqwa and become righteous." (Qur'an 2:183)
Dear Brothers and Sisters. Do not consider fasting as "staying hungry from down to sunset" only. Go beyond that and understand the purpose.
Few days ago we were in Egypt. An imam came to us and introduced himself. We greeted him, too. Then we had a request:
"Egyptians recite the Qur'an well. Could you recite some Qur'an for us?"
The imam responded: "I sure could, yet I would have a request.
It is my custom, a weakness, to ask those who are present to listen to the Qur'an not by their ears but with their hearts."
There are so many people who hear things, but they act as though they never heard it. A child hears his father's words, yet he goes and does the same thing that he should not do. Why would he do that? He could not control himself. We often say, his father's words "entered through one ear and got our through the other ear."
We know that there is no such thing, yet we imply that the person did not do what he was told to. Listening is not enough; one must understand and apply on himself. The person must instill what he hears into his heart. Looking is not enough; one must see it and place it in his heart. That is why the imam said: "I will recite the Qur'an, but you should listen to it not only by your ears but also by your hearts."
Dear brothers and Sisters! You must not carry out fasting in the form only. You should not be content with being thirsty or hungry whole day; try to understand its meaning and purpose, too.
What is purpose of fasting? (Leallekum tetteqùn) It is a task to make you god-conscious and strengthen your will power. It is a great training work. If I may say, it has been a modern training work for over centuries. It is a method for strengthening the will power that the man of twentieth century has been looking for.
Unfortunately we see some Muslims fasting the whole day and at the iftar they light a cigarette. What happened? What happened
to the training? He tried getting taqwa all day, and in the evening he broke his training. As the songs go:
Karakolda doghru söyler
Mahkemede shashirir Akshamdan söz verip de
Sabaha dönüsh mü olur?
He tells the truth at the police station,
Yet he gets confused in the court case.
Would one promise in the evening
Then change his mind next morning?
You ought to have taqwa and learn avoidance. If something is haram, you are not going to do it after iftar, either. You must not do it after Ramadhan, either.
I would like to end my discourse with something bitter and important. What is the sign of acceptance of our worship in Ramadhan? We offered Tarawih prayers, recited Qur'an and fasted. We offered night vigil prayers, spend money on charitable causes, fed the poor and invited people for iftar. Are they accepted?
Our beloved Prophet said: "The sign of acceptance of the worship carried out in Ramadhan is the continuation of this excellent state of the person after Ramadhan."
After Ramadhan, if the person does not maintain his good state that he acquired in Ramadhan, if resumes bad activities after Ramadhan, it means that Allah has not accepted that person's worship in Ramadhan. That is why we should pay attention to this.
The purpose of fasting is to learn self control and strengthen the will power against the offenses and haram. The purpose is to acquire taqwa. Do not forget this at all. Remember it after the iftar and after the month of Ramadhan. Live a life with taqwa.
Almighty Allah will place His muttaqî servants (those who have taqwa) in His Paradise.
أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ (اۤلعمران:٣٣١)
(U'iddet li’l-muttaqîn) "Paradise is prepared as a reward for the servants who have taqwa." (Qur'an 3:133) If you learn taqwa and acquire it as it was stated in the verse (... leallekum tetteqùn) then Paradise will be yours. The prophet SAS said:
أَكْثَرُ مَا يُدْخِلُ النَّاسَ الْجَنَّةَ تَقْوَى اللهَِّ وَحُسْنُ الْخُلُقِ (حم. خ . في الأدب، ت. ه. ك. حب. هب. عن أبي هريرة)
RE. 80/3 (Aktheru mâ yudkhilu’n-nâs al-jannah taqwa’llahi wa husnu’l-khuluqi) "What takes people to Paradise is taqwa and good code of conduct." You are going to acquire taqwa in Ramadhan as Sirri Kirimlioglu Mosque, ANTALYA
you fast and learn how to control your nafs. Most people who deserve Paradise deserve it because of their taqwa.
The second quality to take a person to Paradise is the husnu’l- khuluq, the good code of conduct and good manners. The good code of conduct originates from taqwa, too. If a person has a strong will power, if his nafs is trained, then he can have good manners. He becomes patient, merciful, generous, and helpful. He abandons envy, grudge, oppression, and stinginess. Taqwa is the source of the good characters.
For the training, one month is a pretty long time, not short at all. It also repeats every year. A person undergoes this training every year. It is an annual spiritual and bodily maintenance. We ought to learn about taqwa and understand it well. We ought to strengthen our will power and join in this Ramadhan among those who have taqwa. We should succeed in becoming muttaqî servants of Allah, for Allah loves those who have taqwa and grant them good ends. He treats them with blessings in His Paradise.
May Almighty Allah make your fasting real--not in form only.
May He not place us among those who fast without being aware of the meanings of fasting.
May He grant us the good feelings that are meant for us in Ramadhan. May He strengthen our will power and remove the tarnish from our hearts. May He remove the curtains from our eyes so that we can see the truth as truth, the path leading to His consent, and His Beauty. May He grant us the love of His path. For the rest of our lives, may Allah make us His beloved servants, grant us taqwa, and keep us on His straight path.
With the secrets of the Surah Fatiha!
February 3, 1995 / Ramadhan 3, 1415
Sirri Kirimlioglu Mosque -- ANTALYA