THE TWO EXTREME ENDS

Introduction

Brothers and sisters,

Thanks for coming to our event this evening and I hope it will be a memorable moment for me and for you guys since this is the first event organised by the new committee and this is also the first time ever in the history of RCSI organising this Grand Iftar. We hope to get your continous support and participation in our future events, insyaallah.

Brothers and sisters,

Before I go further, I want to ask you a simple lousy question. I hope to get few answers and I do not expect to get the same precise answer. If I were to ask you, who is your enemy? What is your answer?

As-Syaitan is our enemy. He is our enemy since the creation of Adam a.s. He is our enemy that will keep influencing us on our day-to-day decision. He is our enemy that plant the seeds of hatred, laziness, greedy, selfish, jealousy and ziliions of other bad habits. And he is our enemy forever and ever. If you read the tafseer, in surah annas, you will know more who syaitan is. But, in our discussion today, let keep it simple, since everyone is tired.

Brothers and sister,

I have another question here. What do you think about syaitan, is he stupid and clever? And why?

Do not think that syaitan is a stupid creation. He is even clever than us. He was created before Adam a.s. had been created. He has more experience than us. He will keep chasing us wherever we go and he will never stop because he has promised to Allah that he will deviate the human from Islam and eventually to join him entering the jahannam.

Brothers and sisters,

However, please do not feel comfortable and secured if we you are now a fully practicing muslim. You observe you salaat, fasting, do sadaqa, charity, or even actively doing daawah. Because like I said, syaitan will not stop working. The will not take a rest. They will not keep quite. They will keep whispering to us until we have deviated from the true path of the Islamic faith.

If the syaitan not be able to deviate us from islam, he will make us ghuluw, which is excessive, especially in ibadah. He makes us performing the ibadah that is beyond the guidelines given by our beloved prophet a.s. which is most of the time are unnecessary.

Brothers and sisters,

I am saying this because now we are approaching another miserable time in our life, which is the examination. Because we are so afraid and so scared of the outcome, it is a fitrah for us to go back to our creator. This is normal because how good or how bad one is, if he is having hard time, he will beg his Lord, in our case, Allah SWT. It is not wrong. It is even better because we know that Allah is the one who will help us in our studies, during our time in the examination hall, and also to pass the exam.

It reflects our iman and our primary intention of studying, we are not a strong creation that will be able to determine our future by our own hands. We are a weak creation that is totally dependence on Allah. So, it is normal to go back to Allah when we are having a difficult time so that Allah, with his Mercy will help us to ease our burden and help us every single second in our life.

After all, like I stress earlier, syaitan is even a genius creation. He will make us excessive in our effort to be close to Allah, to establish our firm relationship with Him.

Refer to a hadith, narrated by Anas (mentioned in Riyaadussaliihin, Chapter 13, Moderation in Worship). (page 122 in Mubarakpuri’s collection)

Brothers and sisters,

I remind you on this topic because as I said, when we are depress and stress, we tend to do something that is out of our mind and does not make sense.

I still remember one story regarding my friend during my young and innocent secondary school time. We called him Micheal for unknown aetiology, but he is happy with that and make doa for him as well as he is going to be a qualified accountant very soon and hopefully he will be able to come to Dublin for his ACCA in DBS.

Prior to our SPM (O-Level) examination which was in the 2nd week of syawal, Michael fasted 3 months in a row without leaving a day without fasting. He fasted in Rajb, Syaaban and Ramadhan. But alhamdulillah he broke the fast everyday as usual.

The point that I want to bring to you guys is not the argument whether Michael is correct or not, but that was one of the example that could happen when we are trying to be close to Allah, to plead for his mercy and helps. May Allah accept his deeds and bless him in his life and grant him a big reward because of his effort. I miss Michael so much. We have not meet each other for 5 years but anyway, summer break is coming.

Therefore brothers and sisters,

In order to please Allah with our good deeds please do not be excessive. Be fair to your own self. Do not harm you body. If you cannot fast everyday like micheal did, try it once a week, make it as a routine. Then you increase it to twice a week as it is recommended by the sunnah. If you cannot do it, do not push yourselves. Do not harm yourself since to look over the compulsory things has a greater importance over the additional stuffs. However, please bear in mind that I am not discouraging you to fast, but do it according to your capability with the correct intention and a strong determination to steadfast, be istiqamah with it. May Allah rewards us by our effort.

I hope our interest in ibadah will not interfere our daily living. Because I have witnessed people who worship Allah excessively until they neglect their health, they neglect their study time, they do not have enough sleep, they do not take proper food, and if they are married, they often neglect their wives and children. Islam is moderate and easy, do not make it difficult and complicated.

Other than fasting, may be some us will do qiamullail, waking up at the middle of the night and plead to Allah for help and hidayah. This is excellence. Allah loves it. Allah said, he will fulfil any doa supplicated by his humble servant. But, again, please ensure that your health is not affected. Have enough sleep, and the most important is, do not disturb your friend who are sleeping in the same room or the same house. Or, you can invite them to do the qiamullail together and have sahur together. At the same time, you have strengthen the ties of faith between you and your housemates.

And people also like to do sadaqa. This is also a noble deed that is promoted in islam. But, again, do not do sadaqa until there’s no money left to sustain your life till the end of the months. May be you are thinking of being Abu Bakr during the Battle of Tabuk where he donated all of his wealth fi sabilillah. Here the deal is. Most of the time, prophet said to his companions to do sadaqa but leave a little bit for the family. But why Rasulullah accept the infaq from Abu Bakr? The scholars have agreed that the Prophet were very confident with Abu Bakr, will be able to regenerate his wealth and he will neither reclaim nor regret of donating all of his wealth.

Brothers and sister,

Just to make it simple and sweet, please do not forget that syaitan will never stop disturbing us. He either makes us not a practicing muslim or make us excessive. He is a clever, enthusiastic and non-lethargic creation that we should declared as our enemy. They are our strongest enemy as they are invisible to our naked eyes. Lets pray to Allah to guide us in every single action we take and may he accept our ibadah. May allah rewards us and bless us dunia wal akhirah. Lets pray to Allah to help us every single second in our life and also muslim around the world especially to those who are being continuously oppressed, in Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Thailand and many more.

Jazakumullahu khairan katheera