Make the Most out of Sha'abaan

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

The best of Praises and thanks belong to Allah, the Most Exalted, who said in His Glorious Revelation, “By time, Indeed Mankind is in loos, Except for those who have believed and do righteous deeds and advised one another to truth and advise one another to patience.”al-Asr. Praised shall He remain as much as He pleases. The superiority of the Praises due to our Lord over other praises are like His Superiority over all His Creatures. We testify that the is no deity that deserves to be worshipped except Allah, the Exalted, the Sufficient. We again bear testimony to the Prophethood of the most beloved Servant of Allah. The one who emergence in this world signified the limited amount of time left in this world. The Messenger of Mercy. The intercessor of those who wasted their time in this world on the day of Qiyamah. The coolness of the eyes of the believer, Muhammad, may the Salutations and Peace of Allah and His Angel be upon him, his household, his companions and those of us who are yearning for his companionship in the hereafter. May Allah join us with him SAW in the highest part of Jannah in the hereafter. But we won’t be bestowed with this great honour unless we take the necessary steps to achieve it. One of the ways to do that is by staying away from all kinds of lies. As it has been reported from the Messenger of Allah SAW that a house shall be built in the highest part of Jannah for he who stays away from lies even if it is in the form of jokes.

And that which follows:

Servants of Allah, Indeed Allah the Exalted has made it clear in the Quran that mankind is indeed is a state of Great loss. Except those who have believed, do good deeds, advise each other to truth and also advise each other to patience. All these actions which were mentioned in these verses and virtuous and hold very high importance and status in our religion beginning with believing, that is eemaan. In the absence of eemaan, your good deeds and patience will earn you nothing in the hereafter. That is if you die without eemaan in your heart. Notwithstanding that, the eemaan which can only be found in your heart and is only known by Allah SWA cannot only be manifested through your actions and that is why it has been passed down to us from our righteous and guided scholars that eemaaan is actions and statements. Eemaan is the conviction of the heart, statements of the tongue and also actions of the body or body parts. Thus, your eemaan can only be manifested through your actions and your actions show your eemaan. And ibn Taymiyyah may Allah have mercy on him, said that verily eemaan increases with obedience to Allah and decreases with disobedience to Allah. And patience is one of the most virtuous character a believer can possess. A believer does not exercise patience to a calamity except that Allah raises his station in this world and in the hereafter. 

Servants of Allah, with all that has been said in our previous statements about the virtuous deeds and character Allah mentioned in this surah, we shouldn’t allow our attention to be drawn away from the first statement Allah, the Exalted, made in the surah. Allah began the chapter by swearing by Time. And Allah SWA does not swear by anything except that it is very important. Allah SWA swears by time in its different forms in numerous parts of the Quran to show it emphasis. And it is very clear mankind is always in the state of loss, in the state of negligence with regards to whatever Allah swears by. Allah clearly stated the mankind is in loss after swearing by time. Except those who use their time for righteous deeds. Allah again swore by the night in suratu-Llayl. And we all know what mankind does in the cover of darkness. Allah swore again by the morning[brightness]. He again swore by the dawn in suratul- fajr.

Servants of Allah, all these are important times which Allah SWA Himself has placed emphasis upon. As part of the signs if the nearness of the Last is that the days will elapse faster than they did in yesteryears. A week passes by and it is as though a day just went by. A month passes and it is as if a week just passed and so on. Therefore, servant of Allah, the question is what are using your time for?

Allah the Almighty tells us the Glorious Quran that the number of months with are twelve months. Allah, the Exalted Created twelve months for us His servants with which we can conduct our affairs in this. This is one of the numerous favours that Allah the Exalted has bestowed upon us His servants. Those among us who do not think that the number of days in a weeks, the number of weeks in a month and also the number of months in a year are favour to should be referred to statement of Allah in Suratul –Qasas in which Allah, the Hope of the hopeless, the Help of the Helpless, the Voice of the voiceless, the Manager of the Affairs of His creatures, said, “Say(O Muhammad SAW), Have you considered; that if Allah should make for you the night continuous until the Day of Resurrection ,what deity other than Allah could bring you light? Then will you not hear? Say, (O Muhammad), have you considered; that if Allah should make for you the day continuous until the Day of Resurrection, what deity other than Allah could bring you a night in which you may rest? Then will you not see? And out of His Mercy He made for night and the day that you may rest therein and [by day] seek from His bounty and [that] perhaps you will be grateful” al-Qasas 71-73

Wallahi these verses bring tears to eyes of those who ponder upon the verses of Allah. servants of Allah, among the numerous months that Allah has favoured us with are months which are better than the others. And one of these months is the month of Sha’ban. The month that precedes the blessed month, the month of Ramadhan. Servants of Allah, this month of Sha’ban is a month which if a servant makes use of it in seeking the pleasure of Allah, not only will it earn the Pleasure of Allah in multiple folds but it also automatically prepares him for the month of Ramadhan. The month of blessing. One of the outstanding virtues of this month as it has been reported from the Prophet is that, it is that month in which the yearly deeds of the servant are raised to Allah SWA. Now, taking a look at our how we conduct our worldly affairs, whenever we have a form of presentation to make to others, we make sure that whatever we are to present is in a very good state if not in the best of states. Isn’t it more deserving for our deeds to be presented to Allah, Our Creator, the One we shall return to, in the best forms and with our best deeds? As a result, the Prophet SAW fasted in this month more than any other month except the month of Ramadhan for he SAW wanted his deeds to be presented to Allah whiles he was fasting. What about you and me Servant of Allah.

Servants of Allah, Allah SWA is Forgiver who forgives the sins of His servants whenever they seek his forgiveness. The Forgiver of sins and Acceptor of repentance. It has been reported in a hadith al-qudsi in which Allah said, O my servants verily you sin during the night and during the day and I forgive all sins, therefore seek My forgiveness and I shall forgive you. Allahu Akbar. The Lord of Mercy. In another hadith it is reported that Allah Forgives the sins of the servant who keeps asking for forgiveness to the extent of telling this servant to what he wants. Meaning whenever he falls short and disobeys Allah, He, Allah will Forgive. Servants of Allah, Our Lord is the Forgiving Creator and He Loves to Forgive. And among the virtues of the month of Sha’abaan is that in the middle of this month, Allah SWA forgives the sins all creatures. Servants of Allah, all creatures. Except those who are associating partners with Allah. This is the point which I will use to advise my fellow brothers and sisters. There are some of us though we have believed we still engage in certain activities which are acts of shirk, as Allah mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an, “And most of them do not believe except that they are Mushrikun,” Yusuf 106. If we want to be under this umbrella of Forgiveness which Allah is going to cover all His creatures with in the middle of this month then we should ensure that we are not associating partners with Allah in any form. 

Servants of Allah, what we have discussed are some of the virtues of this month of Sha’aban, let us try our best and make use of the opportunities Allah has made available for us to get closer to Him and earn His Pleasure, Forgiveness, Mercy and Paradise.

May the Salutation and Peace of Allah be upon Hi Prophet Muhammad SAW.

As-Salamu Alaykum