Ramadan  1422

            It was reported by Selmani Farsi that our Master the Messenger of Allah (saws) delivered the following sermon on the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan.

            Shahri Ramadan, the best of all months, is here today.  This month is a blessed month in which there is a single night which is worth a thousand months.  Allah Most High has made it obligatory to fast during the days of this month and made it voluntary to pass the nights in prayer.  During this month, whoever comes close to his Creator, doing good deeds and worships as has been made obligatory for us, receives divine rewards and comes to know the Truth in themselves ten times more than ordinary days.  This month is the month of patience and the reward of patience is  Paradise.  This month is the month of abundance.  The sustenance of the believers increases many fold during this month.  If someone invites a believer for a feast at fast break during this month, he will have his sins forgiven.  He will save his neck from the punishment of Hell.  He will receive the same reward as the one whom he feeds, and the one who fasted and broke fast with him will not lose any of the reward which he receives for fasting.  Whoever feeds at fast break a servant of Allah, will be given water from the Kauthar fountain on judgement day and he will never be thirsty in eternity.  Whoever lightens the work of the ones who work for him during this month, Allah will take away the load of his sins.

            This is such a month that we all will receive the compassion of Allah during the first third and His forgiveness during the second third and save ourselves from Hell-fire during the last third of Ramadan.

            I ask you to increase these four deeds during this month.  If you do, the first two deeds will win you the pleasure of your Lord, and, you certainly will need, in the hereafter, the security which the last two offer.

            1. Repeat the blessed words of “La ilaha illallah” with your words and confirm it with your hearts as often as you can.

            2. Remember your wrong doings, your sins and repent, intending not to do them ever again, and surely your Lord will be pleased with you.

            3. Beg Allah with tears of shame and love for Him to take you to His Paradise.

            4. Take refuge in His mercy from His wrath and beg Him to save you from the punishment           of Hell.

            During the first night of Ramadan the gates of Hell are locked.  The gates of Paradise are opened and they stay open until the end of the month.  On that night the devils are chained and thrown to the waves on the oceans so that they can not bother those who fast.  On that night Allah looks upon mankind.  When the Creator looks but once upon men, He will never punish them.

            Allah forgives in advance the sins one may commit during Ramadan, the moment we start fasting the first day of Ramadan.  And for each day of fasting a palace of a thousand doors is built for us, and seventy thousand angels are praying for our salvation from morning till night.  Every night during Ramadan Allah, most high speaks to the believers three times and asks:  “Is there not anyone who asks so that I give them what he ask for?  Is there not anyone who repents so that I may forgive him? Is there not anyone who wants something from their Lord who is the richest and most generous who never refuses to give and the most merciful and compassionate who forgives all sins?”  

            And at every moment of fast break, Allah forgives a million sinners who deserved Hell-fire.  And every hour of every Friday during Ramadan a million sinners and many millions more who have been forgiven up to that time are saved from punishment.

            Those who spend the nights of Ramadan praying receive a thousand seven hundred rewards for each prostration and a palace is build for them in Paradise out of red rubies.  For each prostration an immense tree is planted for him in Paradise.  If a man galloping on a horse traveled one hundred years he would still be in the shade of that tree.

            If the heavens and the earth were permitted to speak, their first words would have been the good news of Allah's promise of Paradise to the one’s who fast.  And if you knew what rewards are promised during this month you would want the whole year to be Ramadan.

from Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi

for his ihvan

Ramadan 1, 1422