His Eminence Sheikh Saleh Bin Muhammad Aal-Talib ?may Allah protect him? delivered this  Khutbah entitled “Ramadan and the Conditions of the Muslim Ummah”. He spoke about the month of Ramadan and about its merits and wisdom. He motivated people to compete in worshipping Allah (?) especially during Ramadan. He did not miss the opportunity to talk about the conditions of Muslims all over the world, stressing the necessity to keep sight of the needy through offering charity.  

Praise be to Allah! Praise be to Allah, Who has privileged certain days and months over others and made Ramada the month of the greatest forms of worship and the source of the most generous rewards. I praise my Lord (?) and thank Him. I repent to Him and ask for His forgiveness. He is the Merciful, the Pardoner, the Forgiver, the Generous, the Munificent, and the Grateful. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship save Allah alone without associate; a testimony whereby I seek salvation on Resurrection Day. I equally bear witness that Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is Allah’s Servant and Messenger and the best creature ever. May Allah send His Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) and Peace onto him, his family, his Companions, and his Ummah as long as crescents are born in the sky and mid-month full moons come into view by night time.
    
Now then, fear Allah and hold fast to the non-severable bond of Islam. Hold yourselves accountable before the Day of Accountability and make your own ša?îfa (Deed Record) clear of sins before it is tagged around your neck (on Doomsday), and also before your body organs and locations you once frequented in the herein serve as witnesses for what you perpetrated. There are certainly angel-scribes taking record of all your deeds, and Allah (?) is the promptest in exacting His creatures’ accountability: "And be afraid of the Day when you shall be brought back to Allâh. Then every person shall be paid what he earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly." [Al-Ba?ara: 281]
 
O Muslims!
Year in, year out; days and nights alternate. Sunset gives way to sunrise. Victories, defeats, advantages, and inconveniences rotate. The passage of time burdens the self with responsibilities, pitfalls, fatigue, and regression which incite worshippers to recoil from the journey to Allah and make them feel bored with the length of the path leading to Allah’s promised recompense. Sometimes, one may even feel alienated from the very road taken and estranged from one’s travel mates. One will therefore struggle under the heavy burden of life’s habits which exert extra pressure on one’s psychological state torn between pain of despair and a ray of hope. Under such circumstances, one is inclined to search for a safe haven of shade from the scorching heat of sunshine and a secure harbour from tempestuous sea waves. One is in need of some respite, as the journey is long, food is scarce, and the obstacle is insurmountable.
 
This is why Allah, the Most-Munificent, bestowed upon His servants a graceful month and a magnificent season so that Muslim worshippers could strengthen their faith to confront the journey of belief ahead and enhance the degree of their taqwa. This graceful month is similar to a river for quenching one’s thirst, healing one’s wounds, and imbibing souls with its bounteous graces ?which eventually leads to their felicitous destiny. It is a month during which one defeats one’s capricious desires and satanic drives. It is a month of bounteous divine favours and forgiveness. Notice how swiftly time passes and the twelve months of the calendar rush in succession until the month of Sha`aban has departed and the holy month of Ramadan is close to supplant it. Signs of its advent herald its remarkably glamorous features. It will soon be our most welcome and venerated guest. So, make yourselves ready to stand in awe of its revered arrival with determination to obey Allah by performing acts of worship.
 
How much longing worshippers have for it! How much pious people adore it! How impatiently they have been aching for its arrival! How much spiritual elevation their egos have experienced during its nights and early dawns! How mysterious they have found its early daybreak! How close they have felt to Allah, the One and the Omnipotent! How frequently they have tasted the flavour of faith and kept company of the Holy Quran both in listening and in reciting!

It is indeed one of Allah’s bounties to benefit from such a seasonal occasion in order to be cleansed of our sins and to purify our souls so as to achieve moral rectitude and ethical refinement: "O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqûn (the pious …)." [Al-Baqara: 183]. Taqwa is a multi-faceted innermost feeling of fear that the performer of fasting experiences; it is positively reflected on his\her soul in the form of internal radiance, moral purity, and unblemished conduct.

Ramadan is the springtime of believers’ hearts, the beacon for moral people, the intimate company of the pious, and a good omen for worshippers. It is indeed a month whose perfection is crystal clear and whose splendour is manifest: "The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’ân, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadan i.e. is present at his home), he must observe Saum (fasts) that month, …" [Al-Baqara: 185]

Its daytime is reserved for fasting; its night time is devoted to Qiy?m (night worship rituals); its motto is the Quran and its outer fitting is charity and benevolence. During the month of Ramadan, prayers are met with acquiescent divine response, and good deeds are raised to Heaven. Each night, there are people who are salvaged from Hellfire. So, are there people determined to repent?

 As to the reward reserved for Muslims performing fasting, it pertains to Allah’s benevolence. Abu Huraira (?) reported that Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said, “Allah (?) said: “Every good human deed belongs to its performer except fasting: it belongs to me and thus I offer the reward thereof. Fasting is an ideal shelter. Whoever performs fasting (for one day) is interdicted from approaching his wife (for sexual intercourse) and from clamouring. If ever he is insulted or assaulted, he should say, ‘I am a fasting person.’ I swear by Allah, who is in control of my soul, the typical odour of the fasting person’s mouth smells better than musk. The fasting person experiences joy twice: the first time when he breaks his fast and the second time when he meets his Lord glad with his own fasting.” [Reported by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim]. In a different version by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim, “the fasting person refrains from eating and drinking for my own sake.”
 
In the Sahih (Book of Hadith) by Imam Muslim, Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is reported to have said, “The current month of Ramadan succeeded by the following month of Ramadan offers remission of sins for the time span between both months on condition that grave sins be avoided.” In the same Sahih Book, there is the Hadith, “Remiss and failed will be everyone who reaches the month of Ramadan but his sins have not been expiated.” This is because Ramadan is known for its whiff of spiritual splendour and divine compassion of which only a totally remiss person would be deprived.

In the two Sahih Books of Hadith by Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari, Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is reported to have said, “With the advent of Ramadan, the gates of paradise are opened and those of hell are firmly locked, while Satan and his agents are chained in manacles.”  In the two Sahih Books of Hadith by Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari, Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is reported to have said, “Whoever performs fasting during the month of Ramadan ?solely prompted by faith and sacrificing comfort in anticipation of Allah’s reward? will have his sins expiated in retrospect” and that “Whoever performs nightly prayers during the month of Ramadan ?solely prompted by faith and sacrificing comfort in anticipation of Allah’s reward? will have his sins expiated in retrospect.” By the same token, “Whoever performs nightly prayers during Laylat Al-Qadr [the Night of Decree ] ?solely prompted by faith and sacrificing comfort in anticipation of Allah’s reward? will have his sins expiated in retrospect.”  

It is worth noting that the best form of welcome for the month of Ramadan is repentance, for a soul delivered from sins and alleviated of burdens would be more readily motivated to perform the acts of worship associated with Ramadan and is likely to please Allah with good deeds and intentions.  

Another germane point worth mentioning here is related to diverging astrological opinions with regard to confirming the beginning of the lunar month, including individual attempts to use observatories for that purpose. The very publication of such controversial observations in the media (both printed and audio-visual) has no other consequences than spreading scepticism among Muslims concerning their acts of worship and to underestimating the logistic and technical capacity of  governmental institutions and committees to provide reliable information. Some people who get involved in such a debate are quite well-intentioned; others find in it an opportunity to show off and rise to fame.

To both camps we would like to say: Save your energy! You have been spared such effort in this country where special committees have been set up in different locations on the territory in order to duly observe this ritual and to take precautions against any error affecting the performance of this religious duty. Allah’s guidance and those special committees’ advice are quite sufficient for such a task, and whoever has a different opinion let them contact the authorities directly and stop disturbing Muslims’ spiritual life.
 
Servants of Allah!

The meaning of fasting is not restricted to the sheer act of refraining from consuming food, then filling one’s stomach when breaking the fast. The wisdom behind fasting is to coerce the self to restrain its whims, to break the routine of its habitual actions, to cleanse it of all sorts of impurity, and to train it to remember the existence of starving and homeless families. Who will take care of populations struck by ordeals and weakened by wars that actually subjugate and grind down humanity? The victims are your brothers in faith who have no refuge except in Allah’s providential protection and in you. It is Allah Who grants and retains favours; it is Allah Who lowers and elevates His creatures’ status; and it is He Who ordained you to be His trustee in the property He bestowed on you in order to see how you would act. On Resurrection Day, the believer will take shelter from Hellfire in his charitable acts in the herein: "“…and whatsoever you spend of anything (in Allâh’s Cause), He will replace it. And He is the Best of providers."" [Saba’: 39]
 
Of course, it is not impossible for a wealthy person to come across a needy person from among his own acquaintances or through authorised agencies and institutions. May Allah recompense every doer of meritorious deeds with due reward and accept good services from benefactors. I seek refuge with Allah from the cursed Satan: "The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’ân, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadan i.e. is present at his home), he must observe Saum (fasts) that month, …" [Al-Ba?ara: 185]

May Allah bless you and me by the Holy and Magnificent Qur’?n. May Allah help us benefit from the teachings of the Sunnah of the Master of Messengers, Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). Having said this, I ask Allah (?) to forgive you and me.