Lectures – Ustādh Rayaan Barker

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• The slave's two great needs: tawḥīd and istighfār (seeking forgiveness)

• Tawḥīd is the right of Allāh over His slaves, the purpose for which He created them: "I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me" (adh-Dhāriyāt 51:56)

• Tawḥīd is the condition for deeds to be accepted: an act done for other than Allāh is rejected

• Every messenger and every revealed book called to tawḥīd alone

• Forgiveness is the right of the slaves over Allāh, and every person needs it

• The conditions of true repentance: remorse for the past, a firm intention to rectify the future, and the means to do so; merely saying "astaghfirullāh" without them is not accepted

Recorded at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• The Salaf took great care over how they concluded their deeds at the end of Ramaḍān, following the example of the Prophet ﷺ (Shaykh al-Fawzān, hafidhahullāh)

• "And those who give what they give while their hearts are fearful that they will return to their Lord": the believers fear that their deeds may not be accepted

• The Prophet ﷺ acknowledged that he could not fully praise his Lord: how then should we feel about our own shortcomings?

• Fear of rejection must not become despair: "O My slaves who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allāh" (az-Zumar 39:53)

• Repentance and seeking forgiveness need sincerity, remorse and the resolve to rectify what remains of one's life

Recorded at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• The polytheists in the time of the Prophet ﷺ differed in what they worshipped, whether stones, trees, angels, the Prophets, the righteous, the sun or the moon, and he fought them all (Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān, hafidhahullāh)

• Those who worship others besides Allāh can never agree on what to worship: the claim that "what we do is different" is refuted, since they also worshipped ʿĪsā and the righteous in the graves

• The fourth principle: the shirk of the polytheists of our time is worse than the shirk of the earlier polytheists

• In hardship they used to call upon Allāh alone, while those who commit shirk today call upon the deceased in times of both ease and difficulty

• False excuses such as "we only call upon the righteous" and "we have good intentions" are no proof, for the earlier polytheists did the same or less

• Believing that Allāh is the only Creator is not enough: worship must be dedicated to Him alone

• The intellect is a tool for understanding the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, not a source of ʿaqīdah, and it must not be exalted above them

Recorded at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent

The Last Ten Nights – Reward and Repentance, a Jumuʿah khuṭbah by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• The last ten nights are the most virtuous and blessed part of the most virtuous month, containing Laylat al-Qadr

• The ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhā): the Prophet ﷺ exerted himself in the last ten nights, revived the night, woke his family and tightened his waist-wrapper

• Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn (raḥimahullāh): the effort covers every kind of worship, such as prayer, recitation of the Qurʾān, dhikr and charity

• Charity in Ramaḍān, and Shaykh al-Fawzān's (hafidhahullāh) reminder that wealth is only a loan and a trust: spend it before death

• Actions are judged by their endings, so end Ramaḍān on the best note and seize the opportunity before it is lost

Streamed LIVE at The Salafi Centre of Manchester on 8/6/18

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• Allāh accepts only the religion of Islām: the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, understood upon the understanding of the Companions and the early generations, not what the innovators have changed, nor neglect and extremism

• "Allāh is the protector of those who believe; He brings them out of the darknesses into the light": falsehood has many forms, while the guidance is one

• The purpose of reciting the Qurʾān (Shaykh al-Fawzān, hafidhahullāh): to understand it, to hasten to act upon its commands and leave its prohibitions, and to call people to it and be a good example

• The Prophet ﷺ: "Recite the Qurʾān, for it will come on the Day of Resurrection as an intercessor for its companions"

• How often to complete the Qurʾān: the ḥadīth of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr (a month, then twenty days, seven days, three days); the Companions completed it every week in Ramaḍān, and it is best not to finish it in under three days so as to ponder the verses

Recorded at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• Zakāt al-Fiṭr is legislated at the end of Ramaḍān to purify the fasting person of lapses and sins, and to feed the poor (Shaykh al-Fawzān, hafidhahullāh)

• It is obligatory on young and old, male and female, free and slave, and is given on behalf of oneself and those under one's care

• The time for giving it: before the Eid prayer, and if forgotten it still suffices until the end of Eid day, while delaying beyond that is sinful

• Who receives it: the poor and needy, as with zakāt al-māl, and it may be given to the guardian of a poor person

• Appointing a representative, such as the masjid collection, to buy the staple food and distribute it to the poor on one's behalf

• The view of Imām Aḥmad that the poor are not given money in place of food

Recorded at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• Allāh ended the verses of fasting with iʿtikāf: "Do not approach them while you are in iʿtikāf in the masājid"

• Iʿtikāf is staying in the masjid in obedience to Allāh: a sunnah, rewarded if done and without sin if left, established by the Qurʾān, the Sunnah and the consensus of the scholars (Shaykh al-Fawzān, hafidhahullāh)

• The best iʿtikāf is in the last ten days of Ramaḍān, as the Prophet ﷺ did until Allāh took his soul (ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah), seeking Laylat al-Qadr

• The conditions of iʿtikāf, beginning with the intention

• Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn (raḥimahullāh): one may intend iʿtikāf with the condition of leaving for a necessity, such as the janāzah of a relative, and then returning

• The aim is to devote oneself to worship, not to sit chatting: beware of the mobile phone, WhatsApp and Telegram groups

Recorded at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• "O you who believe, do not follow the footsteps of Shayṭān": Allāh addresses the believers, commanding what leads to Paradise and forbidding what leads to the Fire, with the explanation of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān (hafidhahullāh)

• Allāh is free of any need of His servants: if all of creation disbelieved it would take nothing from His dominion, and if all believed it would add nothing to it

• Obedience benefits only the servant, and so does harm: it all returns to him

• Those whose hearts do not understand, whose eyes do not see and whose ears do not hear what benefits them, like cattle

• Every person answers one of two callers, the call of Allāh or the call of Shayṭān; whoever preserves the obligations and strives in the voluntary acts has answered Allāh

• Whoever is persisting in sin should repent now, before death comes, and free himself from Shayṭān

Streamed LIVE at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent on 10/6/17

Charity and Helping Those in Need, a Jumuʿah khuṭbah by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• Islām and īmān are among the greatest favours of Allāh, and we should reflect on them and be constantly grateful

• Using our blessings in what pleases the One who gave them, and remembering that wealth is a trust from Allāh

• We indulge in our spending, eating and drinking, yet forget the brothers and sisters who go to bed hungry and thirsty

• Giving in charity to relieve the difficulties of those in need, in our locality and across the world

• Whatever good we send ahead we will find with Allāh, on our scrolls and on our scales on the Day of Resurrection, and He multiplies the reward

• "Give that pound for your hereafter": a reminder that the reminder benefits the believers

Streamed LIVE at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent on 22/9/17

The Five Questions on the Day of Judgement, a Jumuʿah khuṭbah by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• Taqwā of Allāh is honour and success in this world and the Hereafter, and the best provision

• We prepare for a worldly exam without lifting an eyelid, yet neglect to prepare for the questioning of the Day of Judgement

• The Salaf and the man of sixty: "Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rājiʿūn" means we are slaves of Allāh who will return to Him and be questioned, so prepare an answer: rectify what is left of your life and you will be forgiven what has passed

• The five questions: about our life, our youth, our wealth (how it was earned and how it was spent) and what we did with our knowledge

• The knowledge includes what we heard in the khuṭbah and lessons and read in the Qurʾān: how much of it did we implement?

• The answers are the reality of our lives and actions, so prepare ourselves and our children

Streamed LIVE at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent on 21/7/17