Purity of Heart
Praise be to Allah, we praise Him, seek His help, ask for His forgiveness and guidance, and repent to Him. Our hearts are controlled by Him and surely nothing is hidden from Him. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, the only God who has no partner. He is the Giver and the Bestower. He loves whoever turns to Him in repentance. I also bear witness that our master Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. Allah has preferred him over many others and selected him to be His Messenger. He has opened and purified his heart for him with His guidance, exalted his mention and raised his status. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our master Muhammad, his family, his companions, and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
I call upon myself first and all of you to be God-fearing and obey Him, Exalted be He, who says: "O you who believe! Be ever God-fearing, with a fear justly due toHim. And do not die, except while you are Muslims, in willing submission to God alone." (3:102)
A man can promote his status, relieve himself from any worries or anxieties, and attain stability through the soundness of the heart. The pious and the pure heart which is clean of malice, hatred, enmity and envy is among those who are close to Allah, and the beloved hearts that will be saved by Allah on the Day of Judgment. Allah, Exalted be He, says: "a Day when mere wealth and children shall not benefit anyone in any way, but only those who come to God with a pure heart will be saved." (26:88-99 )
Allah, Glory be to Him, holds His servant accountable by looking at the soundness, purity and the goodness of the heart as well as his deeds. The Messenger (pbuh) said: "Allah does not look at your appearance or your possessions; but He looks at your hearts and your deeds."
Allah, Exalted be He, looks at hearts and if they are sound, the whole body will be sound, faith will be increased, and behavior will be rectified. The Prophet (pbuh) said: "Verily in the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is sound the entire body is sound, but if it is corrupted the entire body is corrupted: behold, it is the heart!" The Prophet (pbuh) used to promote the soundness of the hearts by saying: "None of my companions should convey to me anything (negative) regarding another for Idesire to meet everyone of you with a clean heart." Allah, the Almighty has praised the believers who strive for purifying their hearts and invoke Allah saying: "Our Lord! Forgive us, and our brethren who preceded us in faith, and let not into our hearts any malice towards those who believe. Our Lord! Indeed, you are all-kind, mercy-giving." (59-10)
O believers!
We can purify our hearts, inculcate peace and calm in them and rectify our behaviors through the remembrance of Allah, the Almighty. He, Glory be to Him, says: "These are the ones who truly believe and whose hearts grow calm with assurance at the remembrance of God. Most assuredly, it is by the remembrance of God that hearts grow calm." (13-28)
Hearts can attain more purity and cleanliness through excessive seeking of forgiveness and true repentance. The Prophet (pbuh) said: "Whenever the servant commits a sin, a black spot is put in his heart. So, if he refrains himself from it, seeks forgiveness and repents, his heart is polished clean. But if he returns to the sin, the spot will increase until it overcomes his (entire) heart, and this is the Ran (covering) that Allah mentions when He says: (Nay, but on their hearts is theRan (covering) which they used to earn.)."
Therefore, whoever has enmity, envy or sleep with hearts full of hatred towards any one, then he asks Allah's forgiveness and hastens in turning to Allah in repentance, his heart will be refined from any darkness or black spots. How many times a man was blocked from drawing closer to Allah, the Almighty due to hatred and malice in his heart. Mu'az Ibn Jabal narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) said: "Allah, the Exalted and Glorious looks down on “night of mid-Sha’ban” and forgives all His creation, except a polytheist or one who is mushahin (one bent on hatred)."
O servants of Allah!
We should ponder over the consequences of hatred, enmity and committing the evil that block the forgiveness of the Lord of the heaven and the earth. In these blessed days and nights, Allah, Glory be to Him, has favored us by offering us chances to purify our hearts and increase our Sujud (prostration) in humility. 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Prophet (pbuh) stood up in prayer during part of the night and made his prostration so lengthy that I thought his soul had been taken back. When I saw this I got up and went to move his big toe, whereupon he moved, so I drew back. When he raised his head from prostration and finished praying, he (pbuh) said: “O 'Aisha, O fair little one (humayra’)! Did you think that the Prophet had broken his agreement with you?” She replied: “No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, but I thought that your soul had been taken back because your stayed in prostration for so long.” He said: “Do you know what night is this?” She said: “Allah and His Prophet know best.” He said: “This is the night of mid-Sh'aban!Verily Allah the Glorious and Majestic looks at His servants on “the night of mid-Sha`ban, and He forgives those who ask forgiveness, and He bestows mercy on those who ask mercy, and He delays (forgiveness and mercy) to the people of envy and spite in their state.”
This is a clear invitation from Allah in the days of Sha'ban to purify ourselves from hatred, disputes, malice and enmity.
May Allah, the Almighty make us among the truthful in words, deeds and all situations and help us obey Him and those He has ordained us to obey. Allah, Exalted be He, says: "O you who believe! Obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those (Muslims) charged with authority."(4:59).
Second Sermon
It was mentioned in the Sahih (Muslim) that it is Sunnah to fast Sha'ban.'Aisha, the Prophet's wife (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "the Prophet (pbuh) used to fast until we said he would never break his fast, and he used to break his fast until we said he would never fast and I did not see the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) completing the fast of a month, except that of Ramadan, and I did not see him fasting more in any other month than that of Sha’ban."
The majority of the scholars are of the opinion that it is desirable to fast the day of mid-Sh'aban.
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