Day 24 – Remaining Steadfast & Anchored in Faith

Imam Safraz Bacchus shares inspiring insights on perseverance, faith, and spiritual renewal during the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Through stories, parables, and practical advice, he encourages believers to maximize their worship and connection with Allah in these sacred nights.

Transcript

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Peace and blessings of the Almighty be with all of you, and welcome to another episode of our Ramadan podcast. I want you to take a moment and imagine that you are actually running a marathon. You have been running for hours. Hours have passed and you've been running. Your legs are very tired, you're exhausted, your breathing is very heavy, and every step that you take feels as if it is heavier. It's becoming overwhelming. But in the distance, you're seeing something. You are seeing the finish line. And as you see the finish line, something suddenly changed. Your body is still tired, you're still exhausted, but your mind actually wakes up. Your mind wakes up, your heart pushes forward, and at that moment something happens, and that is that you realize, you come to realization of something very powerful. And that is that you did not come this far. You did not reach to this point just to slow down or just to give up. You put in the work, you made the preparation. Most of the time is completed. So you come to realization and you say these words. I did not come this far just to slow down, and that is exactly right, where we are right now in the blessed month of Ramadan. We are standing in the finish line. We're standing in the finish line, the most sacred month of the year, the last ten nights. And these nights are not just the ending of Ramadan, they're the most powerful nights in the entire year. And I want to share with you a story, right? And as you listen to the story, try to grasp it the important lesson that I will share and remember it. We're told that there was once a fisherman who lived near a very rough sea. And the ocean where he lived was very unpredictable. Unpredictable in the sense that some days it's calm and some days it's not, it's very violent. Every night, when the fisherman will come back to shore, return back to shore, he will drop a very heavy anchor. And as he dropped that very heavy anchor from his boat, one day as he's been doing that continuously, a young man noticed him. And the young man asked him, Why do you always drop the anchor? You know what's the wisdom? The young man did not see the wisdom behind it. The boat is already near the shore. Why do you need the anchor? And the fisherman looked at him and smiled and said something profound. Said something to this young man because he was not the young man was not thinking like the fisherman. He was not seeing what the fisherman was seeing, and his insight was much more than the the young man. So he said to the young man, right? This is what he said. He said that while he said that while the anchor is there, the strongest wave often come when you think you are already arrived. Think about that. The strongest waves, it comes when we think the journey is over. And that's what exactly how the last ten days of Ramadan can feel. Right? In the beginning of Ramadan, we are energized, we are motivated, we may set goals. The masjid is full in the beginning of Ramadan. Our hearts feel alive in the beginning of Ramadan. But by the time the last ten nights arrive, the body feels tired. The mind becomes very distracted. And as your mind becomes very distracted, sometimes your heart begins to drift away. Drift away. And that is why these nights, these last ten nights, it's all about anchoring your soul. Don't pay attention to things that are artificial that will not help you. Be people that are vigilant of what's happening inside of you. Be vigilant, be aware of your inner self, your mind, your thought process, your body language. Be aware what your body is seeing to you and how you can find that. I'm tired, I'm exhausted. When you know that you can give it that extra effort, you can intensify your effort. So it's important for you to know that these nights can anchor your soul. These nights can actually change a life, a lifetime. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us something very extraordinary in the Quran. He said, The night of Qadr, the night of destiny, the night of power is better than a thousand months. One thousand months is more than 83 years. And think about that for a moment. One night, one sincere prayer, one heartfelt dua and supplication, where you lift your hands in petition and you call on Allah and you say, Ya Allah, Ya Allah, and you prostrate and you call out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it could be worth an entire lifetime of worship. How beautiful that is. Remember that. When you want to give up, when you feel that you're there at that point when you say you have done enough, despite that you did not reach the finish line, your heart is raising, your your feet is giving up, and you're seeing the finish line. Remember this. Remember this. This is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy. This is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's you know mercy. This is a display of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy. And Allah says, Rahmati was that my mercy supersedes everything. Be mindful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy. Right? Because Allah knows everything about us. He knows what is in the inner recesses of our hearts, he knows that we are human, he knows that we get tired, he knows you, he created you, he fashioned you, he molds you, he knows you. Right? We get distracted, we fall short. But remember, brothers and sisters, that Allah gives us moments in our life where the reward is multiplied beyond our imagination. The last ten nights of Ramadan are one of those moments. I want to take a moment and share with you a very beautiful parable, a parable of the locked treasure. And I'm sharing with you these stories, I'm sharing with you these parables so that you may remember them and learn from them. We're told that there was once a man searching for a treasure. He's looking, he traveled across the land for this treasure, and as he is searching mountains, he searched, he searched in the desert looking for this treasure, right? Trying to navigate to ensure that he gets this treasure. After years of searching, someone finally told him, There's a treasure chest hidden in his own house, right? So he rushed back home and began searching. He began, you know, looking for the chest, and finally he found the chest, but it had ten locks in it, it had multiple locks in it. Nine of them were easy for him to open. He opens one, he opens two, he opens three. Nine of it was easy, but the final lock for him to open in that chess was very, very difficult and challenging for him to open. Very challenging for him to open. Now imagine if that man is to say something, he says, I have opened nine locks. I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I'm tired to try to open the last one, try, I'm tired to open the last one, and wants to give up. He will miss the treasure, he will miss the treasure, he will not get that which he seeks. Right? The last ten nights are that final lock. Ramadan has already softened your heart through the recitation of the Quran, through the askar, through the fasting, through the charity. It impacted your heart through those rituals and those practices. Right? Remember that. You have already prayed, you have already fasted, you have already made sacrifices, but a treasure lies where in the final effort. But there is the problem of distraction. A lot of people get distracted, we get distracted, and one of the greatest challenges in our life is a distraction. We get distracted with various things, our phone constantly vibrates, and we get distracted. Social media and the comments in social media often will pull our attention away from the purpose and from this month. New cycles will also fill our minds with noise. And we live in a world where it is easy to be connected to everything. It's very easy for us to be connected to everything. We're easy to connect with everything, but the thing that we ought to connect with, but we are disconnected with Allah. We're disconnected with God. It's an invitation from the Almighty, an invitation to pause, an invitation to breathe, an invitation to return to God Almighty and return to your through nature. Imagine man, imagine a man, right, walking in the desert. He's walking through the desert. And as he's walking through the desert, the sun is burning intensified heat because of the sun. His throat is dry, his body is weak, and he begins to lose hope at that particular point. And then something tells him there is a well of water just a few steps ahead. Do you think he would walk slowly? Do you think he will sit down and rest? Of course not. He would run, he will hasten. The logical mind will tell him to run and to hasten. Because when you know water is near, every step becomes urgent. Your life is dependent on it. So therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, listeners and viewers, I'll say that the last ten nights of Ramadan are that well of mercy. The well of mercy. Allah is inviting you to drink from that well of mercy. He's inviting you to drink from it. Allah is inviting you to drink from that well of Rahmah. But the question is, will we walk when we get that invitation, or we will run? Will we walk or we will run? Our beloved Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of the Almighty be with him, understood the powers of these nights. Aisha radiallahu anha, may Allah be pleased with her, said something remarkable. She said, When the last ten nights began, the Prophet Muhammad would tighten his waist belt. Number one, he will tighten his waist belt, stay awake in worship, and wake his family to establish prayer. And what does this mean? That the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of God be with him. He intensified everything. More prayer, more remembrance, more du'a and supplication, more connection with the divine. Why? Because the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be with him, knew everything. He knew everything about the virtue that was connected to it, and he utilized it. The Prophet knew something as well that sometimes we forget. And remember this, this right? Remember. And that is the ending determines the legacy. The ending, it determines the legacy. What legacy are you carrying? Let me share a powerful antidote with you tonight. Let me share this with you at this moment. Right. The antidote to distraction is presence. Be present. When you pray tonight, don't rush. When you pray during the day, don't rush. When you pray anytime, don't rush. When you raise your hand in dua, don't just repeat words. Speak from your heart. Do not just memorize the dua without trying to understand, contemplate, understand the prayer, understand the word that you're you're singing. Have conviction in them. Speak from your heart. And when you recite Quran, just don't read, but also listen. Listen. Because sometimes the difference between ordinary worship and transformative worship is simply the presence, it's simply your presence. Be present. Here, there is a story, and I like to share stories. We remember stories. You can pass on stories to others and narratives, right? So there is a story that scholars often will mention, right? That a man once asked a wise teacher, How do I know if Allah will forgive me? And the teacher replied to him, Did you ever cry sincerely to Allah? And the man said, Yes. The teacher smiled and said, Then know that a single tear shed for Allah can extinguish mountains of sin. Glory be to God. Never underestimate a moment of sincerity. Never ever underestimate a moment of sincerity. And I want to share with you three anchors as we speak about steadfastness in these days and being focused in these days. Anchor number one. Anchors in these last ten days. Anchor number one will be your prayer. Even if you pray, just do two extra salah, two extra raqa. Right. If you pray, do extra. Do not rely on what you're doing alone, but rather intensify what you're doing. In addition to this, anchor number two is dua and supplication. Prayer. The prayer, when we said prayer, we're talking about ritual prayer, the fara'id prayer, the nafil prayer, the sunnah prayer. Pray as much voluntary as you can. Don't make your phone distract you. Don't make your television distract you. Don't make anything, any noise distract you. Make don't make any conversation distract you. Do not allow any form of distraction. Be focused. Be vigilant. Be aware. Be aware where your mind is, be aware where your heart is. And turn to Allah. When you say, I turn my face towards the one who created the heavens and the earth. Be focused. You lift your hands, Allahu Akbar, God is the greatest. You're leaving everything behind and you're focused. That is an anchor. Anchor yourself in faith through prayer. Anchor number two, dua and supplication. In these days, intensify your dua in stajda. Ask Allah for everything. Ask him for healing. There are those that are sick. We all struggle with illness, physical, mental, emotional. Ask Allah for healing. Ask Allah for peace. Ask the Almighty for guidance and forgiveness. Allah is most shy for a servant to lift his hand, and then those hands are returning empty-handed without any benefit. Lift your hand in prayer, in humility, and dua. God is attributed with the attribute of al-hayah and shyness for you to lift your hands and then you get nothing out of that supplication. So ask God for everything, for healing, and for peace and guidance and forgiveness. And as you ask him, know that he will choose for you that which is best. Have that conviction. Anger number three be reflection. Ask yourself one simple question, right? And that question is: who do I want to become after Ramadan? Who do you want to become after the blessed month of Ramadan? Because Ramadan is not meant to change our schedule, it's meant to change our soul. Who do you want to become? How do you see yourself in these coming days after Ramadan would have relapsed? Let me end with a very simple reflection, right? And that is imagine that you're standing in a day of judgment, and Allah shows you one night. He shows you one prayer, one moment of sincerity, and that single moment becomes a reason you are forgiven. That moment could be one of these nights. So remain steadfast. Remain hopeful and remain anchored in faith. Remember that. Allah never turns away a heart that sincerely turns to him. Allah does not turn away a heart that is jinn. Sincerely turn to him, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah allow us to witness Laila tul Qadr. And while we receive the blessings of Laylatul Qadr, may Allah forgive our sins, may Allah anchor our hearts in faith. May Allah allow us to leave Ramadan transform. Let's look beyond the blessings that is attached to it and look at Laylatul Qadr as the night of decree where God decrees for us our sustenance, He decree decrees for us our lives duration for the year ahead. And therefore, let's have a mindset where we focus on our spirituality and our connection with Allah. And through that, our lives will be transformed. Peace and love be with you and have a blessed and reward in days and nights in these blessed days of Ramadan. Peace and love. Please follow and share this episode. Follow the YouTube channel, Spotify, and also Apple Podcasts. YouTube is Safra's Bacchus Life Institute. Subscribe and share. And may Allah reward all of you. Assalamu alaikum.