Facts about "Allah is the Most Great":

 Dear brother, we are tackling a new topic of "The Objectives of Shari'ah" series.
 One of the Ayat in which Allah mentions Sawm is the following:

(( And that you must magnify Allah [i.e. to say Takbir (Allahu-Akbar; Allah is the Most Great) on seeing the crescent of the months of Ramadan and Shawwal] for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him. ))

[Al-Baqarah, 185]

 Supposedly, man should be guided to Allah at the end of Ramadan, so he should say "Allah is the Most Great" in the morning of the first day of Eid. Today, our lesson is about "Allah is the Most Great."

1- No one has the access to Allah's reality:

 The first fact: The reality of the Divine Entity of Allah is known only by Allah. Although the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, was the first creature who knew Allah most, his knowledge was limited because he is a human being. Allah is greater than what you know about Him; no matter how much you know about Allah, no matter how you go deep seeking the reality of Allah and no matter how outstanding you are in knowing Allah, your knowledge will never exceed the one of the Master of all Prophets and Messengers. However, being human, Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, did not have the full knowledge about Almighty Allah.

 Hence, the first meaning of "Allah is the Most Great" is that He is greater than what every human being knows about Him. The Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, who had got near the lote-tree of the utmost boundary ( which none can pass beyond,) and who attained the highest rank among creatures, couldn't fully know Allah. His knowledge about the Divine Entity was proportional, because of his human nature. Thus, only Allah knows the Divine Entity of His Own.

2- The meaning behind "Allah is the Most Great" should be applied:

 The second meaning is the one which we are very much concerned with; it has to do with words and actions. Let me elaborate by this example: you may go to a doctor to examine you, and once he finishes you do not find him qualified enough to treat you. Nonetheless, before you leave you give him his fees, shake his hand and thank him a lot. Your words contradict your action; you thank the doctor as if you are satisfied with his treatment, but you do not buy the prescription because you decide to look for another doctor.
Muslims' denial of "Allah is the Most Great":

 The number of Muslims all over the world is one billion and five hundred million, and there is no doubt that all of them say in both Eids (Al-Fitr Eid and Al Adha-Eid): "Allah is the Most Great." However, these words are meaningless for whoever utters them if they are not applied. A Muslim utters them, but in his daily life he is used to cheat people by selling them bad food which causes many diseases. He does not care about the consumers, all what he wants is making money. Hence, this man has never meant "Allah is the Most Great" even if he says these words thousands of times. Making money is more important to him than Allah.
Let me be frank with you: when someone illegally imports bad food, which is not for human consumption, and sells it to people to earn huge amounts of money, he will lose the reward of all his acts of worship (Salah, Sawm, Hajj and Zakat.) This person favors the money he earns over Allah.
 I am not saying that only businessmen cheat people and prefer money to obeying Allah and pleasing Him. No matter what your career is, it can be a mirror of your faith. A doctor, for example, may lie to his patient and tell him that he needs a lot of medical tests by modern machines which are expensive, so that the patient will pay the doctor more money. This doctor has never meant the words, "Allah is the Most Great," even if he utters them thousands of times. These words will never be fruitful to people as long as they are not applied. Allah says:

(( They disbelieved in Allah and in His Messenger (Muhammad); and that they came not to As-Salat (the prayer) except in a lazy state ; and that they offer not contributions but unwillingly. ))

[At-Taubah, 54]

 Actions count more than words. For instance, the a you may meet a man who feels proud of his wife when she goes outside wearing indecent clothes and putting on makeup, but when it is Eid he goes to the Majid putting on his white garment, wearing his best perfume and holding a rosary. He has never meant the words "Allah is the Most Great," because pleasing his wife is more important to him than pleasing Allah. Verify the significance of these words; "Allah is the Most Great" destroy mountains.

 A Muslim agent of an international company sometimes welcomes the foreign representative of this company and serves him wine in order to earn big amounts of money. This agent has never understood the words "Allah is the Most Great," regardless how many times he utters them. Whoever obeys a creature instead of obeying the Creator, considers this creature greater than Allah. Moawiyah wrote once to Aeyshah (the Mother of believers), may Allah be pleased with her, asking her to give him a concise piece of advice. She replied to him saying, "Salam upon you, I heard the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, saying:

((Whoever seeks the pleasure of Allah (swt) at the risk of displeasing the people, Allah (swt) will take care of him and protect him from them. But whoever seeks the pleasure of the people at the risk of displeasing Allah (swt), Allah (swt) will abandon him to the care of the people.))

[At-Tirmizi]

 "Allah is the Most Great" should be applied in every minute detail of your daily life. When someone swears to Allah falsely that the profits he makes from selling a certain commodity is very little, he prefers the profits he makes to Almighty Allah.
 Calling someone a believer means that this person is unique, discipline in terms of morality and aesthetics and devoted in terms of creed. Also, he never sells his religion. His faith is firm and can never turn into a commodity to bargain over. He never fears the powerful or be tempted by any kind of temptations.

3- "Allah is the Most Great" means resisting temptations:

  Unless you consider dirt even with gold ore, you are not a true believer. Gaining a billion liras illegally is just like gaining one lira; both amounts are ill-gotten money. Thus, you should keep away from whatever is Haram.

 Let me make a comparison between a cement block and man; the resistance of each cement block against crash is tested by a certain device, similarly man's resistance to temptations is tested. An employee may be bribed by a little amount of money, but he refuses to take illegal money. However, when it comes to a huge amount of money, he starts thinking about his expenses and the needs of his children. He says to himself that most people accept bribes, so he accepts it too. Why does this employee pretend to be honest when the bribe is one thousand liras, while he accepts it when it is one million liras? Simply, because he has never meant "Allah is the Most Great" although he might repeat it thousands of times. I know that you may get annoyed by the examples I give you, but this is the truth.

 You may know someone whose appearance is Islamic, but you will find out when you travel with him, deal with him or get him married that he is willing to disobey Allah to achieve his own secular interests. Beware when you say "Allah is the Most Great," you should mean it, for it is very crucial. Once you prefer a mundane profit to your religious duties, you have never known the meaning of these words.

4- Telling the truth with no fear is one meaning of "Allah is the Most Great":

 Some people are ashamed of telling the truth; some matters are greater to them than Allah. I know an employee who does not fast Ramadan regularly. Once he was fasting, but when he went to the office of his boss he lied to the boss saying that he was not fasting and so the boss served him coffee. This man wanted to please his boss on the expense of pleasing Almighty Allah. A person may pretend that he suffers from peptic ulcer if he is invited to drink wine. He does not say the truth; he should say that he is Muslim and drinking wine is prohibited in Islam. He uses another pretext, because he is ashamed of telling the truth.

Unfortunately this is the case of Muslims:

 Dear brother, the examples that I have mentioned so far are based on facts. You may meet a Muslim who is used to go the Masjid regularly and pray in the first raw, but when his materialistic interests are compromised, or when he is tempted he forgets all about his Islamic principles. This man is worthless in Allah's Sight. The shaky faith of the one billion and five hundred million Muslims is what has made them in such a pathetic status. They belittled Allah's Orders, so Allah has forsaken them.

 A late Albanian missioner, may Allah have mercy on his soul, told me what once happened while he was giving a Khutbah. This story was uttered by him to me directly, so I am not exaggerating; I am just transmitting his own words. He said that he gave the Khutbah in the biggest Masjid in his country in front of twenty thousand people. The attendees were very touched to the extent that they started to cry and took the wine bottles from their pockets to drink in the Masjid. The missioner was shocked when he saw such a bizarre reaction of Muslims to his Khutbah. How ignorant are they about the Shar'i ruling of drinking wine. They do not know that it is Haram.

 I have heard that some Muslim students came from foreign countries to study at the institutes for Islamic studies in here. Imagine they had bottles of wine with them when they attended the classes at the institutes!!! Islam for some Muslims is but a title, and the Noble Qur'an is but a piece of art one can display in his house. I repeat what I said earlier, Muslims did not take Allah's Orders seriously, so Allah has forsaken them.

 The words "Allah is the Most Great" is pregnant with many orders and responsibilities that cause mountains to fall down. You will be responsible for all your deeds in front of Allah; you study to get your PH.D, you establish a company to earn money and you work to get married, but always remember that you will be asked about all your deeds on the Day of Judgment.

 By Allah dear brother, what a shame on a man who has a good reputation to keep postponing paying his debts! We should apply the Sunnah while we deal with people.
Narrated Salama bin Al-Akwa:

((Once, while we were sitting in the company of Prophet, a dead man was brought. The Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, was requested to lead the funeral prayer for the deceased. He said, "Is he in debt?" The people replied in the negative. He said, "Has he left any wealth?" They said, "No." So, he led his funeral prayer. Another dead man was brought and the people said, "O Allah's Apostle! Lead his funeral prayer." The Prophet said, "Is he in debt?" They said, "Yes." He said, "Has he left any wealth?" They said, ''Three Dinars." So, he led the prayer. Then a third dead man was brought and the people said (to the Prophet), please lead his funeral prayer." He said, "Has he left any wealth?" They said, "No." He asked, "Is he in debt?" They said, ("Yes! He has to pay) three Diners.' He (refused to pray and) said, "Then pray for your (dead) companion." Abu Qatada said, "O Allah's Apostle! Lead his funeral prayer, and I will pay his debt." So, he led the prayer. On the next day the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him asked Abu Qatada whether he paid the debt, but he said that he did not. On the third and fourth day the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, asked him about it, and Abu Qatada replied that he did not. When he saw him the following day and said, I have paid it off, the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him) said: "Now his skin has become cool for him. " ))

[Al-Bukhari]

 I am sure that there are many wealthy merchants who lent millions of liras to other people and lost them, because they could not prove that. Those who were in debt forgot about the money which they should have paid to the merchants. How can those people be oblivion of Shar'e and its ruling on debt?

 I have heard about a man who bought goods by the money he lent from someone. He sold those goods, got the price, helped his two sons to get married one after another,, bought each one of them a house and a car and he started to postpone paying his debts which were very huge amounts of money. Did he apply the Islamic teachings to all of this? Where is his respect to his Deen?
 Pay attention to the following Hadith. Abdullah bin Amr reported that the Apostle of Allah, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, said:

((Every sin of a martyr shall be forgiven except debt.))

[Muslim]

 Although the martyr sacrifices himself in Allah's Cause, he will not be excused if he had earned ill-gotten money in his life.

 Many people pray regularly in the Majid, wear garments, wear perfumes on Friday and have rosaries, but they are involved in taking sh3er' companies, houses or money. There are more about seven hundred thousand cases in the court related to matters such as debts and taking sh3er' properties by force.
 Some people put a copy of the Noble Quran in their car (to be blessed with,) yet they don't pay their debts. Islam has turned into tradition and Folklore for some people. You meet some people who are true Muslims in their appearances; they listens to a tape of the recitation of the Noble Quran in their cars, put Ayat on the wall of their shops such as the following Ayah:

(( Verily, We have given you (O Muhammad) a manifest victory. ))

[Al-Fath, 1]

 You call those people and find that the ringtone is a religious one. For them Islam is but appearances.

 The disparity between appearance and reality is the very reason of Muslims' deteriorating status. Again, they became oblivion of Allah’s Orders, so Allah has forsaken them.

 The real Islam is not Islamic art, Islamic library or Islamic culture, but rather it is piety. Praying two Rak'at and feel that you are in front Allah while you are praying is better than praying one thousand Rak'at and your mind and heart are preoccupied with many secular things. Whoever does many good deeds, but his piety does not stop him from committing sins when he is alone, his good deeds will not be taken into account by Allah.

 Remember, the rights of people are subject of justice, whereas the rights of Allah are subject of Divine forgiveness.

 As for women, most of them gossip and backbite. They talk about other women in a bad way; describing their looks, their children and their husbands. Aeyshah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:

((I said to the Prophe: 'It's bad enough that Safiyyah is such and such. (Some of narrators said: she is short).' He said: "You have said a word which, if it could be mixed with the water of the sea, it would have been… (i.e., the enormity of it is such that, if it were mixed with the vast water of the sea, it would spoil it.)"))

[Abu Daawood]

 Narrated Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him):

((A man asked: 'O Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam)! There is a woman who prays, gives charity and fasts a great deal, but she harms her neighbor with her speech (by insulting them).' The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) said: "She will go to Hell." The man said: 'O Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam)! There is (another) women who is well-known for how little she fasts and prays, but she gives charity from the dried yoghurt she makes, and she does not harm her neighbors." He (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) said: "She will go to Paradise."))

[Musnad Ahmad]

  Abdullah Ibn Umar, May Allah be pleased with them, said that the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, said:

((A woman was punished in Hell because of a cat which she had confined until it died. She did not give it to eat or to drink when it was confined, nor did she free it so that it might eat the vermin of the earth.))

[Agreed upon]

The meaning of the word "believer":

 Dear brother, the word "believer" indicates a great rank. It means that the one who is described as a believer is someone privileged and special. Let me elaborate by giving you an example about the person who gets his PH.D. Such a person studies a lot to get the license, first Diploma course, second Diploma course, M.A and then PH.D. He studies for nearly thirty-three years to have the abbreviation Dr. written before his name.
 Concerning the word "believer," it means that this person is righteous, honest, trustworthy, chaste, merciful, fair and humble. Thus, the word "believer" refers to a moral rank. Beware a believer can never be a traitor nor can he be a liar
 Abu Umamah said that the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings, said:

"The believer may acquire all sorts of characteristics except treachery and lying."

[Ahmad]

 Accordingly, he, who lies or betrays, is absolutely not a believer.

Many partners oppress one another:

 The significance of the following Ayah makes mountains fall down out of fearing Almighty Allah, Allah says:

((And, verily, many partners oppress one another ))

[Saad, 24]

 Take the example of a person who oppressed his partner and denies his rights in his company to make this company his own. This person makes benefit of the fact the ownership of the company is registered in his name. He first learns from his partner who is good at business, and then he starts to annoy him by taking unilateral decisions. The partner gets bored and bit by bit decides to leave the company:

((And, verily, many partners oppress one another ))

[Saad, 24]

 Oppressing the partner can be manifested in the case of the husband whose wife is wealthy. He menaces her with divorce unless she gives him a house she inherits from her parents. This wife does not want to get divorced, so she accepts to give her husband what he wants. However, the husband takes the house and divorces her. Allah says:

((And, verily, many partners oppress one another, except those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and they are few." ))

[Saad, 24]

 What did Imam Al Shafe'ee deduce from this Ayah? He said: "He, who oppresses his partner, is not a believer." If someone performs Sawm and prayers, and if he performed Hajj for eighteen times and Umrah for thirty three times, but he took a company which is not his and earned ill-gotten money, is not considered a believer. To be a believer means to have a moral and an aesthetic rank and to have a special taste.
 The woman with a veil on is considered Muhajabah (a Muslim woman who covers her hair), so she is not supposed to play dice, listen to loud music or accept sitting at a table where wine is served. A place where wine is served and loud songs are sung is not appropriate for two spouses who are religiously committed. It is not a place for believers; their place is where people are religiously disciplined and they apply the Divine method. In brief, to be a believer means that you have a scientific, moral and an aesthetic rank.

Conclusion:

 Dear brother, let me end this blessed meeting by saying that he, who obeys a creature and disobeys the Creator, who deceives Muslims and who favors his wife over Allah has never uttered "Allah is the Most Great" although he keeps repeating it thousands of times.