for our Creator?!
So what if we have to sacrifice our sleep, and random other luxuries
that we can do without anyway. As the saying goes, "No pain, no gain."
The amount of sacrifice and struggle we put into this month, Allah
will reward us in this world and the next accordingly.Give yourself to
Allah, and see what Allah has in store for you.
6. Dua':
The essence of worship is supplication to Allah. This whole month,
Allah is willing and readily open to accept all that we ask of Him. It
is only to our own loss and detriment that we lack in begging Allah
for the things we need.
Prioritize your supplications. Ask firstly for yourself, then your
family, community, then the Ummah at large. Within that, prioritize
andask for things pertaining to the hereafter, then ask for things
pertaining to this world.Just remember one thing when it comes to
dua', the point of dua' is not that we need something or we need
protection or refuge from some other thing, the point is that Allah
told us to supplicate to Him, and that is why one should make dua'
abundantly. There are certain things Allah loves to do, and one of
them is to answer the supplications of His servants who call unto Him.
One final aspect regardingdua' is crying or pretending to cry. Tears
are something foreign to Allah and therefore He hasimmense value for
tears. The whole year we become filthy and impure spiritually by
sinning, Ramadhan is the month where we purify our spirits by bathing
our spirits in our tears.
7. Good Company:
Ramadhan is a month to maximize on good deeds and keep bad deeds at
zero. Being in the company of the righteous will allow one to attain
this goal. I will keep this point short. The minimumbenefit one gets
by being in good company is that one will not sin which in turn will
cause one to become the greatest worshiper.
There is a hadith reportedin Tirmidhi wherein An-Nabi (Sallallahu
'AlayhiWa Sallam) took Abu Hurayrah's (Radhiyallahu 'anhu) hand and
said, "O Abu Hurayrah, abstain from all prohibitions and you will
become the best worshiper."The maximumbenefit is that being with the
people of Allah, Insha Allah; a person may just Attain Allah. What can
be greater?!
8. Gratitude:
The secret to an increase in anything is to be thankful for it. To
make sure that we see this month the next year, appreciate it this
year. Be thankful for all that we have in every aspect, eventhe basic
things we neglect and take for granted. We have Iman, we have Islam.
Alhamdulillah, we are the best Ummah. We have been given the best
book,i.e. the Qur'an.
The best way to appreciate a bounty is to use it for its purpose.
Allah has blessed with infinite blessing and bounties. Ramadhan is one
of those bounties, so to fully appreciate Ramadhan, we must spend it
the way Allah would like us to spend it and attain out goal which is
Taqwa.
9. Following the Sunnah:
Anything of the beloved isalso beloved. That is a principle of love.
Allah hasproclaimed the Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) as His
beloved. If we follow the Sunnah andshow a resemblance, thenwe can
also gain the focusof Allah. Particularly follow the Sunnah acts which
the Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) performed in Ramadhan.
If we have to do something, might as well do it the best way possible.
The best way foranything to be done is theway of the Sunnah. If by any
chance it was some other way, Allah would have had His Prophet
(Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) do it that way then.
10. Istiqamah:
Imam Junayd Al-Baghdadi(RA) said, "Steadfastness isgreater than a
thousand miracles." Please do not tire one's self out in the initial
stages of Ramadhan, rather figure out a routine that works and stick
to it regularly. The most beloved of actions to Allah are those that
are done consistentlyeven though they may seem minor.
We all need to be thankful for the good thatwe have done and also for
the evil we are able to abstain from. We also need to be thankful for
whatever level of steadfastness that we have. We want to make Ramadhan
last beyond Ramadhan as well.
I'll end with a quote from one of our mashaaikh, Shaykh
In'aam-ul-Hasan Kandehlawi (RA) said, "Whoever lives their life as
they do in Ramadhan, then death will come to that person just as the
moon of 'Eid comes for the fasting person."
To conclude, we pray to Allah that He accepts all ofour efforts and
overlooks and forgives all of our shortcomings. Aameen.
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