al-Hanbali's Lata'if al-Ma'arif (pp. 179-182), quoted by Fahdbin
Sulaiman in Kayf Nastafeed min Ramadan (pp. 48-50).
Ramadan has a special relationship with the Qur'an, of course:
"The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur'an was sent down, a
guidance for mankind, clear proofs for the guidance, the Criterion; so
whoever amongst you witnesses this month, let him fast it."(cf. Surah
al-Baqarah 2:185)
The word 'so' (fa) in this ayah leads to the following paraphrase of
one aspect of its meaning:
"Fast this month because it is the one in which the Qur'an was sent down."
Ibn 'Abbas narrates that"the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace) was themost generous person, and he would be at
his most generous in Ramadan because Jibril would come to him
everynight and he would rehearse the Qur'an with him." (Sahih
al-Bukhari, Eng. trans. 6/486)
This hadith contains recommendation of the following:
*.Studying the Qur'an in Ramadan;
*.Coming together for this purpose;
*.Checking (one's memory/knowledge of)the Qur'an with someone who has
preserved it better;
*.Increasing recitation of the Qur'an in Ramadan;
*.That the night time is the best time to recite, when other
preoccupations decrease and it is easierto concentrate, as in Surah
al-Muzzammil 73:6.
Further, Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated from her
father (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who told her
thatJibril would rehearse the Qur'an with him (in Ramadan) once every
year, and he did so twice in the year of his death. (Bukhari 6/485)
After mentioning the above aspects of the Sunnah, Ibn Rajab talks
about the situation of theSalaf (the early Muslims) during Ramadan:
"... Some of the Salaf would complete reciting the whole Qur'an during
the night prayer of Ramadan every 3 days, others every 7 days e.g.
Qataadah, othersin 10 days e.g. Abu Rajaa' al-Atardi. The Salaf would
recite Qur'an in Ramadan in Prayer as well as outside it. Al-Aswad
would finish the Qur'an every 2 nights in Ramadan; Ibrahim an-Nakh
would do likewise in thelast 10 nights specifically, & every 3 nights
during the rest of the month. Qataadah would regularlyfinish the
Qur'an in 7 days, but in 3 days during Ramadan, when he would study
the Qur'an especially, and every night duringits last 10 days.
Al-Zuhri would say when Ramadan began, 'It is recitation of the Qur'an
and feeding of people.'
When Ramadan began, Imam Malik would cease narrating Hadith and
sitting with the people of knowledge, and stick to reciting the Qur'an
from its pages, while Sufyan al-Thawri would leave other acts of
worship and stick to reciting the Qur'an. 'Aishah would recite fromthe
pages of the Qur'an at the beginning of the day in Ramadan (i.e. after
Dawn), until when the sun had risen, she would sleep. Zayd al-Yaami
would bring copiesof the Qur'an when Ramadan began and gather his
companions around him. ..."
Ibn Rajab later continues,
"The forbiddance of completing recitation of the Qur'an in less than 3
days applies to this being made a regular practice, but as for
favoured times such as Ramadan, esp. the nights in which Laylat
al-Qadr is sought, or favoured places such as Makkah for the visitor,
it is recommendedto increase reciting the Qur'an to avail the time and
place. This is the view of Ahmad, Ishaq and other Imams, and the
practice of others indicates this too."
The purpose here is not to discuss whether or notthe latter view is
correct or not, since that is purely academic for mostof us, as we do
not get anywhere near reciting the whole Qur'an in threedays! However,
the practice of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
his Companions, and those who followed their path, should be clear
enough. As a further example, Bukhari (3/79) quotes from the noble
Companion Zaid bin Thabit who answered thequestion, "How much time was
there between the pre-dawn meal and the Dawn Prayer?" by saying,
"Enough time to recite fifty ayat." Since the practice of the Arabs
was to measure time in terms of everyday actions, this shows that the
Sahabah were preoccupied with the Qur'an, especially in Ramadan.
Compare all this with our sad state, when we talk so much about
establishing Islam, implementing the Qur'an,etc. and yet have such
little contact with it, maybe not completing itsrecitation ever at all
sincechildhood, or perhaps never! Hence we become unbalanced in our
understanding of Islam, because there are ayat which we rarely or
never hear or think about; we repeat only certain selected ayat over
and over again; we lost the context of the verses, the overall flow,
argument and balance of the Qur'an, all of which is beautiful &
miraculous. Because of this ignorancewe go astray from the Straight
Path, split up into sects, lose the blessings of Allah...
"We took a covenant from those who said: we are Christians, but they
forgot part of the message with which theyhad been reminded, so we
ingrained amongst them enmity and hatred until the Day of
Judgment..."(Surah al-Ma'idah 5:14)
In Sahih Bukhari (6/521), there is an amazing pieceof advice from the
Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):"Recite the Qur'anas
long as your hearts agree on it; if you disagree about it, stop
reciting it (for the time being)."Studying the Qur'an should bring
people together!
In Surah al-Mu'minoon (23:53), there is mention of the people before
us (in whose footsteps we would follow), who broke up their Deen into
sects (zuburan), each party rejoicing in what it had. One
understanding of this, from the word zuburan meaning literally
'books', is that each sect left the Book of Allah and concentrated
solely on the books of its own sect, so "they split their deen up into
books"!
The most twisted, ridiculous, shallow ideas, innovations and
superstitions are propagated amongst Muslims when they are away from
the Qur'an, because any little knowledge of the Qur'an would be enough
to dispel them.
Hence, O servant of Allah, leave aside secondary books and concentrate
on studying the blessed Book of Allah in this blessed month (use a
good translation/commentary if needed), for it is the source of all
knowledge in other books, and keep away from wasting time, especially
in futile discussions and arguments which lead nowhere, for that is a
sure sign of being misguided, as the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) said,"Whenever a people went astray after they had
been on guidance, they were given to argumentation (jadl)."(Ahmad,
Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah - Sahih al-Jami'al-Saghir, no. 5633)
Finally, remember that the Messenger (may Allahbless him and grant him
peace) will complain to Allah on the Day of Judgment that his
peopleneglected the Qur'an (Surah al-Furqan 25:30). Neglect of the
Qur'an is of different levels, as Ibn al-Qayyim writes:
Not reciting or listening to it;
Not studying and understanding it;
Not conveying its message;
Not judging by it in personal and communal matters, at all levels of society;
Not believing in it.
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
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