the blessing of giving us the opportunity to fast and observe the
night prayers during this blessed month, for making that easy for us
and saving us from the Hell-Fire.
Such is how days and nights pass so quickly. Yesterday, we were
receiving Ramadan and today we are bidding it farewell and we donot
know whether we are going to live to witness the next Ramadan or not.
We beseech Allaah to let us have many more of it.
All righteous deeds should be concluded withIstighfaar)seeking
Allaah's forgiveness(. Prayers, Hajj, night prayers and meetings are
all concluded with it too. Fasting should also be concluded
withIstighfaarto amend for any act of forgetfulness, negligence or
perversion we might have committed.Istighfaarerases the feeling of
arrogance and ostentation from the heart and lets one feel his
shortcomings. It is this very feeling that leads to doing more
righteous deeds after Ramadan and getting more rewards.
Explaining the need forIstighfaar, Ibn Al-Qayyimsaid: "Having pleasure
and contentedness for merely doing an act of obedienceis of the
frivolities of the mind and its stupidity, for, the resoluteand
knowledgeable people do more Istighfaar immediately after each act of
worship becausethey recognize their shortcomings and their failure
togive Allaah what befits His Majesty and Greatness in that act."
Though we are now bidding farewell to Ramadan, this should not mean a
farewell to acts of worship. A Muslim should rather strengthen the tie
between himself and his Lord so that he may have a perpetual blessing.
Asfor those who break their covenant with their Lord and abandon
mosques as soon as Ramadan ends, such are miserable people who know
their Lord only in Ramadan and afterwards turn back on their heels.
Allaah Says )what means(:"Say )O Muhammad(: 'Indeed, my prayer, my
rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the
worlds.'"]Quran 6: 162[
There is no value in an act of worship by which one does not increase
in piety and fear of Allaah. Where is the impact of fasting when one
abandons the recitation of the Quran, no longerobserves the
congregational prayers and desecrates other people's honors? Where is
the impact of his acts of worship in Ramadan when one afterwards
consumes usury and takes other people's properties wrongfully? Where
is the impact of Ramadan when one abandons the path of the Messenger
of Allaahfor local customs and traditions and governs his life with
man-made laws? Where is the effect of fasting and night prayers if one
engages in acts of deception in his business transactions and liesday
and night? Where is the impact of Ramadan on him if he does not call
the misled to the Path of Allaah, feed the hungry, cloth the naked and
make a sincere supplication for Islam and the Muslims?
Ibn Al Qayyimsaid: "There is indeed a distance between a righteous
deed and the heart, and there are in that distance a lot of
impediments that prevent the deed from reaching the heart. Hence, you
see a man who has many deeds to his credit and yet nothing of that
finds its way to his hearts, for he never carriedout the deed out of
love for Allaah, fear of Him, hope in His mercy, in abstention from
worldly life or out of craving for the Hereafter. Neither does he
possess the light by which he candifferentiate between those who love
Allaah and His enemies. Had the impact of his deed reached his heart,
he would have had the light and recognize the truth andfalsehood."
Needless to say, Allaah does not need the movements and efforts that
we make in our acts of worship. He only requests our piety thereof.
He, The Alimghy, Says )what means(:"O you who have believed, decreed
upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you
may become righteous."]Quran 2: 183[
He also says )what means(:"Theirmeat will not reach Allaah, nor will
their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you."]Quran 22: 37[
Of the good deeds that are recommended after Ramadan is fasting for
six days in the month ofShawwaal. The Messenger of Allaahsaid:"Whoever
fasts the month of Ramadan and follows it up with a fasting of six
days in the month of Shawwaal islike the one who fasts for a complete
year."]Muslim[
Ramadan has filled our minds with blessings, awakened our conscience
and purified our souls. It has taught us how to resist the
insinuations of Satan and the whims of the evil inclining soul and how
to eliminate differences and its causes. The ranks of the Muslims have
become solidly united during Ramadan,so we should not let it become
disunited againafter it. The eyes have shed tears during Ramadan, so
we should not let them become dry after it; mosques have become full
of worshippers during Ramadan and the tongues were engaged mentioning
Allaah, praising Him and invoking Him, so let this continue after
Ramadan; we havebeen overwhelmed with desirable manners and
characteristics such as humbleness and tranquility during Ramadan, we
should not spoil that away with arrogance, ostentation and stupidity;
we have become generous during Ramadan, so we should not withhold our
generosity after Ramadan.
The fasting Muslim has two occasions of happiness: when he brakes his
fast and when he meets his Lord; one is a worldly happiness and the
other is the everlasting one in the Hereafter when he will have the
greatest enjoyment and bliss which is Paradise in which there are
enjoyments which no eyes have ever seen, no ears have ever heard of,
and no human mind has ever imagined- a place wherewe, Allaah willing,
will be addressed )what means(:"Eat and drink in satisfaction for
whatyou put forth in the days past."]Quran 69:24[
Such is Paradise which when a slave is made to enter it, he forgets
his misery, distress and sorrow as it is reported that the
Messengersaid:"The most unfortunate person in this world among the
people of Paradise will be given a short dip into the Paradise and he
will be asked: 'Have you ever known misery? Have you ever experienced
difficulty'? He )or she( would say: 'No, by Allaah, I have never
experienced any misery nor known any difficulty!'"]Muslim[
The Muslim nation is now bidding farewell to the blessed month of
Ramadan while its agonies are still ongoing. It is experiencing great
calamities that can be seen in what is happening in Palestine and
other places in the Muslim world; a merciless war aimed at Islam in
order to exterminate it.
The Islamic nation has been tested during its long history with
different kinds of conspiracies and afflictions some of which are
enough to wipe other nations out of existence, but the power of
Islamic belief that was and is still keeping this nation alive. This
gives us a hope that the future is certainly for Islam.
It is therefore a duty of all Muslims to help the causes of Islam, to
exercise patience and self-control, to make sincere supplications and
to seek the help from Allaah in the face of all these tribulations so
that He mayrescue us from all these sufferings.
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