Ramadan Articles - Twenty Five Ways to Getthe Most Out of Ramadhan

1.Fast Ramadhan with belief and truly seeking the reward of Allah the
Most High so that He may forgive you your past sins.
2.Beware of breaking your fast during the days of Ramadhan without a
valid Islamic excuse, for itis from the greatest of sins.
3.Pray Salat ut-Taraweehand the night prayer during the nights of
Ramadhan - especially onLayatul-Qadr - based on belief and truly
seeking the reward of Allah, so that Allah may forgive you your past
sins.
4.Make sure that your food, your drink and your clothing are from
halal means, in order thatyour actions be accepted,and your
supplications answered. Beware of refraining from the halal while
fasting and breaking your fast with the haram.
5.Give food to some fasting people to gain a reward similar to theirs.
6.Perform your five prayers on time in congregation to gain the reward
and Allah's protection.
7.Give a lot of charity for the best charity is that of Ramadhan.
8.Beware of spending your time without performing righteous deeds, for
you will be responsible and reckoned for it and will be rewarded for
all you do during your time.
9.Perform `umrah in Ramadhan for `Umrah in Ramadhan is equal to Hajj.
10.Seek help for fasting during the day by eating the sahoor meal in
the last part of the night before the appearance ofFajr.
11.Hasten breaking yourfast after the sun has truly set in order to
gain the love of Allah.
12.Perform ghusl before fajr if you need to purify yourself from the
state ofmajor impurity so that you are able to do acts ofworship in a
state of purity and cleanliness.
13.Seize the opportunityof being in Ramadhan and spend it with the
good that has been revealed in it - by reciting the noble Qur'an and
pondering and reflection of its meaningsso that it be a proof for you
with your Lord and an intercessor for you on the Day of Reckoning.
14.Preserve your tonguefrom lying, cursing, backbiting and slander for
it decreases the reward of fasting.
15.Do not let fasting cause you cross your boundaries by getting upset
due to the slightestof reasons. Rather, fating should be a cause of
peacefulness and tranquility of your soul.
16.Upon completion of fasting, be in a state of taqwa of Allah the
Most High, being aware of Allah watching you in secret and in public,
in thankfulness for His favors, and steadfastness upon obedience of
Allah by doing all what He has ordered and shunning allthat He has
prohibited.
17.Increase in remembrance of Allah, seeking of forgiveness, asking
for Paradise and protection against the Fire, especially when fasting,
while breaking the fast and during suhoor, for these actions are among
greatest causes of attaining Allah'sforgiveness.
18.Increase in supplication for yourself, your parents, your children
and Muslims, for Allah has ordered makingof supplications and has
guaranteed acceptance.
19.Repent to Allah with asincere repentance in all times by leaving
sins, regretting those that youhave done before and firmly deciding
not to return to them in the future, for Allah accepts repentance of
those who repent.
20.Fast six days of Shawwal, for whoever fasts Ramadhan and
thenfollows it with six days ofShawwal, it is as if he fasts all the
time.
21.Fast on the Day of `Arafah, the 9th of Dhul Hijjah, to attain
success by being forgiven your sins of the last year and the coming
year.
22.Fast on the day of `Aashuraa', the 10th of Muharram, along with the
9th, to attain success by being forgiven your sins of the past year.
23.Continue being in a state of iman and taqwa and perform righteous
actions after the month of Ramadhan, until you die. "And worship your
Lord until there comes to you the certainty (i.e. death)". [Qur'an
15:99]
24.Ensure that you attainthe positive effects of your acts of worship
suchas prayer, fasting, zakat and hajj, sincere repentance and leaving
of customs that are in variance with the Sharee`ah.
25.Invoke a lot of salawat and salam upon the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah's blessings and peace be upon him, his Companions and all
thosewho follow them until the Day of Judgment.
O Allah make us and all Muslims of those who fastand stand in prayer
during the month of Ramadhan based on belief and truly seeking Your
reward so that we are forgiven our past andfuture sins.
O Allah make us of those who fasted the month, attained full reward,
witnessed Layatul-Qadr and attained success by permission of the Lord,
Blessed and Most High.
O Allah, verily you are Forgiver, like to forgive, so forgive us.
O Lord, accept from us, verily you are the All-Hearing, all-Seeing, O
Living, O Independent, O Owner of all majesty and honor.
And may Allah's blessings and peace be upon Muhammad, his family and
his Companions.

Ramadan Articles - Ramadhan: the Month of Qur'an

The first part of this is based on an extract from Ibn Rajab
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.

Attire and adornment – I

Allaah Says what means:"O children of Aadam! We have bestowed upon you
clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the
clothing of righteousness — that is best. That is from the signs of
Allaah that perhaps they will remember."]Quran 7: 26[
One of the visible favours of Allaah upon His slaves is that He has
created for them different materials by which they can conceal their
private parts.
Allaah also Says what means:"So We said: 'O Aadam! Indeed this is an
enemy to you and to your wife. Then let him not remove you
fromParadiseso you would suffer. Indeed, it is ]promised[ foryou not
to be hungry therein or be unclothed."]Quran 20: 117-118[
Hunger is internal humiliation whilst nakedness is external
humiliation, but neither of these two exists inParadise. The dwellers
ofParadiseenjoy wearing different garments one on top of the other.
Allaah Says what means:"And when you lookthere ]inParadise[, you will
see pleasure and great dominion. Upon them ]i.e., the inhabitants[
will be green garments of fine silk and heavy silk..."]Quran 76:
20-21[
Thus, clothing is a blessing from Allaah that He has bestowed upon us,
as Allaah Says in the abovementioned verse, what means:"O children of
Aadam! Wehave bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private
parts…"
Concealing one's private parts is mandatory, but this is not all;
rather, Allaah has, in addition, bestowed upon us adornment. Following
this adornment is the inner adornment, which is the spiritual one, as
Allaah Says in thesame verse what means:"But theclothing of
righteousness — that is best. That is from the signs of Allaah that
perhaps they will remember."
If the clothing of piety is lost then one's faults are exposed; and if
the clothing of the body is gone, then his private parts become
exposed, which results in great trials, leaving Satan to open an arena
in which to lure mankind. This is why Allaah
Says in the aforementioned verse of Chapter Taa Haa what means:"So We
said: 'O Aadam! Indeed this is an enemy to you and to your wife. Then
let him not remove you fromParadiseso you would suffer. Indeed, it
is]promised[ for you not to be hungry therein or be unclothed."]Quran
20: 117-118[
Unclothing is a plot of Satan, and the first sin that was ever
committed resulted in unclothing, as Allaah Says what means:"O
children of Aadam! Let not Satan tempt you as he removed your parents
from Paradise, stripping them of their clothing )i.e., the garments
ofParadise( to show them their private parts…"]Quran 7: 27[
Satan initiated his war against the children of Aadam by trying to
entice them to expose their private parts, and this battle continued
until it has reached its peak in our time when people have actually
exposed their private parts and there are nude clubs, nude beaches,
and channels on satellite television for nudity, fornication and
'summer fashions', which is practical nudity. All these things, which
the sinners among the children of Aadam thought up with the help of
Satan, are vividly shown on TV screens.
Moreover, there are so many magazines and internet websites that
feature nudity that it has become something that many feel no shame in
publishing or viewing, because the plot of Satan is to corrupt mankind
by exposing people's private parts.
This is why Allaah warns us by saying what means:"O children of Aadam!
Let not Satan tempt you…"]Quran 7: 27[ Satan does this by all means
possible: movies, magazines, fashion shows, beauty contests, scanty
clothing that women wear to weddings, satellite television channels,
and so on. Immorality has become readily available and people are
constantly exposed to it.
Imaam At-Tabaristated when commenting on this verse: "It means: Let
not Satan deceive you into obeying him and therefore exposing your
private parts to others, thus depriving yourselves from entering
Paradise, which is exactly what resulted in your father )i.e. Aadam(
being expelled from Paradise."
This is a very dangerous issue because it could result in one being
deprived of entering Paradise, and this is why Islam mandates
concealing one's private parts and defines the 'Awrah )i.e., the parts
of the bodythat one is Islamically obliged to cover( and how to cover
it. The 'Awrah is defined precisely and indetail for people of all
ages and every phase: for infants up to twoyears of age, then for
childhood, and then for the phase that lasts up to and beyond puberty.
Islam obligates clothing because nakedness is a dispraised matter.A
man once entered into the presence of the Prophetwhilewearing improper
clothing, so heasked:"Do you have money?"The man replied: "Yes, from
all means. Allaah has granted me camels, sheep, horses and slaves."
Thereupon, the Prophetsaid to him:"Then let the favour and blessings
of Allaah be apparent on you."Imaam Ibn Hajarcommented on this
narration stating: "This means: wear the clothing that suits the level
of bounties of Allaah upon you, and which is clean and pleasant, so
that needy people would recognise a person's status and know to ask
from himcharity. However, in order to judge this issue in light of all
relevant texts, one must be moderate in this regard and not
extravagant."
This is how real scholars are: theyjudge an issue in light of all the
relevant texts related to it, and do not focus on an isolated piece of
evidence. This is an advice to all students of knowledge who seek the
truth, this is how you should be, too - never take one text in
isolation when there are other texts related to the issue that you are
judging, so that you can have a complete picture before making your
final judgment.
An example to illustrate this is if one states that the
Prophetsaid:"Indeed Allaah is Jameel)which implies beauty( and He
loves beauty"and therefore concludes that it is permissible for the
woman to expose her beauty, since beauty is something that Allaah
loves. We ask such a person: Are you aware of the other texts that
specificallyprohibit the woman to expose here beauty in front of
marriageable men and the texts that command her to adhere to Hijaab
)i.e. Muslim woman's outfit in Islam(?
Some scholars who were wealthywould wear the best clothing that they
possessed during seasons such as Ramadan so thatthe poor could
recognise them and ask them for charity, but as soon as these seasons
were over they would wear modest clothing as a sign of their humility
and knowledge of the narration that they were well aware of, which is
that of Mu`aathwho reported that the Messenger of Allaahsaid:"Whoever
voluntarily forsakes wearing elegant and expensive garments out of
humbleness, Allaah will call him on the Day of Resurrection and give
him, in front of all )His( creation, the choice to wear whichever
garment of Belief he wishes."]At-Tirmithi[
The clothing of the Messenger of Allaahwas whatever he couldfind; he
would wear wool at times and cotton at others - according to what was
available for him at the time and without any extravagance; hewould
always thereby be acting in accordance with the commands of Allaah.
One can eat, wear or drink anything )that is lawful( as long as it is
without extravagance or boasting. Men may not wear silk because there
is a specific text that prohibits silk for men.

Do not kill your time

The Quran and Sunnah both emphasize the importance of time in the life
of a Muslim. Allaahswears in the beginning of many Soorahs )chapters(
by time or moments in time, for example Allaah Says )what means(:"By
the dawn and the ten nights )i.e. the first ten days of the month
ofThul-Hijjah(..."]Quran 89: 1-2[
And also Says )what means(:"By the night when it covers, and by the
day when it appears..."]Quran 92:1[
And also Says )what means(: "By the morning brightness and by the
night when it covers with darkness..."]Quran 93:1[
And also Says )what means(:"By the time..."]Quran 103:1[
When Allaah swears by something of His creation, it directs our
attention to the benefit of that thing. The Prophetfurther emphasized
the value of time in many authentic Hadeeths. For example, Mu'aath bin
Jabalrelated that the Prophetsaid:"The slave will not go forward on
the Day of Judgment until he is asked four questions: about his age
and how he spent it, about his youth and how he used it, about his
wealth and how he acquired it and spent it, and about his knowledge
and what he did with it."
Youth is considered the peak stage in human life, because young people
have the capacity and energy to accomplish many good deeds, but when
they get older, they cannot do as much. These are stages of
development as mentioned in the Quran, for example in Soorah Ar-Room
)The Romans(, Allaah Says )what means(: "Allaah is He Who created you
in )a state of( weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then
after strength gave )you( weakness and grey hair ..."]Quran 30:54[
If we do not use our time effectively for something good, then we will
definitely use it for something bad, which destroys our rewards and
our lives. For example, if you do not make Thikr )mentioning Allaah
and praising Him(, then you will be saying something else, perhaps
backbiting or perhaps talking about your children, your work, your
neighbors, your friends or your enemies. What counts for you is using
the time for something useful, doing good deeds and saying good
things.
Try to make a short revision at the end of each day about what you did
during that day. Ask yourself: What did I do today? What did I do that
was bad today? Make repentance for the bad things that you have done
and said, sincerely determining not to repeat such things. With the
good, determine to do it again, do it more often and do it in a better
way.
Our lives are judged according to what we did, not according to how
many years we lived. We know that life is very short, and at the end
of it comes death. We do not know when we are going to die, so we have
to make sure that we do many good deeds before we pass into the next
life and we are unable to return to repent from our bad deeds, or to
do more good deeds. Time passes very quickly as Allaah Says)what
means(:"The Day they see it, )it will be( as if they had not tarried
)in this world( except an afternoon and a morning."]Quran 79:46[
And also Says )what means(: "And on the Day when He shall gather
)resurrect( them together,)it will be( as if they had not stayed )in
the life of this world and graves, etc( but an hour of a day."]Quran
10:45[
Time is very precious and if it passes, you cannot make use of
itagain. If yesterday passed without the performance of gooddeeds,
then it is gone; you cannotreclaim any benefit from yesterday's time.
For example, if you came to travel from one city to another and you
found that the airplane that you were supposed to travel on has
alreadyleft, do you think that it will be back to pick you up? Or if
you were traveling by train and you missed the train, do you think
that the train will reverse to come back to get you?
When it is time for a person to die, he may ask for more time to do
good deeds, as Allaah Says)what means(:"Therein they will cry: 'Our
Lord! Bring us out, we shall do righteous good deeds, not what we used
to do.' )Allaah will reply(: 'Did We not give you long enough lives so
that whosoever would receive admonition could receive it, and the
warner came to you? So tasteyou )the evil of your deeds(. For the
wrongdoers, etc, there is no helper."]Quran 35:37[
We say that we are so busy with our work and our children, but Allaah
warns us against this saying )what means(: "O you who believe! Let not
your properties or your children divert you from the remembrance of
Allaah. And whoever does that, then they are the losers. And spend )in
charity( of that which We have provided for you before death comes to
one of you and he says: 'My Lord! If only you would give me respite
for a little while )i.e. return to the worldly life(, then I should
give sadaqah)i.e. Zakaah( of my wealth, and beamong the righteous
)i.e. perform Hajj(. And Allaah grants respite to none when his
appointed time )death( comes. And Allaah is All-Aware of what you
do."]Quran 63: 9-11[
Many people before us used their time effectively by performing good
deeds, teaching, doing something for the benefit of the Muslims, their
families and their relatives, or by advising others to be good, and
calling others to Allaah and Islam, etc. They considered every day
that passed which they did not use effectivelyfor the sake of Allaah
as denying the favors of Allaah.
Today we have those who "kill time." These people gather to talk about
things that are not related to Islam or the Muslims' affairs; they
play around or talk about others. These people are not killing time,
but they are committing slow suicide becausethey are killing their
time -- and their time is their lives! So they are slowly killing
themselves and after they die, what good deeds have they done?
The Prophetsaid: "There are two favors )or bounties( of Allaah's
bounties, and in them many people are cheated )or deceived(: health
and free time."
People underestimate the value of these two favors, and thus, they are
cheated. This is like a person who has a house that he wants to sell.
Someone comes and offers him 50,000 dollars for it. He isn't sure of
its value, so he hesitates. Finally, he agrees and sells it for that
amount. Later he finds out that his house was actually worth a million
dollars. Imagine how cheated he feels; imagine that feeling that if he
had only known beforehand what it was really worth, he could have
gotten more!
It is the same with our time. We underestimate its great value, and
then when it is gone, we feelthat we have been cheated because we
didn't get everything out of it that we could have. But just as the
one who sold his house below its value cannot get it back and sell it
at its true value,we also cannot go back and do more with the time
that is already gone. At the end of our lives, we will not be able to
go back and live our lives over again and we will not be given more
time to do good deeds, to try to make up for the time we wasted.
So we must organize our time wisely, being very careful about what we
use it for. We must treat the free time that we have, in which we
could do good deedsas a precious resource, guarding it against waste
or misuse.