Ramadan Articles - Welcome, Month of Goodness!

Ramadanis around the corner, the great month the Muslims wait for with
passion and yearning, with longing and tears -- tears of pleasure at
receiving the dearest and most generous of months.
It is the month of goodness and mercy, the month of purity and
chastity, the month of cleanness and clarity, in which the hearts are
cleansed and the souls rise high.
Congratulations on the coming ofthe month of good things, the month of
the dutiful acts, and the month of pleasures, in which Allaah The
Almighty boasts before His angels of you, and looks at your
competition in it.
Welcome to you, O honored guest and great month! Welcometo you, O
month of goodness, spring of forgiveness, and beloved to )Allaah( the
Most Merciful!
These are the seasons that have come to exude their pleasant scent
among the people. They are seasons to obtain good deeds and reduce
misdeeds. So, Oseeker of goodness, come forward ]to do good[! O seeker
ofevil, desist ]from evil[!
The Prophetsaid: "When the first night of Ramadan comes, the gates of
Hell are locked and none of them is opened; the gates of Paradise are
opened andnone of them is locked, and the devils and the strong Jinns
are chained in fetters; and a caller calls out, 'O seeker of goodness,
come forward )and perform acts of goodness diligently(, O seeker of
evil, stop )and repent for it is time to repent(.' Some are freed from
Hell by Allaah, and that happens every night."]Al-Bukhaari and Muslim[
My brothers and sisters in )the religion of( Allaah:
Ramadanwas the wish of your beloved, Muhammadwho said: "O Allaah!
Bless us in Rajab and Sha'baan, and make us live until we witness
Ramadan." The righteous predecessorsused to supplicate their Lord for
six months to accept their deeds of the lastRamadan, and another six
months to convey them to the next Ramadan. Where do we stand with
regard to the first generation?
Welcome to you, O master of the months! The Messenger of Allaahsaid:
"The month of Ramadan has come upon you. It is a month of blessing, in
which Allaah covers you with His mercy, plots out sins, and responds
to supplication. He looks at your competition in it, and shows pride
to His angels in you. So, show Allaah good from yourselves, since the
wretched is he who is deprived of Allaah's mercy." ]At-Tabaraani[
In it, the people are of two kinds:one receivesRamadanwith
ladentables, varieties of food and drink, and spends the greatest part
of his day sleeping, and the greatest part of his night wandering. The
other kind of people receivesRamadanby returning to Allaah The
Almighty,repentance, seeking forgiveness, and abandoning what is
forbidden by Allaah The Almighty of disobedience, especially duringthe
month of mercy, forgiveness and release from Hellfire.
Righteousness is indeed the wisdom for which fasting has been
ordained, as stated by Allaah The Almighty )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[ Tongues
fast from cursing and uttering obscenities and lewd speech, and ears
fast from hearing obscene words; eyes fastfrom looking at what is
unlawful,and hearts are devout in worship, seeking Allaah The
Almighty; and the great loss is to come out of Ramadan without
increasing our good deeds nor being promoted in rank with Allaah The
Almighty. That is indeed the evident loss.
The profitable winner, by the permission of Allaah, is he who fasts in
compliance with the command of Allaah The Almighty,and prevents the
soul from]unlawful[ inclination. Then, indeed, Paradise will be his
refuge. Thus, the reward will be great and the gift abundant.
It is narrated by Ibn Abi Ad-Dunyaand others on the authority of
'Abdullaah ibn 'Amr ibn Al-'Aasthat he said, "The Messengerof
Allaahsaid: 'Verily, fasting and Quran will intercede for the servant
on the Day of Judgment. Fasting will say: 'O Lord! I prevented him
from food, drink and sexual desires during the day. So, please, accept
my intercession for him.' The Noble Quran will say: 'O Lord! I
prevented him from sleep at night. So, please, accept my intercession
for him.' He )the Prophet( said: 'Then, they will be permitted to
intercede.'"
So strive your utmost to recite the noble Quran during the approaches
of the night and the ends of the day, because the Quran will be a
witness, either for or against you. It is due on us to receive the
goodness by performance of good deeds and through abandonment of
evildoings and destructive habits.It is also due on us to maintain
kinship ties and to be dutiful to our parents, which pleases the Most
Merciful and admits one to Paradise in the company of the Prophet
Muhammad Al-Mustafa.
It is the month of goodness, giving, dutifulness and abundance of
good. It is the month of munificence, generosity, and spending in the
cause of Allaah. Therefore, do notforget your brothers and sisters
from among the poor, needy, widows and orphans. By Allaah, many nights
may come upon some people, during which they find no morsel with which
to break their fast, or a sip of drink to rely on in their fasting,
whereas you are blessed in good things and gifts. So, show Allaah The
Almighty good from yourselves.
According to Khaalid Al-Qasri"The most generous to spend among the
people is the one who gives someone from whom he has no hope ]of
return[; and the greatest to forgive among the people is the one who
pardons when he has the power not to; and the one who maintains
kinship ties most among the people is he who maintains kinship ties
with him who severs kinship ties with him."
It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullaah ibn Mas'oodthat he said,
"The Messenger of Allaahsaid: 'Who among you considers the wealth of
his heirs dearer to him than his own wealth?' They replied, "O
Messenger of Allaah! There is none among us except that he loves his
own wealth more." The Prophetsaid: 'So his wealth iswhatever he spends
)in the causeof Allaah( during his life )on gooddeeds( while the
wealth of his heirs is whatever he leaves after his death.'"
]Al-Bukhaari[
Ar-Rabee' ibn Khaythamahnever used to give a beggar either a piece of
bread, or a broken thing, or a patched garment. He used to say, "I
feel shy that my book will be read before Allaah, having in it those
trivial things I gave for His sake."
We ask Allaah The Almighty to make abundant and blessed our share from
this noble month, to endow us with forgiveness and mercy and with a
garden in Paradise whose breadth is like the breadth of the heavens
and the earth; not to make our share only hunger and thirst, and not
to make us of those in connection with whom the honored
Messengersaid:"and the wretched is he who has been deprived of the
forgiveness of Allaah in this noble month."