Alhamdulillahil Rabbil Aalameen,
all praises belong to Allah Almighty, Master of the Heavens and Earth. We shall
welcome once again by the grace of Allah the blessed month of Ramadan and Insha-Allah
Ramadan will begin around 16 or 17 May 2018.
O Believers, Ramadan is a sacred month in which
Allah (swt) constantly tries His creation and gives humanity the opportunity to
attain infinite joy. Fasting is a complete purification and a means to develop
awareness and recognition of the presence of Allah, and find His manifestation
everywhere. And fasting allows the fasting person (i.e. the faster) to acquire
more Taqwa and in truth Taqwa is a protection against all the
plans of Satan, and against the suffering in this world.
Allah (swt) informs us: And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out,
and will provide for him from where he does not expect. And whoever relies upon
Allah - then He is sufficient for him. Indeed, Allah will accomplish His
purpose. Allah has already set for everything a [decreed] extent. (At-Talaq
65: 3-4).
Many Muslims today have a bad conception of
fasting and fasting activities. Fasters nowadays prefer to enter a state of
semi-hibernation, and spend most of their time sleeping. If Muslims really fast
for Allah and have a fear for their Creator, then they will certainly remain
awakened to read the Holy Quran and when the time comes for prayer, they pray
and remember Allah (through Zikrullah). But there are some who get up
for prayer, but after that go to sleep again. This second sleep makes them
become lazy, and then they lose the golden opportunity to purify themselves
through spiritual activities and fully enjoy this blessed month. They lose this
divine blessing.
Ramadan is a time of intense activity for the
believer where he finds himself being rid of the constraints related to food. He
is therefore free to do even more effort in the way Allah (swt), and give more
time in meditation (Zikr), supererogatory prayers, and the reading in
abundance of the Holy Quran. He can now control his ego, his passion (Nafs),
become a wiser person, more humble and get away from all kinds of sins like
spying on people and gossiping about them etc. On the contrary, they must seize
this opportunity to get away from all disputes (useless discussions, quarrels,
hatred, jealousy, and doubts). You must focus more on doing good deeds and
asking Allah's forgiveness (Istigfaar) for all your sins so that the
Creator forgives you of your sins and accept your fasts and acts of worship (Ibadat).
Ramadan in history
If you know the history of Islam and Ramadan in
history, then you should know that our beloved Prophet Hadhrat Muhammad (pbuh)
lived close to nine Ramadan after the Hegira where every Ramadan was filled
with very important decisions and showed us an example of sacrifice and
submission to Allah (swt).