Are you ready for Ramadan?

In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful. All Prayers and Blessings of Allah be upon our master, the most noble Prophet.




Are you ready for Ramadan? Are your ready for a new year that is full of hard work and more worshiping to Allah (SWT[1]), in order to get closer to Him? Are you ready with your intentions?



Can you imagine the value of the days in Ramadan.I would like to remind you of the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) inwhichhesaid, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of Jannah (Paradise) are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained."[3] Hence, be watchful to the virtues of this month. So what is the thawab (reward) of Ramadan?




Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said, "… whoever fasts in the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping for a reward from Allah (SWT), then all his previous sins will be forgiven."[4] Hence, there are two conditions that would make your sins to be forgiven, no matter what they are. First, to fast out of sincere faith, which means that you are fasting not out of a habit, but rather out of your love for Allah (SWT)? Second, to fast out of hope for the reward of Allah (SWT).



However, one may say," It is too hard to keep on being that sincere during the whole 30 days". so,here is another chance for forgiveness ,Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said, "Whoever prayed at night in it (the month of Ramadan) out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven."[5] Hence, you can have all your previous sins forgiven only by keeping on praying at night the whole month, and under the same previous two conditions.



One may also say, "What if I missed one night prayer or more because of sleep?" so,here is another chance, Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said, "Whoever established prayers on the night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven."[6]

The prophet (SAWS) says, "And there are those who Allah frees from hellfire in Ramadan, and this occurs every night."[7] Allah (SWT) looks into the hearts of his servants to see their truthfulness. Every night in Ramadan, angles write the names of those who are saved from hellfire. Only Allah (SWT) Knows who they are. This is not restricted to scholars. It might be a truthful 17 year old girl, whose religious knowledge is limited. It could even be an old man whose sins are numerous, yet he has truthfully intended to get closer to Allah (SWT) in this month, hoping for His mercy.



Moreover, if Allah (SWT) saves you from hell in this month, this would mean that you have guaranteed you will be saved from hellfire, for He is the Generous. When a noble Arab frees a slave, he would never take him into capture again. What if it is Allah (SWT), who is the most Noble and Generous. Even if you sin after Ramadan, it will not be as bad as it was before Ramadan. Your good deeds then will surpass your bad deeds.

Rewards are multiplied in Ramadan


With a simple calculation, you will recognize the enormous amount of rewards you can gain in Ramadan. Just take Zuhr prayer (Noon prayer) as an example. By praying Zuhr you would be credited with 10 virtues. If you are to pray it in gama'a (amongst others), your virtues would be higher with 27 degrees than they are when you pray alone. If you are to multiply it by 70, and sum the virtues of the five obligatory prayers, then you would be credited with 94500 virtues. It is almost 100,000 virtues, which are equal to those of praying in the Holy Mosque. This is what you would gain out of the prayers of just one day of Ramadan.



As for reciting Qur'an, whoever recites a letter from the Qur'an, he will be credited with one virtue, and a virtue gets a ten-fold reward.If you are to multiply it by 70 and count it when reciting the whole Qur'an in Ramadan, it would reach an enormous amount of virtues.



As for the thawab of fasting itself, nobody knows what it is but Allah (SWT). Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said, "Allah said, 'All the deeds of Adam's sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it."[8] Thus, you will know the reward of your fasting only on the Day of Judgment. It is enough to know that the unpleasant smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. Here you can imagine the reward that is waiting for you. One may ask, "Why is Allah (SWT) granting us all these rewards?" Simply because He is the Generous. He Wants to Spread His mercy on us. You have to utilize all what He offers you in the blessing days of Ramadan.



If you are to scrutinize the Ayahs of fasting, which are mentioned in Surat Al-Baqara, you will find that the last ayah of it is what can be translated as, "And when My bondmen ask you concerning Me, then, surely I am near; I answer the invocation of the invoker when he invokes Me; so let them respond (to) Me, and let them believe in Me, so that possibly they would respond right-mindedly. (TMQ, 2:186).[9] These Ayahs demonstrate the relation between fasting and answering supplication.



Therefore, you should keep on supplicating to Allah (SWT). . The companions used to do so. They said," We used to supplicate to Allah (SWT) in Ramadan, and we never reached the next Ramadan without our supplications being answered." Let us all supplicate to Allah in this Ramadan that we would bring about the revival of our Ummah (the Muslim nation). A thousand months equal 84 years, which is –on average- your lifetime. If you worship Allah (SWT) at the Night of Determination, as you should, it would be as if you have been worshipping Him for 84 years. This is applied not only to prayers, but also to shedding a tear out of fear from Allah (SWT), kissing your parents' hands or charity. He proudly talks of them to the angels. This is quite enough to make us keen on hastening to please Allah (SWT), for we do not know how much time we have left in this life.



Nevertheless, all these rewards are not available for those who fast only with their stomach, for there are three kinds of fasting. The first is leaving food and drink. The second is when all your limbs are fasting too. It means that all your limbs do not commit sins during the whole month. Everyday, after dawn, you will break your fast by eating and yet you would not be able to smoke, accept bribe, watch a sinful program, backbite, lie, go to a sinful place or insult anybody. Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said, "Whoever does not give up forged speech and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink (i.e. Allah will not accept his fasting.)"[10]



Fast for real this year. Fast with all your body, even with your heart. It is much better when your heart is fasting. Therefore, first, we have people whose bellies are fasting, we do not need those, and they will probably not be saved from hellfire (Only Allah knows for sure). Then there are those whose bodies are fasting, yet there is a better kind: those whose hearts are also fasting. There is nothing else that occupies their heart except Allah, all month long. "I am all yours Allah", they say. Can you make it? Can you fast all the thirty days with your heart? How can this be? It means to speak about Allah, to talk for Allah, to be silent with Allah. It means that your life should be about, with, and for Allah. This does not mean that you will not perform your daily duties, but it means that your whole being would be dedicated for pleasing Allah.



Let us set ourselves a slogan in Ramadan. Whenever the prophet (SAWS) was about to embark on a serious matter, he used to set his companions a slogan and make them think about it and work for it. I will propose some slogans for you to choose from. Consider Musa's (AS) "Moses" slogan: "I have hastened on to You, Lord, that You may be satisfied (with me)" (TMQ: 20:84). Or that of Ibrahim (AS) "Abraham": "And he said, "Surely I am going to my Lord, soon He will guide me" (TMQ: 37:99). Consider the prophet's slogan: "Here I am at Thy service, and Grace is to Thee and the whole of good is in Thine hands, and one cannot get nearnests to Thee through evil"[11]. Or let our slogan be the ayah that can be translated as, "And vie swiftly with one another for forgiveness from your Lord"(TMQ: 3:133). Let your slogan be: "no one will reach Allah before me", let us set a slogan that says: "I will worship you my Lord, like I have never done before."



After we have known Ramadan's reward, now let us see what we are going to do in Ramadan this year. First, let us set up a schedule to which we would all abide wherever our circumstances are. Our schedule will contain six columns, and thirty rows. On each day of Ramadan, you will mark either with OK or with an X. Imagine your happiness when you achieve everything on the schedule. Imagine our reward if we all unite and do it together, what a reward! None of us will be alone but we will move together for Allah to be proud of us among His angels.



These six things are the prophet's formula. What are the six things we are going to put?


1.Praying all the five prayers in a group, whether men or women, all along the month.


2.Daily Sadaqa (charity). Our prophet (SAWS) was very generous, and he was even more generous in Ramadan. He used to be compared to the wind that leaves nothing behind, for he used to give away everything he had and leave nothing behind. Therefore, imitate your prophet and set yourself an amount of money to be given away in Ramadan.


3.Working on your Kinship ties or being dutiful to your parents everyday. Go and kiss your parents' hands, call a relative, or reconcile with someone with whom you had a conflict. Do it for Allah's mercy.


4.Daily Dua'a (supplication).Ask for anything you want,ask to be saved from hellfire, and that the revival of our Ummah would be achieved with our hands. This is our hope, Ramadan this year can be a turning point in our history.


5.Read the whole Qur'an in your prayers.


6.Perform a positive deed every day.Ramadan is the month of hard work. All our victories took place in Ramadan. Let us learn from the companions (RA) how to do this balance.




Ramadan can be compared to the winter season on earth. Winter comes with benevolence, with rain, to provide the earth with all its needs. With its grace, plants grow and creatures drink. The earth is also very smart; it stores these graces inside in order to use it all year long. In parallel, Ramadan comes to provide the Ummah with the spiritual and ethical force it needs. However, will the Ummah store such a power in order to use it along the whole year? This is our hope for this year. Ramadan is like the ebb and flow. When it comes, it is accompanied with a fall of desires, laziness, and miserliness, and a rise of obedience, force, and generosity.


"Whoever guides [another] to a good deed will get a reward similar to the one who performs it." Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)[Sahih Muslim]
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