Adeel Malik
Oh Allāh make us reach Ramadan – a heartfelt plea from every sincere Muslim who has experienced and witnessed the sweetness of faith in this blessed month. Indeed it is a sanctified month as Allāh declares in His Book,
“The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’ān, the guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong).” [1]
There’s nothing else we need to lead a life of righteousness, a life with full of guidance except the book of Allah and the teachings of His most beloved Prophet Muhammad (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). Allāh’s book is sent as guidance to tell us our purpose of existence, the purpose of why we are created which is none other than to worship our creator Allāh alone. He created countless signs around us to ponder upon and to contemplate deeply of His perfection. With His revealed book which contains the criterion enough for us to be guided to live a life of excellence – excellence not in terms of worldly matters but excellence towards our connection between ourselves, ourselves and the creation around us and above all ourselves and our Rabb – Allāh. From the above verse, if we truly grasp the meaning of it, it will be enough for us to declare that we are indeed witnessing the blessings and favours from our Merciful Rabb for He revealed His book in the month of Ramadan. My dear brothers and sisters, I fully understand that words come easy, yet action upon those words is challenging. We all have faith, we all have hopes and each one of us claims that indeed we love Allāh, The Almighty. However there’s one key question we should always ask ourselves is – Do we really OBEY what Allāh has commanded us to do? Think – pause! I myself am not exempted from thinking about this question; NO ONE is exempted, as we are all disobeying Allah in different ways. Our Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) is reported to have said:
“At the breaking of every fast, Allah will choose people to be freed from the Hellfire, and that happens every night.” [2]
The blessings of Al-Kareem; Allāh The Most Generous, are far too great for us to enumerate or to appreciate. He allows us to break our fast in this blessed month by raising a date and a sip of water to our mouths, He is freeing people from the Hellfire at that very moment. I’m hoping and begging to Almighty Allāh that it could be me or anyone of us to be redeemed during that time. But the blessings of this month do not end just with redemption from the Hellfire, for Allāh has also blessed us in this month with “The Night of al-Qadr”. When the month of Ramadan started, our Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) is reported to have said:
“Verily, the month of Ramadan has come to you all. It is a blessed month, which Allah has obligated you all to fast. During it the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are shackled. In it there is a night that is better than one thousand months. Whoever is deprived of its good, then he has truly been deprived.” [3]
From the very first day of Ramadan, we already start to relish the mercy of Allāh for He allowed us to witness this blessed month. As we persevere in the following days and nights by maintaining our Ibadah (fasting, observing Salah, reciting Qur’ān, giving charity and etc), Allah guarantees us total forgiveness of our sins. And as the month is about to end particularly in the last 10 off nights, Allāh chooses people to be freed from the Hellfire every time we break our fast. Come to think of it, how many billions of Muslims break their fasts every single day of this month? And remember the hadith mentions “people” not just one person! Isn’t this enough for us to be grateful that we have been chosen to witness this blessed month! Indeed the hadith of “The Night of al-Qadr” is absolutely true for certainly our beloved Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) never spoke by his own desire but by the command of Almighty Allāh, the hadith clearly says, “whosoever is deprived of its good has truly been deprived (of something great)!” The Night of al-Qadr is indeed a bonus package to all of us, and it’s enough to give making a believing heart to glitter with hope and promise of that something great. Our Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) is reported to have said:
“Whoever established the night of al-Qadr with prayer with sincere faith and hoping for Allāh’s reward, he will be forgiven his previous sins.” [4]
The key here is “sincere faith”. We ought to ask ourselves – “Do I really worship Allāh enough? And is all my Ibadah enough for Allāh to accept and grant me those glad tidings?” Well, it’s not too late my dear brothers and sisters – InshaAllāh Ramadan is just round the corner and as we enter the blessed month of Ramadan, let’s do so with an earnest heart. Remember the key is to have “sincere faith”, consider this as our focal intention in all aspects of our Ibadah that we try to achieve – starting right now, solely to gain the pleasure of Allāh! I hope and pray that as the blessed month is approaching the glitter of a sincere heart, we will have its full excitement to welcome this blessed month of Ramadan. Let us remember one another in our Du’as and supplications, and don’t forget the Muslim Ummah in every supplication we make. The Ummah is going through tough and challenging times, but with this blessed month, let’s turn the tide in our favour by returning to Allāh’s obedience which is only done through implementing the Qur’ān and the Sunnah in our daily lives. Ramadan Mubarak my beloved brothers and sisters.
Featured Image: Yeowatzup | Flickr Creative Commons
References
[1] Al-Qur’ān: Surah Al-Baqarah 2:185
[2] Ibn Majah | Sahih 1340
[3] Narrated by al-Nasa’i, 2106; Ahmad, 8769. classed as saheeh by al-Albani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, 999
[4] Al-Bukhaari (37) and Muslim (759)
