In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Each one of us has many shortcomings and our iman is not as strong as the great Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all). In fact, it can be quite wobbly at times. This is the month where we can work really hard to remove those shortcomings, strengthen our faith and do tremendous good deeds. Let's turn to Allah and ask for His forgiveness and strong faith.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassalaam said,
“Whoever fasts during Ramadan with faith and seeking his reward (from Allah) all his past sins will be forgiven. Whoever prays during the night in Ramadhan with faith, seeking his reward (from Allah), all his past sins will be forgiven. And whoever passes Lailat-ul-Qadr in prayer with faith and seeking his reward (from Allah the Most Exalted) all his past sins will be forgiven.” [Bukhari]
May Allah enable us to worship Him by day and by night and bless us with the reward of lailat-ul-Qadr.
Ramadhan is the month when the doors of heaven are opened and the doors of hell are closed, and the rebellious shaytan are chained, and in it there is a night (worshiping in it) which is better than (worshiping for) a thousand months. We thank Allah for keeping us alive and giving us another opportunity to redeem and better ourselves.
Allah chose the month of Ramadhan for us to fast for the entire month, and not just parts of it.
Allah Almighty says,
... يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ﴿١٨٣﴾ أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَٰتٍ ۚ فَمَن كَانَ مِنكُم مَّرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ[Qur'an, Al-Baqarah 2:183-184]
O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous - (183) [Fasting for] a limited number of days. ...
The purpose of the fasting is not to starve and dehydrate us or make us feel what the homeless and poor feel without food and water for a whole day. The very purpose of fasting is so we may become people of taqwa (righteousness, piety, Godfearingness).
Fasting is an act of self control/restraint from which a person is meant to acquire a state which is of the most and emphasized of human state -- a state of being conscious of the Lord and wary of disobeying Him in one's action. It is to break the desire for lust, and to cool the fire of selfishness, so that the soul instead of being inclined towards the desires of lust, it becomes obedient towards the commands of the Almighty.
Tawqa of Allah (iitaqullah) means to do something (shield of good deeds) to place between yourself and the anger of Allah. It is also used with respect to Hell (ittaqunnar) or the Last Day (wattaqu yauman fihi illallah). Each of these, Hell and the Last Day, there is something to be frightened of.
If you are not going to chase after taqwa this Ramadhan, then there is no point of starving yourself during the day.
So, if you are not going to leave the prohibitions (e.g. selling/drinking liquor, involving in riba, smoking shisha at night, showing awra (nakedness), failing to lower your gaze towards the opposite gender, etc) then there is no point of starving yourself.
If you can't stop backbiting your own brothers/sisters, can't control your mouth speaking ill of others or using bad/foul language in your speech, or can't stop showing off and having pride in yourself, there is no point of starving yourself.
If you insist on cheating, lying, breaking promises, arguing, breaking family ties, being bad to your parents or people under your charge, then there is really no point of starving yourself during the day.
If you are fixed to do what you regularly do that is wasteful, unproductive and generally wasting time (e.g. watching TV, going to the movies/concerts, useless texting, wasting food, idle chats, etc) then there is no point of starving yourself during the day.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassalaam said,
“When any of you is fasting, let him not commit sin.”
"If one (who is fasting) does not give up falsehood and action according to it, Allah has no need that he should give up his food and his drink." [Bukhari]
"How many a faster has no share of his fasting save hunger and how many a person who stands the night in prayer has no share of his prayer except sleeplessness." [Al-Nasa'i]
Don't feel too happy because you have performed 8 or even 20 rakaat of taraweeh prayers every night while you disobeyed Allah during the day, while the food you just ate at iftar time is haram or from haram source and your clothing you are wearing is purchased from haram earnings and you are feeding your family from haram. Allah is pure and He only accepts what is pure.
Shaytan is not around to come in between us and our good deeds. We cannot blame the Shaytan this time. It's just you and your nafs now. If you are not doing what Allah wants you to do, you know it is your nafs getting in the way. You have no one to blame except your self. So, fight it. Commit to this war against your nafs this entire Ramadhan. Leave all sins and avoid doing bad things and anything that you don't like others to do to you. Wake up for sahur, go pray at the masjid, wake up for tahajjud, don't sleep all day. Give charity and fulfill the rights of people that you owe a duty to. This is a sign of an accepted fasting.
The one whose fasting is accepted, Allah has ready for him a tremendous reward beyond measure, something you cannot imagine. Only Allah, the All Generous, knows the extent of his reward and how much his good deeds will be multiplied.
The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Every deed of the son of Adam will be rewarded between ten and seven hundred fold. Allah said: ‘Except fasting, for it is for Me and I shall reward for it’”
Paradise has got a gate named Rayyan. None except a fasting person will enter Paradise by that gate."
May Allah grant us tawfiq. May Allah accept our fast, good deeds and supplications, and bless us with His closeness and make us of those who have taqwa. Ameen
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
No comments:
Post a Comment