TAG: Taqwa
Ache Kaam Ki Hosla Afzai Kerna Bhi Naiki Hai
Izzat Aur Fazeelat Ka Madar Parhaizgari
Fear Allah Wherever You Are
Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and Mu`adh b, Jabal relate that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Fear Allah wherever you are. Follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it will blot it out. And deal with people in a good manner.” [ Sunan al-Tirmidhi ]
The importance of this hadith:
Ibn Rajab says: “This is powerful advice, bringing together the rights of Allah and the rights of His servants..”
The fear of Allah
The Arabic word for the “fear of Allah” is taqwa. It comes from the root word meaning “to protect from something, to prevent”. Indeed, a person exhibits the fear of Allah by seeking to prevent Allah’s punishment by carrying out what Allah has commanded of him and abstaining from what Allah has prohibited him.
Allah had called upon all people in every era to fear Him. Allah says: “And We had enjoined upon those who were given the Scripture before – as well as yourselves – to fear Allah.” [ Surah al-Nisa’ : 131]
It is Allah’s right over His servants that they fear Him as He ought to be feared. Allah says: “O you who believe! Fear Allah as He ought to be feared and do not die except as believers.” [ Surah Al `Imran : 102]
Ibn Mas`ud explained what it means to fear Allah as He ought to be feared by saying: “It means that He is to be obeyed not disobeyed, remembered not forgotten, and shown gratitude, not ingratitude.”
The fear of Allah is the path to forgiveness, salvation, and the attainment of Allah’s mercy. Allah says:
“Indeed, Allah is with those who fear Him and those who do good.” [ Surah al-Nahl : 128]
“And My mercy encompasses all things, and I shall decree it for those who fear Me.” [ Surah al-A`raf : 156]
“He is worthy of being feared and worthy of granting forgiveness.” [ Surah al-Muddaththir : 56]
“And whoever fears Allah – He will pardon him his sins and grant him a great reward.” [ Surah al-Talaq : 5]
“Indeed, those who fear Allah will be among gardens and rivers, in a seat of truth near an All-Powerful Sovereign.” [ Surah al-Qamar : 54-55]
Allah promises those who fear Him that He will provide for their needs and grant them a way out of their worldly difficulties. Allah says: “And whoever fears Allah, He will make for him a way out, and provide for him from whence he could never imagine.” [ Sûrah al-Talaq: 2-3]
This is Allah’s promise. We should draw strength from it when we are tired in life with difficulties that tempt us to resort to what Allah has forbidden.
The relationship between knowledge and the fear of Allah
Allah says: “It is only those who have knowledge among Allah’s servants who fear Him.” [ Surah Fatir: 28]
There are two ways in which knowledge and the fear of Allah are related. The first is that true fear of Allah comes about as the result of having proper knowledge of Allah and His perfect attributes.
Ibn Abbas said about this verse: “They are those who know that Allah is capable of all things.”
He also said: “The verse means: The only people who fear me are those who know my power, my might, and my dominion..”
Ibn Kathir says in his commentary of this verse: “The only people who fear Allah in the true sense are those who are knowledgeable about Allah. This is because the more knowledge a person has about the Almighty, the All-Powerful and All-Knowing, who possesses the attributes of perfection and the best of names – the more perfect and complete this knowledge is – the greater and more total his fear of Allah will be.” [ Tafsir Ibn Kathir ]
The second way that the fear of Allah and knowledge are related stems from the fact that the fear of Allah is to seek to prevent Allah’s punishment by carrying out Allah’s commands and abstaining from His prohibitions. Consequently, a Muslim needs to have knowledge of these matters in order to fear Allah properly. An ignorant Muslim may have a sense of fear, but he will not be able to fully carry out what that fear requires of him.
Ibn `Abbas said: “To have knowledge of the Most Merciful is to be someone who associates nothing as a partner with Him, who deems lawful what He has made lawful, who prohibits what He has prohibited, who preserves what He has enjoined upon him, and who has certainty that he shall meet Him and that his actions will be accounted for.”
Follow up a bad deed with a good deed
The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us that performing a good deed wipes away the sin incurred from perpetrating an evil one. Scholars have disagreed whether the “good deed” being referred to here refers specifically to the context of repentance or whether it is general for all good works.
The strongest view is that all good deeds can wipe away evil deeds. Allah says: “And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approach of the night. Indeed, good works do away with evil deeds. That is a reminder for those who take heed.” [ Surah Hud: 114]
A man once came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and informed him that he had contact with a woman like a husband has with his wife, except that he did not go so far as to fornicate with her. This man had just prayed the Fajr prayer. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Have you prayed with us the Fajr prayer?” When he replied that he had, the Prophet (peace be upon him) recited: “Indeed, good works do away with evil deeds.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî (526) and Sahîh Muslim (2763)]
However, a believer should always repent for his sins. Allah says: “And those, who when they commit an indecency or wrong themselves, remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins – and who forgives sins except Allah – and then do not knowingly persist in what they have done, for them is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they shall abide forever. How great is the reward for those who work righteousness.” [ Surah Al `Imran : 135]
A believer should follow up his sincere repentance with the performance of good works. This is what Allah wants from us. He says: “Indeed, I am Most Forgiving to whoever repents, believes, and works righteous deeds and then continues upon guidance.” [ Surah Taha: 82]
Allah also tells us: “Except for those who repent, believe, and work righteous deeds. For those, Allah will change their evil deeds into good deeds, and Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [ Sûrah al-Furqan: 70] This is especially true for major sins. A Muslim must never leave a major sin to go without repentance, for Allah’s promise of forgiveness is for those who turn to Him in sincere repentance. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “A servant, if he acknowledges his sin and then repents, Allah will forgive him.” [ Sahih al-Bukhari (4141) and Sahîh Muslim (2770)]
And deal with people in a good manner
Allah tells us repeatedly in the Qur’ân to observe good manners in our dealings with others. He says: “Keep to forgiveness (O Muhammad), and enjoin kindness, and turn away from those who are ignorant.” [ Surah al-A`raf : 199]
Allah says: “Nor can goodness and evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better. Then he between whom and you there had been hatred will become as though he were your dear friend.” [ Sûrah Fussilat : 34]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) is the perfect example of what it means to possess good manners. Allah says, describing him: “Indeed you are of a great moral character.” [ Surah al-Qalam : 4]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) emphasized how good manners are of paramount importance in Islam when he said: “I was sent only to perfect good manners.” [ Musnad Ahmad (8952)]
Indeed, he tells us those good manners are part of faith. He said: “The believers with the most complete faith are those who have the best manners.” [ Sunan al-Tirmidhi (1162) and Sunan Abî Dawud (4682)]
Among the good manners that we should cultivate is to be sensible in our dealings with others and not to react hastily when they do that which displeases us. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Ashajj `Abd Qays: “You possess within yourself two qualities that Allah loves: discernment and forbearance.” [ Sahîh Muslim (17)]
Fareeb Nafs
by Mufti Muneeb Ur Rehman
What Is Allah’s Right On Mankind?
On the authority of Mu’aadh bin Jabal, a companion of the Prophet Muhammed who said: “I was riding with the Prophet, sitting behind him, when he said to me, “O Mu’aadh! Do you know what is Allah’s right over His slaves, and what is the slave’s right over Allah?”. I said, “Allah and His Messenger know Best”. He said, “The Right of Allah over the slaves is that they should worship Him alone [1] and not associate anything with Him [2], while the right of the slaves over Allah is that He will not punish (on the Day of Judgment) whoever does not associate with Him.” [Collected by al-Bukhari, Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, Ahmed & Ibn Majah]
The Creation Of Mankind
Glorified be Allah, who created man (Adam) and caused one of the noble souls (Ruh) to enter him [Soorah al-Hijr (15):29] and made mankind into nations and tribes, that they may know one another. Verily the most honorable of them in the Sight Allah is the believer who has at-Taqwa (i.e. the Qualities of piety, righteousness, and the fear of Allah; that keeps him away from all kinds of sin and evil deeds) [Soorah al-Hujarat (49):13].
The Recognition Of Allah
The question would arise: … How can all the people around the world be expected to believe in the One True God, given their varying backgrounds, societies, and cultures?
For people to be held responsible for worshipping the One True God, they all need to have access to knowledge of Him.
The Qur’an teaches us that all human beings have the recognition of Allah imprinted on their souls as part of their very nature with which they are created. This natural in-born inclination to worship Allah alone is called in Arabic as the `Fitrah’. If the child was justified alone, it would grow up aware of Allah in His Unity, but all children are affected by the pressure of their environment, whether directly or indirectly The Prophet Muhammed reported that Allah
said: “I created man in the right religion, but the devils (Shaitaan ) made him go astray.” [Reported in Sahih Muslim, vol.4, p.1488, no.6853]
The Prophet also said: “Every child is born in the state of Fitrah (i.e. a Muslim), then his parents make him a Jew, Christian or a Zoroastrian.” [Reported in Sahih al-Bukhari, vol.8, no.597 and Muslim, vol.4, no.6423]
The religion the child follows is one of custom and upbringing and Allah does not hold it to account or punish it for this religion. But when the child matures in youth and clear proofs of the falsehood of man-made religions are brought to it, the adult must now follow the religion of knowledge and reason. The Shaytaan (devils) try to make
evil pleasing to him and encourage him to stray away from the straight path. The person must now live in the midst of a struggle between his Fitrah and his lower desires in order to find the right path. If he chooses his Fitrah, Allah will help him overcome his desires even though he may have to go through a lot of trials and struggles, as Allah says: “Surely We (Allah) will test you with fear, hunger, loss of wealth, and life and fruits of your work, so give glad tidings to those who are patient.” [Soorah al-Baqarah (2): 155]
Because of all the powerful forces fighting against the Fitrah, Allah chose certain righteous men and revealed to them clearly the right path. These men whom we call Prophets were sent to help our fitrah defeat its enemies, and Allah says: “Verily We (Allah) have sent every nation a messenger saying `Worship Allah alone and avoid the Taghoot (false gods)” [Soorah al-Nahl (16): 36]
All the truth and good practices today came from the teachings of the past Prophets.
Born Muslims
Those who are fortunate enough to have been born in Muslim families must be aware that all such `Muslims’ are not automatically guaranteed paradise, because the Prophet warned that a large portion of Muslims will stray away from the teachings of Islam; and the Sunnah would be replaced by innovations (Bidah), as mentioned in the following Hadeeths:-
Hadeeth 1: “I have been given the Qur’an and it’s equal (the Sunnah) with it.” [Reported by Abu-Dawood (Eng. translation), vol.3, no.4587, at-Tirmidhi, al-Haakim & Ahmed]
Let me not find any of you, while resting on his couch, that order of mine is mentioned in front of him, either a command of mine or a prohibition, he says: `I do not know! Whatever we find in the Book of Allah (the Qur’an) we follow (otherwise we do not)”. [Reported by Abu Dawood (Eng. translation),vol.3, no.4588, at- Tirmidhi, ibn Majah, Ahmed]
Hadeeth 2: “You will follow the practices of your predecessors, inch by inch and yard by yard; so that if they were to enter a lizard’s hole, you would also follow them.” When the Prophet was asked if he meant the Jews and Christians, he replied “If not them, who else?” [Reported in Sahih al-Bukhari, vol.9, no.422 & Sahih Muslim, vol.4, no.6448]
Hadeeth 3: “The Last Hour will not come until some groups of my nation attach themselves to the polytheists and some of my people worship idols.” [Reported by Abu Dawood (Eng. translation), vol 3, no.4239; Ibn Majah and at-Tirmidhi]
Hadeeth 4: “The Last Hour will not come until women from the daws tribe wiggle their buttocks (as they ircumambulate) around the temple of the idol al-Khalasha.” [Reported by al-Bukhari, vol.9, no.232 & Muslim, vol.4, no.6944]
Hadeeth 5: “There will be among my followers those who will make allowable (Halal) fornication and adultery, the wearing of Silk (for men), taking intoxicants and musical instruments (Ma’aazif)….Allah will destroy them during the night and let the mountain fall on them.” [Collected in al-Bukhari, vol.7, no.494 (b)]
All those mentioned in the Hadeeths above will have Muslim names and will consider themselves Muslims, but it will be of no benefit to them on the Day of Judgment. This is because ……….
They ignored the teachings of the Last Messenger Muhammed (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) and altered the Religion according to their convenience. Have you not seen the one who takes his desires as his god? [Soorah al-Furqan (25): 43]
“O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and render not vain your deeds.” [Soorah Muhammed (47): 33]
“Say (O Muhammed to mankind): if you (really love Allah then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive your sins.” [Soorah al-Imran (3): 31]
They seek help in other than Allah “Most of them claim to believe in Allah but they really commit Shirk.” [Soorah Yusuf (12): 106]
and: “And your Lord says: `Call on Me, I will answer your prayers.” [Soorah Ghafir (40): 60]
“When my slaves ask you (O Muhammed) about me tell them `Verily I am close, I listen to the prayer of everyone who calls on me.” [Soorah al-Baqarah (2): 186]
“And invoke not besides Allah, any that neither can profit you nor harm you, but if you do so you shall certainly be one of the disbelievers.” [Soorah Hud (11): 106]
“Those on whom you call besides Allah are only slaves (mortals) like yourselves.” [Soorah al-A’raaf (7): 194]
Some Muslims have turned the Qur’an into a good luck charm which they hang on chains around their necks, in their cars, or have placed them in beautifully decorated cases to be kept in the house along with the other pieces of furniture; while our Prophet Muhammed said that the purpose of the Qur’an is to …… “Read the Qur’an and Apply it.” [Musnad Ahmed ibn Hambal]
“Verily this Qur’an guides to that which is most just and right and gives glad tidings to the Believers, who do deeds of righteousness, and they shall have a great reward.” [Soorah al-Israa’ (17): 9]
But alas, some so-called Muslims will even refuse guidance from the Qur’an: “And the Messenger (Muhammed) will say `O my Lord! Verily my people deserted this Qur’an (by neither listening to it nor acting according to its Laws).” Soorah al-Furqan (25): 30]
Remember You Pledge To Allah
Let us give a thought as to whether we are simply Muslims by chance or Muslims by choice. Is Islam what our parents, tribe or country did (or does), or is it what the Qur’an teaches and what the Prophet Muhammed and his Companions (May Allah be pleased with them all) did.
In the seventh chapter of the Qur’an-Soorah al-Araaf, Allah explains that when He created Adam, He caused all of Adam’s descendants to come into existence and He took a pledge from them…….. `Am I not your Lord?, to which they all replied `Yes, we testify to it.” [Soorah al-A’raaf (7): 172]
Allah then explained why He had all of mankind bear witness that He is the Creator and the Only True God, worthy of worship; “That was in case you (mankind) should say on the Day of Resurrection, we were unaware of all this.” [Soorah al-A’raaf (7): 172]
“It was also in case you should say, `Certainly it was our ancestors who made partners (with Allah) and we are only their descendants; will you then destroy us for what those liars did.” [Soorah al- A’raaf (7): 173]
Therefore the pledge with Allah can only be fulfilled by a Muslim by choice and by the practical application of the principles of Islam in our lives.
“Say truly, my prayer, my sacrifice, my life, and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds.” [Soorah al-An’aam (6): 162]
Conclusion
May Allah, the Merciful keep us on the right path to which He has guided us and bestows on us His blessings and mercy, for indeed whoever Allah guides……no one can misguide. “None has the right to be worshipped but you, O Allah. Truly I have been on the wrong-doers.” [Soorah al-Anbiyaa (21): 87]
May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be on the Prophet Muhammed, his Family, his Companions, and on all those who follow the path of guidance until the Last Day
Foot Notes
[1] i.e. to establish Tawheed…” the belief that Allah is One, without partner or associate in His Dominion and Actions; without similitude in His Essence and Attributes (Asmaa’ was-Sifaat) and without rival in His divinity and in worship.” -There is none equal or comparable unto Him. [Soorah al-Ikhlas:4]
[2] meaning in Arabic `Shirk’……” directing any form of worship to anyone or anything besides Allah believing that others besides Allah have the power to harm or benefit.
Zaban Ki Hifazat Kay Ahkam
Fasting For Taqwa
Prescribing fasting the Quran says: “O you who believe, fasting is prescribed to you as it was to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint.” (2:183)
The original Arabic word translated here as self-restraint is taqwa, which has a much broader significance. It symbolizes that basic mortal quality that demarcates the line between morality and amorality and distinguishes humans from animals as moral beings.
It represents the love of good with an eagerness to respond to it, and a strong desire to keep away from what is evil and harmful.
Those who are neutral or immune to questions of good and bad, justice and injustice, compassion and cruelty, loyalty and treachery are in the words of the Quran like the blind, deaf, and dumb cattle, whose only concern in life is to fill their stomachs.
“They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. “
No Time Like Ramadan Time: “Golden Hours On Angel Wings”
Soon, once again, the blessed month of Ramadan will be with us; once again, like “golden hours on angel wings”, will descend upon us in its blessed moments. Like every other year since Hijrah, it will summon Muslims, as individuals and as a corporate body, to an intense and sustained life of Fasting and Prayer, of worship and obedience, of devotion and discipline all centered on the Quran which, too, was sent down in these very moments in the custody of ‘noble and trustworthy’ angels. The call will go forth to every believer to take to prolonged companionship with the Book of God. To a life of redoubled endeavor to become what God desires Muslims to be. Ramadan bids our hearts and minds, our society and polity, to come to.
Joyfully and dutifully the Muslims will respond. Every day will be spent in Fasting: from dawn to sunset, for one whole month, not a morsel of food, nor a drop of water, indeed nothing shall pass down the throat; nor will sex be indulged in. Each night. hours will be devoted to standing in Prayers before Allah, reciting and reading His words as sent down in the Quran. During the day, too, reading the holy text will be a cherished business.
Fasting, in one form or another, has always been an important and often necessary part of religious life, discipline, and experience in every faith. As a means par excellence to come nearer to God, to discipline the self, to develop the strength to overcome the temptations of the flesh, it needs no emphasis. Yet Islam turns Fasting, as it does every other act of worship and devotion, into something different and unique, the life-giving center of life.
How does it impart new meaning and force to Fasting?
Put simply: by prescribing for it the time of Ramadan. This may sound like making things too simplistic or trivializing the important. But Ramadan is no trivial event. For it is the month “in which was sent down the Quran: the Guidance for mankind, with manifest truths of guidance and the Criterion [by which to judge the true and the false” (Al-Baqarah 2:185). It was on a night in Ramadan that the last Divine message began to come down: “Read in the name of your Lord…” (Al-Alaq 96:1). That is why you must fast in Ramadan, says the Quran.
Ramadan, therefore, centers the entire discipline of Fasting on the Quran. The sole purpose is to prepare us for receiving the Divine guidance, for living the Quran, for witnessing the Truth and Justice that it perfects, for striving to make the word of God supreme.
How is this purpose achieved?
The fruit of Fasting ought to be that rich inner and moral quality that the Quran calls taqwa. “Ordained for you is Fasting . . . so that you might develop taqwa” (2:183). The most basic condition for being guided by God, too, is taqwa. The significance is plain to see. Fasting, linked to Ramadan in which Allah’s guidance came down, generates taqwa which becomes directed on the supreme goal of entering the world of the Quran and of living therein, instead of being a spiritual ecstasy to be frittered away in the delights of the soul. It becomes the key with which can be unlocked all the doors leading to the blessings which the Quran has to offer; honor, prosperity, and freedom from fear and anxiety in this world; success, Paradise and God’s good pleasure in the life-to-come. No time for Fasting other than Ramadan could have made taqwa such a potent force.
More importantly, the fulfillment of being guided by the Quran comes about when we strive to discharge the mission it entrusts to us. For, having the Book of God ‘a weighty word’ places on our shoulders a heavy responsibility: to hear is to make it heard, to know is to act, to have is to share, to say shahadah is to do shahadah. This means an unflinching pursuit to create a new self within us, and to create a new world of Quranic ideals outside us.
This is the sole purpose for which a new Ummah was created and charged with the mission of bringing man to God by witnessing to His guidance, ‘so that you be witnesses unto mankind, and the Messenger be witness unto you’ (Al-Baqarah 2: 143). Otherwise, when the Quran came, the world was not devoid of godly men who fasted, and stood in prayers before God and wept.
Discharging that mission requires immense inner and moral resources like knowledge of and devotion to the Quran, strong faith (Iman), resolve, and steadfastness (sabr). For it is no light task. Few have a full and clear understanding of what it means. Let us pause here and reflect on why otherwise we shall never grasp what the Ramadan Fasting is for and what it achieves.
When in Ramadan the first ray of Divine revelation reached the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, in Hira, its message of Iqra was impregnated with world-shaking forces; he, therefore. trembled. The second revelation made things clear: ‘arise and warn; make the greatness of your Lord the greatest’ (Al-Muddaththir 74:2-3); he, then, took up his task with a single-minded dedication, and encountered stiff opposition. For, the call to ‘let God be the Greatest’ (fakabbir) implied that all false claiments ‘ and every claimant is false ‘ to greatness, to unlimited power, authority and lordship over men and things, to obedience, loyalty, and servitude from God’s creatures be challenged, and dethroned.
This, it is not difficult to see, requires supreme sacrifices in ‘giving up’ (Hijrah) everything one loves and fighting with all that one possesses for the sake of that love of Allah which must be greater than all else (Al-Baqarah 2:165). A life of Jihad therefore necessarily requires important qualities: knowledge of and devotion to the Quran, deep and strong faith (Iman), resolve and steadfastness (sabr), total trust (tawakkul), and, of course, taqwa. Read the Quran and you will find every promise of success here and in the Hereafter conditional upon these qualities.
Fasting, combined with the Quran recital in night prayers, generates these rich resources which Ramadan harnesses to the fulfillment of the Quranic mission.
First, look at taqwa. What is it? Literally, it means saving ourselves from harm. In the moral life, therefore, taqwa must primarily mean. firstly, accepting that some actions and beliefs are harmful, that is to say, right and wrong do exist, and secondly, having the resolve and will to avoid the wrong and do the right. As a consequence, thirdly, his conduct should reflect this consciousness and resolve, if he is not a hypocrite.
To have the Quranic taqwa, which will entitle us to its guidance, we must know that there are realities and values beyond matter, beyond what we are incapable of perceiving by our physical senses, beyond this world, that man needs to be guided to what is right and what is wrong, (yu’minuna bil- ghayb). We should also be prepared to submit, willingly, all that we possess ‘mind, body, wealth’ to the truth that we know and believe (yuqimunas salata wa mimma razaqnahum yunfiqun).
Every moment in Ramadan engraves these lessons on our hearts. Integrates them in our practice. The most elementary physical needs ‘food and water and sleep’ are readily and joyfully sacrificed. Hunger and thirst are no more harmful; God’s displeasure is. Physical pleasures no more hold any lure; God’s rewards do. The scale of values is turned upside down. The measure of comfort and pain, success and failure are radically changed. Without this change, none is entitled to take up Allah’s cause.
To the uninitiated, or an outsider, the devotional regimen of Ramadan may appear harsh and austere, but, in fact, it is eagerly awaited by believers. The sighting of the new moon, the crescent that signals the beginning of Ramadan is met with celebrations and jubilation. Even children ‘ who are not required to fast’ look forward to their first experience of Ramadan fasting. The sick, too, remain restless for having been deprived of this blessing. Such jubilation and eagerness, to sacrifice time, wealth, and life in submitting to whatever God asks of us, and regret and sorrow if prevented from doing so for reasons beyond our control, is highly desirable in the way of Allah.
These qualities spring from genuine faith in the heart. For a Muslim, the fast is primarily a commandment to his person, though its collective aspect is no less important. Little wonder, then, that individuals gladly take on the tribulations of Ramadan as an expression of their faith. Just as Fast is something special between man and his God which only He can reward, so should we take Jihad to be.
Whatever the physical discomfort, the mortification of the flesh is certainly not the desired object in Islam. The gifts of God are there to be enjoyed, but the limits by Him must also be strictly observed ? that is another lesson of taqwa in Ramadan. As the sun sets, the fast must be broken, and sooner the better. All that became forbidden at His command, becomes permissible, again at His command.
Similarly eating before dawn is strongly urged, even though the hour is unearthly. For it provides the necessary strength for the rigors of the day ahead. Fasting and praying are obvious acts of worship but eating, drinking, and sleeping, too, constitute forms of worship. So in the way of Allah: what matters is His command, the whole life must witness to Him.
The month-long regimen of dawn-to-sunset abstinence from food, drink, and sex, for the sake of Allah alone, internalizes the lesson that one must never touch, acquire or enter that which does not belong to one under the law of God. A man can no more remain a slave to his own self-indulgence as he prepares for the arduous journey on the road to his Lord.
For many, it is difficult to see the value of long hours of hunger, thirst, and sleeplessness. Productivity losses are difficult to accept in an age that has tried to make gods of gross national product and economic growth. According to Islam, however, man is created to live a life of total submission to the One and Only God, and this purpose must be paramount in all scales of values. Ramadan fasting is crucial to this understanding. It shows that its purpose, like God’s guidance through His Prophets and Books and all other rituals of worship, is to train the believer in how he must live totally and unreservedly, at all costs, in submission to God.
Obedience, let there be no misunderstanding. is not limited to mere outward conformity with the letter of law. The law must be observed, but evil, in all its forms, must be eschewed. lbn Maja the great Hadith scholar, reports that the Prophet said: When the month of Ramadan arrives, the gates of Paradise are flung open while those of Hell are closed. All the shayatin (satans) are put in chains and a herald cries out. ‘O you who seek good come here and those who desire evil desist’.
Imam Bukhari, the most renowned Hadith scholar narrates: Eyes should refrain from seeing evil, ears from hearing evil, heart from reflecting evil, tongue from speaking evil. The Prophet said: “One who does not give up speaking false words and acting by them is not required by God that he give up only his food and drink.” On another occasion, he said: “Many are the observers of fast who gain nothing from their fast but hunger and thirst” (Darimi).
As a collective experience Ramadan suffuses the entire life of communities with the spirit of taqwa; even the air, it seems, is changed with a new fervor. In Ramadan, we can see a beautiful example of how Islam unites the individual and the society under the sovereignty of One Lord alone.
In Ramadan, therefore, the demands of Allah take precedence over all other demands; no part of the personality, no aspect of our life remains outside His writ, even aspects as mundane as timings for eating and going to bed. Thus, a will is strengthened, a determination is reinforced, the spirit of sacrifice is intensified, self-control is heightened.
But, above all, the life in Ramadan revolves, as it must, around the Quran which, as the Word of God, must become the core of all devotional activities. At least one reading of the Quran is a required duty during nightly Prayers, after the ‘Isha.’ But it ought to be extensively recited both within and without ritual prayers. Ramadan is not only the annual celebration of the coming down of the Quran by disciplining every moment of life into the surrender of God, it is also the occasion for heart and mind to get absorbed in its words and teachings.
Closely linked to fasting is the nightly prayer. Sleep is deliberately avoided to enter into communion with God’s words, to prostrate before Him, and thus to move nearer to Him. It is during the quiet and calm of the night that we can dwell upon God’s words, and the truths which might otherwise elude us can be grasped.
No time is like Ramadan time. For in it lies that night which is ‘better than a thousand months, the ‘Night of Destiny … in it the angels and the Spirit descend’ (AlQadr 97:1-4). It is ‘that blessed night in which was made distinct everything wise’ and ‘a warning’ and a ‘mercy’ was sent down which God has always sent for mankind (AlDukhan 44: 3-6).
That is why Fasting is placed in Ramadan. In this technological age, when the clock has become the only measure of time and every concept of the sacredness of time has been erased from human memory, some may find it difficult to visualize how every moment of Ramadan encompasses centuries in it, how it allows us to draw nearer to God at a much faster pace. Acts of virtue during the month are especially rewarded; an obligatory act (fard) increases seventy times; a voluntary one (nafl) is rewarded like the obligatory. Each of its moments offers the immense possibility of great spiritual journeys. As the poet Iqbal said:
Far though the valley of love may be,
a long and terrible way,
The path of a hundred years maybe
traveled at times in a sigh.
If Ramadan is blessed because the Quran began to come down in this month; it is blessed, too, because the Quran triumphed in this month. The Quran is the al-Furqan (criterion by which to judge the truth and the falsehood); in Ramadan falls that day which the Quran calls the Yawmul Furqan, Day of Criterion, on which the truth and the falsehood were judged, and the Truth triumphed. That was the Day of Badr when the Prophet, blessings, and peace be on him, beseeched God for help and victory thus: O God if this group perishes today, You will not be worshipped anymore’ (Ibn Ishaq). This was both a petition and a pledge; an expression of the final goal of all of his strivings, and of what our lives ought to be devoted to. Only an inattentive mind can ignore the significant link between al-Furqan descending in Ramadan. and Yaum al-Furqan falling in Ramadan.
Thus, to come back to the center: Ramadan reminds us of our mission, the only purpose of our existence as Muslims. It prepares us to discharge that mission; it deepens our consciousness, brings us closer to Quran and the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, strengthens our resolve, schools us to taqwa and patience.
The end of Ramadan brings Eid-al-Fitr. the feast of the breaking of the fast, which celebrates the revelation of the Quran. The Quran makes it clear: ?that you complete the number, and proclaim the greatness of God for His having guided you, and that you render your thanks’ (2:185). Man’s response to the Divine initiative of guidance must be gratitude and extolling Him as the Greatest. That is why constantly on lip is the tasbih: Allahuakbar. . . walillahil-Hamd.
Even so, the heart still remembers wistfully the trying days and the silent, busy nights when the soul was engulfed in the dawn of light and cries out:
Stand still, you ever-moving
sphere of heaven,
That time may cease, and
midnight never come.