HOW TO BENEFIT FROM RAMADHAAN
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. May peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his household and companions.
Fellow Muslims! Fear Allah, for it is fear of Allah that purifies deeds and elevates ranks. Be also aware, dear brethren, that Allah’s greatest favour upon His slaves is the Faith and the Qur’an. Faith is the light of heart and the most essential thing in Man. And there is no good in any man who has no faith. The Qur’an is the guidance, the light, and the guide to all that is good and preventer of all that is evil. It is nourishment of the soul and purifier of the hearts. It contains injunctions on permitted and forbidden things and holds in between its covers details of this world and the next.
Whoever holds fast unto the Qur’an gets guidance and whoever abandons it becomes accursed. Allah says: “Verily, this Qur’an guides to that which is most just and right and gives glad tidings to the believers who work deeds of righteousness, that they shall have a great reward.” [Surah al-Israa: 9] He also says: “Whoever follows My guidance shall neither go astray nor fall into distress and misery. But whoever turns away from My Reminder (the Qur’an) verily for him is a life of hardship and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection.” [Surah Taha: 124]
Ibn ‘Abbaas while making a comment on this verse said, “Allah has given assurance to those who work according to the Qur’an that they would never go astray nor fall into distress and misery in this world and the Hereafter.”
The Glorious Qur’an is the everlasting miracle of our Prophet – Muhammad ﷺ that addresses all human generations and shall continue to do so till the end of time. It convinces the human intellect with various proofs in order to subject it to the truth and make it either surrender to Allah willingly or turn away from the truth after it has recognized it out of arrogance.
Abu Hurayrah (Radiallahu Anhu) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said. “No Prophet was sent by Allah except that he was given what would make people believe in him, and what I was given is the Revelation and I hope to be the greatest of all the Prophets in followers.” [Bukhari] This everlasting miracle that Allah gave His Messenger, no human being or jinn was able to produce a book like it while it was being revealed. Even if all men and jinn were to collaborate to produce something like it, they can never do so. Allah says: “Say: if the mankind and the Jinn were to gather to produce the like of this Qur’an, they cannot produce the like thereof even if they helped one another.” [Surah Al-Israa: 88]
Allah even challenges those who have doubt about the Divinity of the Qur’an With His Word: “And if you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down (i.e. the Qur’an) to Our slave (Muhammad) then produce a Surah of the like thereof and call your witnesses (supporters and helpers) besides Allah, if you are truthful. But if you do it not, and you can never do it, then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.” [Surah al-Baqarah: 23-24]
Allah revealed the Qur’an and made it a miracle so that mankind will know that it is the Word of Allah, that He is the only True Lord and that Muhammad ﷺ is truly His Messenger. The Qur’an is the greatest proof that tells us about the Attributes of our Lord and His Perfect Qualities. It also tells us about those imperfect qualities from which He should be deemed far above. He says: “Those are the verses of Allah which We recite to you (O Muhammad) with truth. Then in which speech after Allah and His verses will they believe?” [Surah al-Jaathiyah: 6]
He who does not believe in the glorious Qur’an and its miracles, no supernatural happening or signs will benefit him. The inimitability of the Noble Qur’an lies in its marvelous arrangement, judicious laws, its verses that tell about the signs and mysteries of creation; the comprehensiveness of its teachings, the truthfulness of its information on what has happened in the past and in the loftiness of its goals and aims. The Qur’an has also brought out the community of Islaam, which is the best of peoples. Allah says: “You (Muslims) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin all that is good and forbid all that is evil and you believe in Allah. And had the people of the ure believed, it would have been better for them.” [Surah Ale ‘Imraan: 110]
Therefore, the mankind in its long history has never had a nation that is more just and kind than the nation of Islaam.
Brethren in faith! You are direly in need of the following traits and qualities that the Qur’an enjoins. You must abide by its injunctions, refrain from all that it forbids, obey its clear orders and believe in the ambiguous ones.
The Qur’an does not give its fruits to any man except if his soul is ready to receive it unconditionally, and his heart is opened for its light and he is humble before it. Allah says: “Allah has sent down the best Statement, a Book (this Qur’an), its parts resembling each other (in goodness and truth) and off-repeated. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver from it (when they recite it or hear it). Then their skins and their hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah. He guides herewith whom He wills and whoever Allah sends astray, for him there is no guide.” [Surah Az-Zumar: 23]
Reciting the Qur’an in appropriate periods creates positive impact on human soul and increases man in guidance and light. Ramadhan is the best time to recite the Qur’an for it nourishes the soul and weakens evil inclinations. Reciting the Qur’an in Ramadhan strengthens righteous inclinations, and enables man derive highest possible benefit from it. Qur’an is like a beneficial rain, the soul is like the earth and Ramadhan is like the good season for rainfall that enables the hearts produce the pairs of blooming crops. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The similitude of the guidance and knowledge with which I was sent, is like a rain that falls on a land of which there was a good part that accepted the water and produced therefrom many plants and grasses. There is also a barren part that holds water and Allah made it beneficial to people as they drank thereof, fed their animals and irrigated their farms. It also affected some parts of it that are just lowland which could neither hold water nor produce grass. The first two are the example of him that acquired the knowledge of the religion of Allah, benefited from that with which I am sent with and learnt and taught it to others. The third is the example of him who never paid attention to the Qur’an and did not accept the guidance of Allah with which I am sent.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
Fellow Muslims! Seize the opportunity of the remaining days of Ramadhan to read the Glorious Qur’an – with reflection and understanding of its meanings. Put its injunctions into practice. The Righteous predecessors used to preoccupy themselves in Ramadhan with recitation of the Glorious Qur’an and they always used to remember Allah a lot.
Dear brethren! Let it be known that any one who puts the injunctions of the Qur’an into practice is among the people of the Qur’an even if he has not memorized it. Also he who does not act by the injunctions of the Qur’an is not among its people even if he memorizes it. Let those who memorize parts of the Qur’an read it repeatedly.
Hasten to make a sincere repentance from all sins, for there is no success in the Hereafter without a sincere repentance.
Endeavor dear brethren, to do many good deeds in this blessed month. Be kind to the poor and needy as a sign of emulating the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It is narrated in the hadeeth that Angel Jibreel used to review the Qur’an with the Prophet ﷺ once in a year and that was during Ramadhan. And in the year in which the Prophet died, Jibreel reviewed it with him twice. The Prophet ﷺ, whenever Jibreel came to meet him – used to be more generous than a dispatched wind.”
Endeavor to observe the Taraawweeh prayers regularly. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever observes Taraaweeh prayers with Imaam until he finishes, the reward of night prayers (Tahajjud) will be recorded for him.”
Brothers in Islaam! You must perform the prayers regularly and punctually for it is the pillar of Islaam and prevents one from immorality and sins. Whoever observes it protects his own self and his religion and whoever neglects it is in loss and has wasted his religion. Prayer is the first act that man will be called to account for on the Day of Resurrection. If it is accepted, all other deeds will be accepted, and if it is rejected, all other deeds will be rejected and the one who abandons it in this life will be ordered to Hell in the Hereafter. Also, pay your Zakaah (Obligatory alms giving) before you are tormented with it after death. The Prophet said “Every treasure-owner who did not pay Zakaah on it will have his treasure on the Day of Resurrection presented to him in the form of a bald-headed poisonous male snake with two poisonous glands. It will seize him by his jawbones and say: ‘I am your treasure, I am your wealth.’”
Conclude this blessed month of yours with best possible righteous deeds you can perform, for actions are judged according to their ends. Let him who has done good at the beginning of the month praise Allah and continue his good deeds and let he who has been negligent endeavour to rectify what has been missed. Let everyone exert efforts to do more good deeds in the last ten days of Ramadhaan.
Fellow Muslims! Protect your fast by lowering your gaze, guarding your tongues, abstaining from harming others and being kind to all. Remember Allah as much as you can for that is among the best of your deeds and dearest to your Lord. Make a lot of sincere supplication for Muslims all over the world in the hours of day and night; for they are now frequently afflicted with calamities and hardships on account of their sins and none removes calamities save Allah. He says in His Glorious Book: “And march forth in the way (which leads to) forgiveness from your Lord, and Paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the Pious.” [Surah Ale ‘Imraan: 133]
Brethren in faith! It is indeed of Allah’s mercy, wisdom and omniscience that He explained to us the most favourable months, nights, days and most blessed hours so that we could exert efforts to do righteous deeds in them and have shares in the Mercy and blessings of Allah that are in these periods. The last ten days of Ramadhan in which Lailatul Qadr falls, are some of such favoured hours and blessed nights. Lailatul Qadr is that night which Allah extolled in His Book when He said: “Verily, We have sent it (the Qur’an) down in the night of Al-Qadr (Decree). And what will make you know what the night of Al-Qadr is? The night of Al-Qadr is better than a thousand months.” [Surah al-Qadr: 1-3]
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also said, “Whoever keeps awake in the night of Al-Qadr and prays with faith and hoping to gain reward from Allah, all his past sins will be forgiven.”
Sheikh ‘Ali al Hudhaify
November 15, 2002 ~ Ramadhan 10, 1423
Source: Khutaab
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