Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. May the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon Muhammad, His last Messenger, his household, his companions and all those who follow him till the Last Day. As we welcome this blessed month of Ramadan, we were sure it will roll away again. We had prayed, surely, that we would not roll away with the month. Probably, we hoped that we would have attained a lot of good in the month. We had hoped that we would be up at night seeking Allaahs forgiveness and His rahmah and we would use the days to abstain from food, desires, falsehood, idle talk and sundry sins: Of course, Ramadan has a special relationship with the Quran: . "The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Quran was sent down, a guidance for mankind, clear proofs for the guidance, the Criterion; so whoever amongst you witnesses this month, let him fast it." (Q2[Baqarah]: 185).
Romance with the Quran
Hopefully, we had taken note of the report of Ibn Abbas (RA) that "the Messenger of Allah (sallaallahu alayhi wa sallam) was the most generous person, and he would be at his most generous in Ramadan because Jibril would come to him every night and he would rehearse the Quran with him." (Bukhari)
We had noted in this hadith, the recommendation of studying the Quran in Ramadan; coming together for this purpose; checking (one's memory/knowledge of) the Quran with someone who has preserved it better; increasing recitation of the Quran in Ramadan; that the night time is the best time to recite, when other preoccupations decrease and it is easier to concentrate, as in Surah al-Muzzammil (Q73:6). Probably, we noted that Fatimah (RA) narrated from her father that Jibril would rehearse the Quran with him (in Ramadan) once every year, and he did so twice in the year of his death. (Bukhari) Perhaps, we had heard that Al-Zuhri (RAH) would say when Ramadan began, It is recitation of the Quran and feeding of people. Or that when Ramadan began, Imam Malik (RAH) would cease narrating hadeeth and sitting with the people of knowledge, and stick to reciting the Quran from its pages, while Sufyan al-Thawri (RAH) would leave other acts of worship and stick to reciting the Quran.
Consequently, we had determined that we would complete reciting the whole Quran during the night prayer of Ramadan every 3 days [like Ibrahim an-Nakhai (RAH)], others every 7 days [e.g. Qataadah (RAH)], others in 10 days [like Abu Rajaaal-Atardi (RAH)] Each Day, Like Ramadan Now, Ramadan is rolling away and we are getting set to chant "AIlaahu Akbar, AIlaahu Akbar, AIlaahu Akbar, laa ilaaha illallaah wa- AIlaahu Akbar, AIlaahu Akbar, wa lillaahil-Hamd" [Allaah is the Greatest, Allaah is the Greatest, Allaah is the Greatest. There is none who is worthy of worship except Allaah, Allaah is the Greatest, Allaah is the Greatest and to Allaah belongs all praise] as we walk calmly to pray on Eid-ul-Fitr day. Did we achieve our goals? Are we happier here than before Ramadan rolled in? Are we proud of the way we have used the month? May Allaah accept our ibaadah [worship]. Ameen! As the days roll on, let us see Ramadan in every month; let us use the coming days as if they are still days of Ramadan. And when we do this, let us do this with our family and our community as we did in Ramadan. As Al-Hassan al-Basri (RAH) said: "May Allaah have mercy upon the one who admonishes themselves and their family by saying: "O my family; your prayer, your prayer! Your zakaah; your zakaah! Your neighbours; your neighbours! The poor and the needy; the poor and the needy! Hopefully, Allaah will have mercy upon you on the Day of Judgement. Verily Allaah praised the slave who behaved like this when He said: "And he used to command his family to pray and give the zakaah and his Lord was pleased with him." (Q19[Maryam]:53)
Ramadan Mubarak wa Eid Mubarak!
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited