Ramadan: A Time of Devotion and Reflection
Khutbah at ISOC – Sha’ban 28, 1440/ May 3, 2019

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ {آل عمران 102}
O You who believe, be mind of Allah as you ought to be mindful of Him and die not except you are submitting (to Allah) (Al ‘Imran 3:102)
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ (البقرة 183)
O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may be mindful. (Al-Baqarah 2:183)
We are approaching the blessed month of Ramadan. Allah is granting us another opportunity in our life to improve ourselves and to receive His extra blessings. Congratulation to all of you for this happy occasion. May Allah give us tawfiq to fast during this month and take full benefit of this great opportunity. Tawfiq is a beautiful word. It means the ability and opportunity to do good things and to be successful. The real Tawfiq comes from Allah.
The Prophet -peace be upon him- used to congratulate his followers on the coming of Ramadan. He used to remind them about its importance and blessings. It is reported:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يُبَشِّرُ أَصْحَابَهُ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ شَهْرٌ مُبَارَكٌ افْتَرَضَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ صِيَامَهُ يُفْتَحُ فِيهِ أَبْوَابُ الْجَنَّةِ وَيُغْلَقُ فِيهِ أَبْوَابُ الْجَحِيمِ وَتُغَلُّ فِيهِ الشَّيَاطِينُ فِيهِ لَيْلَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ مَنْ حُرِمَ خَيْرَهَا فَقَدْ حُرِمَ (مسند أحمد 8631)
The Prophet –peace be upon him- said giving the good news of the month to his Companions, “The month of Ramadan has come to you. It is a blessed month. Allah has made obligatory on you to fast during this month. The gates of heaven are opened in this month, the gates of hell are closed, and the devils are chained. In this month there is a night that is better than one thousand months. Whosoever is deprived of its blessings is indeed deprived.” (Musnad Ahmad 8631)
Ramadan is the month of devotion to Allah with fasts, prayers and many good deeds. It is also a time of reflection, resolution and improvement. We should reflect about our own life, our condition, the condition of the Ummah and the condition of the world. It is time to repent, seek forgiveness of Allah, resolve to bring positive changes in ourselves, to improve our condition. It is a special time for the whole Ummah, for all Muslims in every part of the world. We should all individually and collectively devote to Allah and should try to become better people. Every day of Ramadan should increase our piety and our goodness. I pray that everyone of us and the whole Ummah receive Allah’s blessings and become transformed and renewed by this experience.
Fasting, and especially our Islamic fasting, has many spiritual as well physical and mental benefits. It is like an annual tune up for the body and recharging for the soul. Every adult must fast. Those who are sick or on a journey are allowed to make up later or give fiday if they are permanently sick. Women during menses are not allowed to fast. They should make it up after Ramadan when they are free from menstrual or post childbirth bleeding.
Fasting increases the Iman and obedience of Allah. It has an amazing power to make a person sincere and conscious of Allah. We fast together in Ramadan, but each and every person’s fast is between him/her and Allah. No one really knows whether a person is fasting or not except the person and his Lord.Fasting, if it is done in the right way, can help us to become more sincere and more conscious of Allah.
Ramadan is a time of devotion. It should be spent in fasting every day, but also in reading the Qur’an everyday as much as we can, in tarawih prayers, qiyam al-layl and in nawafil, dhikr of Allah and lots of du’as for ourselves, our families and for our community. It should be the time of forgiveness. We should forgive each other. It should be the time of unity among family members, with other Muslims. It should be the time of building relations with neighbors and co-workers. It should be the time of charity to the poor and needy and many good deeds. The reward of every good deeds is multiplied in this month. Let us increase our good deeds and keep away from the bad ones.
Ramadan should be also the time of deep reflection, individually and collectively. We should think and reflect on what is happening to us and around us. We are facing many challenges: internal and external, locally and globally. We need a lot of serious thinking and action for positive changes in us and around us. The Qur’an says:
... إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ ... (الرعد 11)
Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.
(Al-Ra’d 13:11)
Our commentators interpret this verse in two ways: Some say that it means that Allah does not alter the blessings that people have in this life: such as health, wealth, peace, prosperity, etc. until people misuse these blessings and disobey Allah. Some others say that it means that Allah would not alter the positive or negative circumstances of a people, until they themselves bring change in their actions and lives.
Both interpretations are correct. The first interpretation says that Allah subhanahuwata’ala is merciful and kind, but human beings by their wrong behavior lose Allah’s mercy and gifts. The Qur’an reminds us:
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ بَدَّلُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ كُفْرًا وَأَحَلُّوا قَوْمَهُمْ دَارَ الْبَوَارِ {إبراهيم 28}
Have you not considered those who exchanged Allah’s favor with ingratitude and caused their people to live in misery? (Ibrahim 14:28)
The second interpretation says that our destiny, good or bad, very much depends upon our own actions. If we do good, Allah will help us and make us succeed but if we do bad then Allah will abandon us to our own destruction. This is the constant theme of the Qur’an. We are reminded again and again that our success or failure come first by our own actions.
Sincere devotion should lead to sincere reflection and action. It should lead to repentance and reform. It should bring positive change in our own lives and behavior and it should reflect in our relations with others.
The Prophet - peace be upon him- told us that fasting is not just abstaining from food, drink and some other desires; fasting is also to discipline ourselves and to change our behavior.
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَنْ لَمْ يَدَعْ قَوْلَ الزُّورِ وَالْعَمَلَ بِهِ فَلَيْسَ لِلَّهِ حَاجَةٌ فِي أَنْ يَدَعَ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ (البخاري 1770)
“Whosoever does not give up bad words and bad deeds, Allah has no need in that he leaves his food and his drink.” (Al-Bukhari 1770)
... إِذَا كَانَ يَوْمُ صَوْمِ أَحَدِكُمْ فَلَا يَرْفُثْ وَلَا يَصْخَبْ فَإِنْ سَابَّهُ أَحَدٌ أَوْ قَاتَلَهُ فَلْيَقُلْ إِنِّي امْرُؤٌ صَائِمٌ ...
(البخاري 1771)
… When it is the day of fasting for any of you, let him not commit sin or engage in quarrels. If someone abuses him or wants to fight him, let him say, ‘I am a person who is fasting…
(Al-Bukhari 1771)
We must be socially conscious. We must promote good relations with all people, near and far, people of all faiths, races and colors. We must work for peace and justice everywhere. We pray to Allah to bless us and keep us on the right path. May He help us to bring goodness to ourselves, our families, our community and to the humanity at large. Ameen.

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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