September 6th: Ramadan

Preparation for Ramadan

Aya: 'O you who believe, prescribed for you is the Fast, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that haply you will have taqwa.' Qur`an 2:183

Hadith: 'A great month, a blessed month, a month containing a night which is better than a thousand months has approached you people. Allah has appointed the observance of fasting during it as an obligatory duty, and the passing of its nights in prayer as a voluntary practice. If someone draws near to Allah during it with some good act he will be like one who fulfills an obligatory duty in another month, and he who fulfills an obligatory duty in it will be like one who fulfills seventy obligatory duties in some other month. It is the month of endurance, and the reward of endurance is paradise. It is the month of sharing with others, and a month in which the believer's provision is increased. If someone gives one who has been fasting something with which to break his fast it will provide forgiveness of his wrong actions and save him from the Fire, and he will have a reward equal to the fasting man's reward without his reward being diminished in any way... Allah gives this reward to anyone who gives one who has been fasting some milk mixed with water, or a date, or a drink of water with which to break his fast, and anyone who gives a full meal to one who has been fasting will be given a drink by Allah and will not thirst until he enters Paradise. It is a month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness, and whose end is freedom from the Fire. If anyone makes things easy for his slave during it, Allah will forgive him and free him from the Fire.'

From a khutba (sermon) given by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, on the last day of Shaban. - Reported by Sayyiduna Salman al-Farsi (Mishkat al Masabih).

-The gates of the Garden are open
-The gates of the Fire are shut
-The devils are shackled
-Our soul is imprisoned by hunger and thirst. There are no distractions from worship.
-Every night a herald calls out at Allah’s command: “O you who wish for goodness, hasten (come forth)! And O you who wish for evil, halt!”
-What’s our response to this call?

-Increase your good works. The reward of a sunna/extra act of worship is equal to an obligatory act performed outside of Ramadan.

-Ramadan is a time when good deeds are easy to do and one has much more energy for them than during any other time of year.

-During this month try to dedicate all of your extra time to worship. Everything you do should be an act of worship, even your studying and your work. Refrain from worldly matters unless absolutely necessary.

-Prepare yourself in these last few days for worship.

-Try your best to pray taraweeh every night.

-Watch carefully for laylatul Qadr (the night of destiny) which is better than a thousand months.
-some scholars say it’s the night of the 27th
-others say it’s the 17th
-more commonly it’s said to be in the last 10 nights,
especially on an odd night.
-The point is to worship Allah every night of the month in hopes to find this blessed night.

Some sunnahs to observe:
-Hasten to break your fast when you are sure the sun has set
-Delay your suhur til about 15 minutes before fajr
-Feed the people who are fasting at the time they break their fast (even if it’s just a date!)
-Do not eat much because the purpose of fasting is to subdue our desires for food, not to indulge them.


Hadith: “The one who fasts has two joys, one when breaking his fast, the other when meeting his Lord”

Hadith: “The odor of the fasting man’s mouth is more fragrant to Allah than that of musk”

Six benefits of Ramadan:
1) Forgiveness of all previous sins
2) Freedom from the hellfire. The Prophet said that there are people freed from the hellfire every night in Ramadan.
3) Dua is answered.
4) The night of power (laylat al-qadr)
5) Allah’s happiness with His servants. Hadith: “All good deeds of the son of Adam are multiplied ten to seven hundredfold, except fasting, for it is Mine, and I shall reward a man for it, for he has left his appetite, his food and drink for My sake!”
6) Multiplied rewards: sunnah counts as fard. And the fard counts as 70 times.


Six ways to attain Ramadan benefits:
1) The Quran: every single letter is a reward. Ramadan is the month of the quran.
2) Sadaqah: The Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wasallam) was the most generous in Ramadan.
3) Maintaining kinship ties.
4) Dua: Prepare 5-6 duas and repeat them every day.
5) Taraweeh and qiyam
6) Salah in the masjid

-Use your youth and energy to make this the best Ramadan you ever had. We never know what’s going to happen to us by next year.