All praise and purity belongs to
Allah who has shaded upon us a great month,
known as Ramadan in which sins are burnt and
difficulties dispersed.
Brothers and Sisters in Islam,
Assalam Alaykum
The month of Ramadan has arrived.
therefore, let's welcome this holy month with
eagerness and love, and let's take opportunity
of its blessings by obedience and abstention
from sins. This is in conformity to these deeds
to which the Prophet Muhammad ( sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam ) motivated us towards till the
day of judgment.
The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has
mentioned " When the first night of Ramadan
approaches, the Satan and the evil Jinns are
imprisoned, the doors of Hell fire are closed
without a single door left opened, the doors of
Heaven are opened without any door closed.
(Throughout the month), a caller will call out,
O ! seeker of good, proceed forward ( in good
deeds) and O! seeker of evil, stay away from
sins. and Allah (through His mercy) frees a lot
of people every night from the Hell fire.
Reported by Tirmizi, Ibn Maajah, and
Ahmed
Brothers and sisters in Islam,
The first part of this month (first 10
days ) is a period wherein the blessings of
Allah, The middle part (2nd 10 days ) is the
part for forgiveness, the last part (last 10
days) is freedom from the hell fire. I seek
refuge of Allah, from Shaytaan, the
accursed. Allah says: " O you who
believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as
it has been made obligatory on the nations
before you so that you may have fear of Allah "
May almighty Allah accept our fasts,
prayers and good deeds during this holy month of
Ramadan and bestow his blessings on us and on
the entire Muslim nation world wide. Aamin
Ramadan Definition:
Ramadan is derived from the Arabic word
ramida or ar-ramad denoting intense scorching
heat and dryness, Thus, the word Ramadan is so
called to indicate the heating sensation in the
stomach as a result of thirst. Others said it is
so-called because Ramadan scorches out of the
sins with good deed.
Fasting or Siyaam, has two meanings,
Generally, siyaam or sawm, is derived from the
root of the Arabic word saama, that means to
restrain from normal things, such as eating,
drinking, and talking. If an individual refrain
from these things, he is considered saaim (the
observer of fast) In the Shari'ah (
Islamic law ) the word "sawm " means and implies
a specific act, that is," to worship Allah,
abstaining, with intention to please Him from
fast breakers, such as physical nourishment,
food, drink, and sexual intercourse or lustful
discharge of semen from the period between the
break of dawn until sundown.
Although the definition indicates
restraining the stomach and private parts, the
tongue, eyes, ears and other limbs are equally
obligated to be restrained if the faster wants
to gain the total rewards of fasting, This is
why the Messenger of Allah Peace and blessing of
Allah be upon him has been reported as saying in
a hadith by abu Hurairah. " He who does not
desist from obscene language and acting
obscenely (during the period of fasting)
Allah has no need that he did not eat or drink "
Bukhari and Muslim.
In another Hadith by Abu Hurairah, the
Prophet may Peace and blessing of Allah be upon
him said; " Fasting is not only to restrain from
food and drink, fasting is to refrain from
obscene (acts), If someone verbally abuses you
or acts ignorantly towards you, say (to them) I
am fasting" Ibn khuzaimah)
Indeed, these two reports imply fasting
will not be complete until one observes three
elements:
1. Restraining the stomach and the
private parts from the breakers of the fast-
food and drink.
2. Restraining the other body parts,
which may render the fast worthless despite the
main factors of hunger and thirst.
A. Tongue, must
avoid backbiting, slander, and lies,
B. The eyes should
avoid looking into things considered by Allah as
unlawful;
C. The ears must
stop from listening to conversations, words,
songs, and
lyrics that spoil the spirit of fasting, and
3. Restraining of the heart and mind
from indulging themselves in other things
besides remembrance of Allah.
Ramadan Ethic
Whenever the orbit turns and another
month of Ramadan approaches, happiness and joy
return to the Muslim nations world wide, for
with it come two of the greatest gifts of Allah,
namely the fasting month of Ramadan and the
celebration of the revelation of Al-Qur'an . As
part of the celebration to welcome this holy
month, the tradition of the Prophet
Mohammed clearly indicated that believers are
recommended to fast most of the month Su'aban,
in anticipation for Ramadan.
Fasting is an eloquent expression of
Allah, leading Muslims to the gates of His
mercy. a key to unlocking the mysteries of His
nearness. While humanity is divided on the basic
elements of the notion of the Creator. a Muslim
is far ahead of the rest of the world in this
field and travelling at the speed of light to
the neighborhood of the Throne of the Creator
(Allah). Where else would you find a discipline
that provides direct communication between the
servant and the lord he served ? .Where else
would you have an act of worship that enriches
self - worth, self-strength, self-rebuilding,
self discipline and control. ? where else would
one find a discipline that moves the believer
from unauthentic to authentic as the institution
of fasting. ? Where else would you find a
discipline that enriches the vital needs of
human being, both physical and spiritual.?
PRAISE BE TO ALLAH !
The institution of fasting is a unique
form of worship prescribed as part of an overall
system of Islam. Its uniqueness mirrors the
uniqueness of the human being, a creature of
physical and spiritual parts whose excellence
depends on the right proportion of these two
parts. Too much of the physical material will
ruin man, and too much of the spiritual will
too, Fasting orients the observer to the art of
balancing the spiritual essentials with physical
needs, a vivid proof that there is in all
of us the will power, a pivotal element that
controls our actions. This will be needed to
help us all to curb the animalistic tendencies
originating from the stomach, in full. It makes
us forgot about our beginning, it awakens the
mind and reconstruction of our spiritual
faculties.
Fasting has instilled in food and
beverages a legitimacy, as its amount and the
hour taken are expressed in terms of religion,
and chewing and sipping at proper intervals
equals praise and glorification of Allah. It
makes the individual ready and primed to meet
the Creator. You see, it has never been easy
trying to gain access to the nearest of Allah,
due to several considerable obstacles
obstructing our view. mainly ignorance, multiple
images or double vision, passive will power,
time, place, culture, upbringing and prejudice.
Fortunately, the gates that lead to the nearness
of Allah swing both ways with the help of
fasting.
Fasting cures the double vision that
many people suffer in the realm of spirituality.
The inauguration of Fasting eliminates the
middleman, a spiritual broker, an insidious
opinion held by some that a believer can only
gain access to nearness to Allah through
another, who is endowed with superpowers to
reach Allah's worship that clarifies all the
acts of worship including Prayer, Fasting
renders this magnificent and beautiful idea of
oneness of Allah, there being no deity but
Allah, and Muhammad being His Messenger, into an
effective power charge, a potent and effective
concept for focusing and organizing one's world
view and epitomizing the religious and
psychological orientation of the believer.
On the other hand, Ramadan was the host
month for the inauguration of the final
revelation. Al-Qur'an .Allah bestowed this book
upon the humanity through His Messenger Muhammad
bin Abdullah. The reading of Al-Qur'an has been
mandated by its author, Allah himself, for the
believers all the time, more so in the month of
Ramadan, as this is reported from the messenger,
Muslims past and present have always mixed
fasting with reading Al-Qur'an, perhaps the
reason for this is that one of the objectives of
Satan is to hinder the believer from reading
Al-Qur'an, But during Ramadan Satan himself is
hindered from tempting the believer. for
Al-Qur'an avails the reader a cherished
privilege of directly conversing with the
Creator of the universe.
What Al-Qur'an and Hadith says
about Ramadan ?
The observation of Ramadan is mandated
by two Islamic sources, Al-Qur'an and Sunnah,
along with the consensus of the scholars. Allah
said in Al-Qur'an " O, you who believe
fasting is prescribed to you, as it was
prescribed to those before you that you may
acquire self-restraint" Al-Qur'an 2:183
The proof in this citing is very
obvious, for whenever Allah uses the Arabic word
kutiba which means , among other
things, prescribed or written, it indicates the
action that follows. it becomes mandatory upon
the believers, men and women. After establishing
fasting, the verse emphasized that this was not
the first time the obligation of fasting had
been established, for it stated that previous
nations received the same mandate. We are not
certain about the time, date, and amount.
Many scholars state the introductory
clause kamaa implies and refers to the
analogy between our fasting today and the
fasting of previous people. There are
similarities in the time and amount, but what
happened to Ramadan is that the high priests,
before the time of prophet Mohammad ( PBUH)
added more days than were prescribed for them,
It became difficult and they could not do it, so
they moved the date to spring until they
neglected it altogether.
This is how the pillar of religion was
neglected. Even some Christian writer
complained, " For nearly a century and a
half, fasting has been out of vogue. at least in
the Churches of the West. The very idea of
someone actually fasting today seems strange to
most twentieth century
Christians. They associate it with medieval
Christianity. " ( fasting a Neglected
Discipline ).
Elsewhere Allah (SWT) states;
"
Ramadan is the month in which we sent down the
Qur'an as a guide to humanity and as a clear
sign for guidance and judgment (between right
and wrong.) So anyone of you who witnesses the
month should spend it in fasting..."
( Al-Qur'an, 2:185)
This verse contains important rules and
reasons for fasting that will be explained
later. however, what concerns us here is the
statement. " So, anyone of you who witnesses the
month should spent it in fasting. "There are
exceptions, like when traveling, which will be
explain later.
The above examples have been the proof
from in Al-Qur'an, As for the proof from hadith,
there are many amongst them a hadith reported by
Bukhari and Muslim in which the messenger
states: " Islam is built on five
(pillars), testimony that there is no
deity worthy of worship but Allah, and
testimony that Muhammad is His messenger,
establishing Salat, giving Zakaat, observing the
fast of Ramadan, and pilgrimage to
the House of Allah,
" Bukhari and Muslim
The Hadith established fasting during
the month of Ramadan as one of the pillars on
which this religion is built. this Hadith
reinforces the obligation of fasting as stated
in Al-Qur'an. We will see later that there are
other Hadiths that explain in detail how to
observe the worship of fasting.
Because of this collection of proofs
from both Al-Qur'an and the Sunnah, the Muslim
scholars agreed in consensus ( Ijmaa'u ) that
abstinence from physical nourishment and sex
associated with intention to seek Allah's
pleasure is mandatory upon every believer.
Before verse 2:185 was revealed, Muslims were
commanded to fast three days in every month
(verse 2:183). This verse 2:185 was revealed on
Monday, Sha'aban 2, in the second year of Hijrah,
thus, abrogating the earlier order
This was the first portion of the
Ramadan's article, kindly check our community
websites for the second and third portion Insha
Allah
Wassalaam Alaykum
Sheikh Mohammed Kanneh
