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The Essence Of Ramadhan

By Maulana Mohammed Faisal

It is with great joy and happiness that I congratulate my fellow Muslims on the arrival of this Blessed month of Ramadhan. Once again we have an opportunity to have our sins forgiven and our Ranks elevated in the eyes of the Almighty.

All over the Islamic world people are Preparing for the coming of this blessed month. Mosques are being decorated and cleaned in anticipation of the coming Taraweeh prayers. Mums are stocking up on samosas and other savoury snacks. Children are busy talking about the various things they are going to have at Iftaar.

In short every Muslim young or old, male or female is eagerly awaiting the sighting of the moon that will mark the advent of this Holy month.

With the arrival of the electronic media and in particular the Islamic TV Channels there is a real wealth of information being passed on to people about this Holy month and its blessings. I feel therefore there is no need for me to go into any lengthy or detailed discussion about Ramadhan and its merits. What I would like to do however is to draw my fellow Muslims attention to the following Hadith; Abu Huraira related that Rasulullah (PBUH) said: "Many people who fast get nothing from their fast except hunger and thirst."

Dear brothers and sisters, it is no secret that today we find ourselves in a very immoral and decadent society, everything seems to evolve around wealth and materialism. Both secular and Religious events are exploited for their commercial value. I will never forget the Ramadhan which I spent in Egypt, where the best movies would come on in the nights of Ramadhan and prices of almost all the goods would rise in the bazaars. Here in England as well, Christmas is a time to party, get drunk and buy presents for everyone. I sometimes feel that Muslims have begun to see Islam as Christians view their faith i.e a set of symbolic rituals, which maybe a lot of fun but have no deeper significance.

We have to ask ourselves, how many of us actually realise that there is more to Ramadhan than just going hungry?

So many of us will go through this month, without giving this a second thought. We will continue to shout, to swear, to watch haraam on TV. We wont change our manners and we wont try and follow the Prophets' example.

There will be many of us who won't offer a single prayer except maybe jummah if we're lucky. We will abstain from food and drink and we will think ourselves pious. Our tongues will continue to eject venom but we won't care, we will injure many with our thoughtless and hurtful words, but we won't stop to think about the real essence of Saum (fasting).

Dear brothers and sisters a real saim is one who abstains from all evil acts while he is fasting. If someone swears at you it is a hadith that in reply you must say " I am fasting".

Dear brothers and sisters, our Imans are of varying strengths, in this month we have to try and increase our Iman. We have to cut down and if possible eradicate those actions which are outside the boundries of Islam.

If you watch too much TV ask yourself how many hours of your life are you wasting. This life, such a precious gift of Allah, what are we doing with it? How will we face him in Qiyamat? So many of us sit around making idle conversation, backbiting, telling tales etc.. Wouldn't it be better to do the zikr of Allah?

This month should be a time of reflection, we must look at our lifestyles and aim to bring them into line with the Quran and sunnah. The path to salvation is difficult; the road is long with many obstacles along the way. However there is no better time to embark on this journey than this month. The Shaytan are locked away and in chains. We've just got our nafs to deal with, the enemy within, It is time to declare JIHAD against the nafs.

May Allah bless us with courage and strength so that we may achieve victory in this struggle.