Ramadan: Are you ready? Whenever the orbitturns and another month of Ramadan approaches, happiness and joy filled the Muslim community. The reason being that it comes with two great gifts which are holiness and witnessing the night better than a thousand nights in which the Qur’an was revealed. Alhamdulillah, we are thankful to Almighty Allah for another opportunity to invigorate our spirits, strengthen our faith and cleanse ourselves during this month of mercy and forgiveness. This is the month of Allah (SWT), the month of repentance, the month of fasting, the month of charity, the month of supplications and above all the month of Qur’an. The month that flings the gates of Paradise opened and forces the gates of hell closed, chained the devil and offer mercy to mankind. No doubt, Ramadan is divinely designed to be a month of personal and communal change. It helps a serious Muslim to remold, reshape, reform, and renew his physical disposition and behaviour. The preparations hitherto have brought a new breath into the atmosphere. Good deeds will be on the increase, bad deed will be on the decline. Givers will give, the poor will smile and economy will boom. Believers will get closer to Allah and He will in turn change the destinies of mankind. It is the best of all months; the best among the days; the best among the nights; the best among the hours. Almighty Allah made it different among all other, not for anything but for our salvation; for our redemption, to lead the Ummah to the gates of His mercy, to unlock the mysteries of His closeness and attainment of janah. it is one of Allah’s greatest gifts to mankind that He created a month that is equal to a thousand in blessings. It is out of His kindness that He has given us something to look forward to; a period of time to be spiritually revived after a long year of spiritual instability. We can only but show gratitude for seeing another holy month. May Allah make it easy for us and give us the grace and guidance to do the all the acts of ibaadah therein. Amin. Dear believers, many people ended the last Ramadan with the belief that they could have done better with their time, better with their worships. Another Ramadan is here again, after the grace of Almighty Allah to witness it since no human being is guaranteed to live to the next Ramadan or even the next day; another opportunity is here to make it better than last year’s. Like what said last week, the problem is ineffective planning. In order to make this year’s fasting outstanding, we need to have concluded our arrangements towards achieving that. Insha Allah, in a few days from now, the activities of fasting, intensive prayer, sacrifice and worship will begin. It is not only about abstinence from food and drink, it is also a strict control over our tongues, eyes, ears, thoughts and deeds in order to seek the pleasure of Allah. Let your hunger and thirst during the period remind you of the hunger and thirst of the Day of Resurrection. Give alms to the poor and indigent; be generous to the elderly, and be kind to your youngsters. Repent, seek forgiveness of your and beseech Him in supplication during the night. Allah looks with mercy to His servants and answers their pleas especially at this auspicious time. Look out for the new moon or watch out for the announcement. Immediately the moon is sighted, say your intention (niyyat). It is not necessary that it is said loudly; it could be a silent declaration of intention to fast for 29 0r 30 days in the month. After the declaration of intention, it is also not necessary to repeat that on each day of the month. A declaration of intent at the beginning covers the whole exercise. Prayer: O’ Allah! The month of Ramadan has arrived, and You have required us to fast in it and revealed the Qur’an as guidance to mankind and a clear distinction of the guidance and the right criteria. O’ Allah! Give us the strength and wherewithal to observe the fast; accept same from us; surely You can do all things. Etiquette of starting Ramadan By Harun Razaq Almighty Allah ordered Muslims to follow Him and Prophet Muhammad (SAW). One of the areas this divine compliance is how to start fasting in the month of Ramadan. Save for those that are permitted to leave fasting like the sick, traveller, nursing mother etc. according to Shariah, every Muslim is expected to commence the month of Ramadan either by: (i) Sighting the crescent of the month of Ramadan after sunset on the 29th day of Sha’ban; and (ii) if the crescent is not seen, then complete the 30 days of Sha’ban. So, this means the beginning of the month of Ramadan, as well as the end is determined by sighting the crescent. This is in line with the Hadith of the Prophet related by al-Bukhari and Muslim: “…Start the month when you see the crescent and end the month when you see the crescent. If you did not see the crescent, complete 30 days of Sha’ban.” The ruling therefore is to look out for the moon on the 29th day of Sha’ban after sunset. Muslims should look towards the western horizon, and if the crescent is seen, the following day will be the first day of Ramadan. If not, then the next day will complete 30 days of Sha’ban. Again, the 30th day of Sha’ban is regarded as Yau-mushakku in which a Muslim is expected refrain from eating, drinking from fajr till around noon. And after confirming that the moon was not sighted, he must immediately stop the imsaq and continue eating, drinking and all that are permitted for non fasting Muslim. This is because fasting is not permitted on 30th of Sha’ban since they have not sighted the crescent of the month of Ramadan. The Prophet prohibit us from fasting on the day of shakku, while the following day becomes first day of Ramadan. Also the prophet (s.aw) was never hell-bent on sighting the moon himself, because some people may not have the opportunity to see it as a result of visual impairment or otherwise. Muslims in Nigeria should endeavour to commence fast as recommended by the Prophet (s.a.w), without any tribal, political and ethno-centric sentiment. We should take the confirmation of a just and trustworthy Muslim that has seen the moon and has been endorsed by the Muslim leaders. This can be done by listening to announcement on the night of 29th day of Sha’ban usually sponsored by Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, under the leadership of His Eminence, Alhaj Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III the Sultan of Sokoto. May Allah let us witness the fast in sound Iman, good health and prosperity. HAPPY RAMADAN MUSLIMS IN ADVANCE
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 10:08:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015