Part I
All forms of acts of worship have great wisdom, noble and lofty goals and tremendous secrets, because there is no legislated act of worship except for the servants benefit both in this world and the hereafter.
Ibn Taymiyah said “ whoever understands the Legislator wisdom then indeed he is the true knowledgeable one”
Hence, Ibn Al Qayiem said ” fasting this month and performing its legislated acts of obedience have been legislated for a well-known benefit which those of sound intellect and pure hearts.
Thus, every daily, weekly, monthly, yearly acts of worship comes to renew the faith, reinforce motivation, purify the souls, wakens the ones conscience and brings purity and virtue into the heart.
The greatest goal of legislating fasting and standing the night in prayers is to enable the soul to attain its Taqwa of Allah the Exalted which is the ultimate goal of every act of worship and all forms of acts of obedience.
Ibn Al Qayiem said “ fasting is the greatest aid for attaining Taqwa, because fasting is the reign of the pious and the practice of the righteous who are drawing close to Allah .
Dear Muslims, let us steadfastly hold firm to Allah’s legislations, take from this month’s legislated acts of worship a portion that would purify our hearts and limbs to that which pleases Allah The Exalted so that we would attain the best outcome in this world and the hereafter. Allah The Most High says { But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination,( 41 ) Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.} An Naziaat
Dear Muslim, let this month be the beginning of achieving the goal of loving your Creator the Most Exalted, completing humbleness, submissiveness and fulfilling His Commands and shunning His prohibition and His displeasure.
Al Shatbi may Allah’s mercy be upon him said “ the fundamental goal behind the legislation of Sharia is to free the person from his whims and desires, so that he would only be a slave to Allah by his choice just as he is a slave to Allah by compulsion “
Likewise, let us beware and distant from those who as soon as Ramadan ends they would return to being lax and negligent of acts of obedience and return to sinning and immortality and remember that Allah The Most High says( 99) And worship your Lord until there comes to you the certainty (death). Al Hijr
From the sayings of Imam Ahmad, Alfudhail, Ibn Ayaadh, the kind of people are those who do not know Allah except during Ramadan.
O Muslims
From the goals of legislating fasting this month, is because Sharia is keen on making the Muslim community live by unity, brethren and loving one another, because the month of Ramadan leads the Muslim towards the causes of purification of the hearts, soundness of the breast and freeing it from envy, hatred, and malicious thoughts.
The Prophet praise and peace be upon him said “ When any one of you is observing Saum (fasting) on a day, he should neither indulge in obscene language nor should he raise the voice; and if anyone reviles him or tries to quarrel with him he should say: ‘I am observing fast. Agreed upon.
Ibn Masoud was asked about how they used to receive Ramadan, he said “ non of us dares to receive the crescent of month of Ramadan while he bears an atoms of weight of hatred towards his Muslim brother.
Ramadan is the month of brethren and love, giving and generosity, feeding the poor and giving charity, the Prophet praise and peace be upon him said “ He who provides a fasting person something with which to break his fast, will earn the same reward as the one who was observing the fast, without diminishing in any way the reward of the latter. Therefore, let these great noble characteristics be our motto throughout the times and amongst our communities.
Servants of Allah…
After we have experienced Ramadan and its atmosphere of great love and virtue, we must beware of not returning to that which does not beautify our religion and our lives, which our prophet praise and peace be upon him warned us against when he said “ my Ummah will be stricken by the disease
of previous nations, they said “ O Messenger of Allah, what is the disease of the previous nations ? He said “ exuberance and extravagance, competing in increasing wealth and argumentativeness in this world, envy and hatred until injustice and oppression spreads . Reported by Al Hakim and Al Thahabi graded it a Sound Hadith.
Let this entire Ummah take from the month of fasting, reciting the Quran, praying the night prayers a steppingstone towards achieving these lofty noble goals and let us be on the straight path in all of our walks of life.
Brothers in Islam…
We must seize this noble month and make it the start of purification of our hearts from bad characteristics and morality so that we attain the highest ranks and the loftiest goals which our religion constantly encourages us on attaining.
The Prophet praise and peace be upon him said, “If one does not eschew lies and false conduct, Allah has no need that he should abstain from his food and his drink.” Reported by Albukhari.
Fasting this Month and standing its nights in prayers teaches the soul to no succumb to the trivial and bad matters and to not follow the soul that commands evil by doing that which violate the Legislator’s Sharia . The prophet praise and peace be upon him said “Fasting is Jannah” reported by Albukhari.
Part II
The benefits of acts obedience and cats of worship are for the servants, because they are the ones who are in need of Allah and Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy. Thus, servants of Allah strive for seizing your lifetime in doing that which brings you closer to Allah. It has been mentioned in the Devine Hadith that was reported by Muslim “ O My servants, it is but your deeds that I record for you and then recompense you for. So let him who finds good, praise Allah, and let him who finds other than that blame no one but himself.”
The prophet praise and peace be upon him got on the pulpit and said Amin three times and when he got off the pulpit he said “ Gabriel came to me and said may he be disgraced he who reach Ramadan and sins were not forgiven, and I said Amin ,…..) reported by Muslim
