Ramazan: Month of rewards and blessings
THANKS to Allah, the sublime who enabled us to witness the holy month of Ramazan once again in our life.
This holy month, for sure, holds umpteen rewards and blessings for those who redouble their efforts to do good deeds and act upon the commandments of their creator religiously.
Every night of this month, Allah invites the fortunate ones to scramble with one another to do righteous deeds.
The Holy Prophet (SAAW) said: “When the first night of Ramadan comes, the devils and the rebellious jinn are chained, the gates of hellfire are locked and none of its gats are opened; the gates of paradise are opened and none of its gates are closed; a caller announces, ‘You who desire what is good, come forward, and you who desire evil, refrain.’
Some are freed from Hellfire by Allah, and that happens every night of Ramzan.” (Tirmidhi 682).
Ramzan affords us a golden opportunity to cultivate a strong relationship with our lord by doing what he requires us to do and to desist from all those mal-practices for which he warned us not to do.
The Prophet (SAAW) said: “There has come to you the month of Ramzan, a month of blessing, in which Allah covers you with grace, sending down mercy, forgiving sins and answering supplication.
Allah looks at your competition in doing good therein, and boasts of you before his angels.
So show Allah goodness from yourselves, for truly the wretched person is the one who is deprived of the mercy of Allah during this month.”(Al-tabrani)
The Messenger of Allah and his holy companions used to pray, fast, spend enormous time in reciting Quran and follow injunctions of Allah all year round but in Ramazan, they would maximize their efforts to outshine their other fellows in doing good deeds.
Ibn Abbas said that Allah’s Apostle was the most generous of all the people and he used to reach the peak in generosity in the month of Ramadan when Gabriel met him. Gabriel used to meet him every night of Ramadan to teach him the Quran.
Allah’s Apostle was the most generous person, even more generous than the strong uncontrollable wind (in readiness and haste to do charitable deeds).
The Holy Prophet (SAAW) outlined many actions which, if performed sincerely in this holy month, grant us great rewards. The best of such actions in Ramazan is fasting which has been made obligatory.
The exact reward of fasting has not been specified but it is, indubitably, tremendous in the light of following Hadis which says” Every deed of son of Adam will be multiplied between ten and seven hundred times.
Allah, the glorified and exalted said: It is for me and I shall reward for fasting. He gives up his desires and his food for my sake.”(Muslim 1151).
It is also mentioned in the books of Hadis that there is a gate to Paradise that is called Ar-Rayyan.
On the day of resurrection it will say:” where are those who fasted? When the last (one who fasted) has passed through the gate, it will be locked.
The estimate of one observing fast can be gauged from the following words of the Holy Prophet (SAAW) who said: “By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, the unpleasant smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk.
There are two pleasures for the fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord; then he will be pleased because of his fasting.”
(Bukhari).
The blessed month of Ramzan is also the month of celebration of Holy Quran as in this very month the Book of Allah was revealed.
Striving hard to spend the month in reading, reciting and listening to Quran gives away humungous rewards.
The Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever reads a letter from the book of Allah, he will have a reward, and this reward will be multiplied by ten.
He added: “I am not saying that” Alif, Laam, Meem, is a letter rather I am saying that “Alif’ is a letter, Laam is a letter and Meem is a letter.”
Tirmidi, 2910) We are also supposed to spend as much of our time as possible in performing Salat in the month of Ramazan since in this blessed month, a Nafil act gets the reward which a Sunnah act gets in other months; a Sunnah act gets the reward of a Fard (obligatory) act. And the Fard act gets the reward ten times more than that in the other days.
Moreover, according to Hadis, performing an Umrah in Ramazan is like accompanying the Prophet (SAAW) on Hajj.
(Bukhari) but as for those who live far away from the blessed land of Makkah and feel sad for not being able to perform Umrah in this blessed month, they can still get rewards of Hajj and Umrah.
According to a Hadis, whoever prays Fajr in congregation, and then sits and remembers Allah until sun rises, and then prays two units of voluntary prayer (Al-Ishraq), he will gain a reward equal to that of performing a perfect, perfect Hajj and Umrah.
(Al-Albani Sahee Al- Jaami 6346). To cap it all, in this blessed month of Ramazan, we are supposed to redouble our efforts to do as much good deeds as possible and refrain from evil practices since the rewards for doing good deeds in this month are multiplied.
— The writer, an Advcate, is based in Quetta Balochistan.
