Nafsiya Reflections: Ramadan!

Welcome to Nafsiyah Reflections: Ramadan

This month is not like any other. This is the month that our final prophet Muhammad (saw) had received the final message. The message that is for all humanity. A message which gives us all the answers for living through this life to reach the perfect afterlife. During this month the gates of Mercy are opened wide. During this month, Muslims usually recite the whole Quran, as the Sahabah (ra) did. But is it really just about reciting the Quran?

These days, many recite but do we actually understand what is being recited? What are we really taking into consideration when reading the Quran? Because it isn’t just about reading the message Allah (swt) sent down. It's about taking this very valuable message and understanding that it is about implementing it- living by it. Making it a part of our everyday lives. Striving to be like our prophet Muhammad (saw), as Aisha (ra) described as a walking Quran.

During Ramadan, while the Shaytan is locked up, we may find it easy to do things, but we must know how to instill it within us in such a way that gets us closer to Allah (swt) not only during Ramadan, but after; to actually take advantage that the Shaytan is not around to deter us away from this path. For it to be a life changing moment rather than a few traditions.

Allah (swt) says:

(الۤرٰ​ كِتٰبٌ اَنۡزَلۡنٰهُ اِلَيۡكَ لِـتُخۡرِجَ النَّاسَ مِنَ الظُّلُمٰتِ اِلَى النُّوۡرِ)

" ALIF-LAAM-RAA'. This is a Book we have revealed unto you, O Muhammad, in order that you may lead mankind out of darkness into the light”. [TMQ Ibrahim:1]

We read the Quran and see what it contains we must get ourselves to actually feel the weight of the message that was given to us. To know and feel that this message is from the one who created power and holds it all. And Allah (swt) said;

(لَوۡ اَنۡزَلۡنَا هٰذَا الۡقُرۡاٰنَ عَلٰى جَبَلٍ لَّرَاَيۡتَهٗ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنۡ خَشۡيَةِ اللّٰهِ​ؕ وَتِلۡكَ الۡاَمۡثَالُ نَضۡرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَتَفَكَّرُوۡنَ‏)

“Had We sent down this Qur’an on a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbling itself and split asunder (crumbling) by the fear of Allah. Such are the parables that We put forward to mankind that they may reflect.” [TMQ - Al-Hashr: 21]

Subhan Allah! A mountain with all its magnitude would slip under from humbling itself by the fear of Allah! Do we humble ourselves by it? Even the Sahabah were affected? Abu Huraira (ra) cried on his deathbed and he was asked: “What makes you cry?” He replied: “I do not cry for this world of yours, rather I cry over the long journey ahead of me and how few provisions I have with me. I am rising on a runaway to paradise and Hellfire and I do not know which of them it would lead to.”

What made Tariq bin Ziyad, the conqueror of Spain in the month of Ramadhan burn his boats motivating the Muslims that Paradise lay ahead of them and defeat and the sea to the rear, leading to the conquest of Spain in this blessed month.

(اِنَّ اللّٰهَ اشۡتَرٰى مِنَ الۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ اَنۡفُسَهُمۡ وَاَمۡوَالَهُمۡ بِاَنَّ لَهُمُ الۡجَـنَّةَ​ ؕ يُقَاتِلُوۡنَ فِىۡ سَبِيۡلِ اللّٰهِ فَيَقۡتُلُوۡنَ وَ يُقۡتَلُوۡنَ​وَعۡدًا عَلَيۡهِ حَقًّا فِى التَّوۡرٰٮةِ وَالۡاِنۡجِيۡلِ وَالۡقُرۡاٰنِ​ ؕ وَمَنۡ اَوۡفٰى بِعَهۡدِهٖ مِنَ اللّٰهِ فَاسۡتَـبۡشِرُوۡا بِبَيۡعِكُمُ الَّذِىۡ بَايَعۡتُمۡ بِهٖ​ ؕ وَذٰ لِكَ هُوَ الۡفَوۡزُ الۡعَظِيۡمُ)

“Verily Allah hath bought of the believers their lives and their riches for the price that theirs shall be the Garden” [TMQ 9:111]

Mu'adh ibn Jabal (ra) once called the people of the town and said to them, “Today the reciters of Quran are few but the implementers are many, what of the time when the reciters will be many and the implementers will be few.” He was describing our time! Today the reciters may be many but the implementers are few.

Why is it that many Muslims come to the mosque and pray taraweeh – so we see the mosques are full but as soon as Eid comes, many people stop coming to the mosque, stop reading the Quran and even stop praying regularly. Today, we read the Quran but do we implement it? The Prophet (saw) said:

«إن الله يرفع بهذا الكتاب أقواماً ويضع به آخرين»

“Allah will elevate some nations through this book and degrade others with it” [Muslim]

We know how the Islamic Ummah was elevated in the past through the implementation of the Quran, the Khalifah’s in the past through implementing the Shariah of Allah made this Ummah elevate and progress and look how we are degraded today when the Quran is not implemented. Today the Quran is not implemented in our lands. If we look at the problems in Palestine, Yemen, Afghanistan and all the others how do our countries deal with them? What solution do these people bring, do they look to the Quran and the Sunnah which tells us to liberate Muslim land and not to take the non Muslims as our Allies? No! rather they run to America and the United nations for solutions.

Ziyad ibn Labid narrated that Allah's Messenger (saw) spoke of something and said: It will happen when knowledge will be no more. I said: Allah's Messenger, how will knowledge vanish despite the fact that we will be reciting the Qur'an and teaching its recitation to our children and our children will teach its recitation to their children up to the Day of Resurrection? Thereupon he said: Ziyad, may your mother weep over you. I was of the opinion that you were one of those who have the greatest understanding of religion in Medina. Do the Jews and Christians not recite the Torah and the Bible but not act according to what is contained in them? [Transmitted by Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi.]

Today, the rulers have become like the Jews and the Christians who may recite the Quran but not implement it, they even attack those who work for the re-establishment of the Khilafah.

So we may hear of the beautiful recitation of the Quran in the Haram in Makkah, yet we see that the Quran is not implemented over this land in which the Kaa’ba resides. Rather the Americans still have their troops stationed in this land.

Erdogan is seen reciting Qur’an beautifully, but his politics on the world stage with the US, being part of NATO, his assistance to Russia against Syria, his communications and dealings with the occupiers of Palestine scream counter to the message and solutions bestowed to us in the Qur’an. The leaders of the Muslim lands have made the Taghout their Mufassir, the White house their Qibla and hold fast to the rope of Kufr.

We need to take the Muhammad (saw) as our Mufassir, restore the Ka’ba as our Qibla and hold fast to the book of Allah. Allah (swt) says:

(وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ)

“And hold fast all together by the rope which Allah and be not divided among yourselves” [TMQ 3:103] Ibn Masud said that the rope of Allah in this ayah means the Quran.

Today some Muslims have become like the Christians and the Jews because they recite the Quran and not act according to it in their lives, so limit the Qur’an to Ramadhan and not in the rest of their lives. We are approaching the month of reward in which the Quran was revealed, we must hold fast to the rope of Allah, we must recite the Quran, increase our understanding of it and implement it in our lives.

Abdullah ibn Abbas narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " إِنَّ الَّذِي لَيْسَ فِي جَوْفِهِ شَيْءٌ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ كَالْبَيْتِ الْخَرِبِ "

“He in whose heart there is nothing of the Qur'an is like a house in ruin.” [Transmitted by Tirmidhi]

The Quran should never be allowed to be left on our shelves gathering dust, we must realise that it is the Guidance that Allah (swt) has sent for humanity. The Messenger (saw) said:

فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " تَعَلَّمُوا الْقُرْآنَ فَاقْرَءُوهُ وَأَقْرِئُوهُ فَإِنَّ مَثَلَ الْقُرْآنِ لِمَنْ تَعَلَّمَهُ فَقَرَأَهُ وَقَامَ بِهِ كَمَثَلِ جِرَابٍ مَحْشُوٍّ مِسْكًا يَفُوحُ بِرِيحِهِ كُلُّ مَكَانٍ وَمَثَلُ مَنْ تَعَلَّمَهُ فَيَرْقُدُ وَهُوَ فِي جَوْفِهِ كَمَثَلِ جِرَابٍ وُكِئَ عَلَى مِسْكٍ "

“Learn the Qur’an and recite it, because the example of one who learns the Qur’an, reads it and recites it in Tahajjud is like an open bag full of musk, the fragrance whereof spreads over the entire place, and a person who has learnt the Qur’an but sleeps while the Qur’an is in his heart, is like a bag of musk but with its mouth closed” [Tirmidhi, Nisaa’i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban]

Let us not allow our hearts to become rusty devoid of the Quran!The Prophet (saw) said,

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «إِنَّ هَذِهِ الْقُلُوبَ تَصْدَأُ كَمَا يَصْدَأُ الْحَدِيدُ إِذَا أَصَابَهُ الْمَاءُ» . قِيلَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا جِلَاؤُهَا؟ قَالَ: «كَثْرَةُ ذِكْرِ الْمَوْتِ وَتِلَاوَةِ الْقُرْآنِ»

"These hearts become rusty just as iron does when water affects it." On being asked what could clear them he replied, "A great amount of remembrance of death and recitation of the Qur'an." [Bayhaqi transmitted it in Shu'ab al-Iman. Abdullah ibn Umar narrated]

Let us make this month of Ramadhan, the month of prayer, the month of worship, the month of recitation of Qur’an, the month of giving Zakah, the month of strengthening the relations between our relatives, the month of generosity and goodness to the needy, the month of being aware of our speech and actions, the month of re-invigorating our Iman and purifying our hearts and the month of engaging in the da’wa to re-establish the Khilafah, the implementation of the Quran on the earth!

(اِنَّ اللّٰهَ اشۡتَرٰى مِنَ الۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ اَنۡفُسَهُمۡ وَاَمۡوَالَهُمۡ بِاَنَّ لَهُمُ الۡجَـنَّةَ​ ؕ يُقَاتِلُوۡنَ فِىۡ سَبِيۡلِ اللّٰهِ فَيَقۡتُلُوۡنَ وَ يُقۡتَلُوۡنَ​وَعۡدًا عَلَيۡهِ حَقًّا فِى التَّوۡرٰٮةِ وَالۡاِنۡجِيۡلِ وَالۡقُرۡاٰنِ​ ؕ وَمَنۡ اَوۡفٰى بِعَهۡدِهٖ مِنَ اللّٰهِ فَاسۡتَـبۡشِرُوۡا بِبَيۡعِكُمُ الَّذِىۡ بَايَعۡتُمۡ بِهٖ​ ؕ وَذٰ لِكَ هُوَ الۡفَوۡزُ الۡعَظِيۡمُ‏)

“Verily Allah hath bought of the believers their lives and their riches for the price that theirs shall be the Garden” [TMQ 9:111]

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