Benefits of Ramadan
By Abu Uwais Abdullah Ahmed Ali(rahimahullah)
Ramadan is a month of Forgiveness
Ramadan is a month of Rahmah
Ramadan is the month of generosity
Ramadan, the month that Allah subhaanahu wa ta’ala accepts the Tawbah of the servants, and the month that Allah blesses His servants.
We are in need of Ramadan to correct ourselves, for we have forgotten Allah tabarak wa ta’ala for the majority of the year.
To correct ourselves for we have been neglectful.
To correct ourselves for we are not upon the remembrance of Allah
To correct ourselves because our hearts have gotten hard, some hearts are dead, some hearts are sick, some hearts are stone-cold, some hearts are black, getting no benefit whatsoever. Some hearts are so bad, and so ill that they see a good as a Munkar, (as an evil), and they see an evil as a good. These are not as they should be.
We need a Ramadan because our connection with Allah tabarak wa ta’ala is not correct.
We need a Ramadan because we do not have any Khushoo or devotion in our Salaah.
We need a Ramadan because our Qur'an has dust and is sitting on a shelf.
We need a Ramadan because we never read the books of Sunnah
We need a Ramadan because we don’t fast, and if we fast physically without food or drink, we don’t fast with our eyes by lowering them and our tongue by not slandering and our tongue by not lying and backbiting. We need a Ramadan to get ourselves back in order, to work for the hereafter, to connect ourselves to Allah tabarak wa ta’ala.
We need a Ramadan because relationships brother to brother and sister to sister is in a miserable condition.
We need a Ramadan because we have bad thoughts about one another.
We need a Ramadan because of dhulm, injustice to one another.
We need a Ramadan because there is backbiting, there is envy, there is jealousy, and there is slander.
We need a Ramadan because we are despicable, because we are sick, because we are ill. (all these are diseases of the heart).
We need a Ramadan because we don’t believe in the promise of Allah tabarak wa ta’ala, or if we do, we don’t implement it.
We need a Ramadan because it is time for us to change and become something better then we are now.
We need a Ramadan because that is the only thing that is going to get us back together.
We need a Ramadan because we don’t have unity, there’s no brotherhood.
We need a Ramadan because there’s no respect to elders.
We need a Ramadan because there’s no real love between us.
We need a Ramadan, full of love and the Mercy of Allah tabarak wa ta’ala.
A Ramadan like we come in, like in a clinic or a hospital, trying to solve our illnesses, trying to come out of there without the disease we came in with, trying to be better than we went in with.
We need a Ramadan. Look around you, look to your right, look to your left, look in front of you and look behind you and you’ll say, “We need a Ramadan.”
The sisters aren’t covering properly, we need a Ramadan. Brothers and sisters are mixing, we need a Ramadan. Talking on phones and on the internet, we need a Ramadan. This is a mess, we are in a fix, we are in a bind, and this is a problem. We need a Ramadan. We need a Ramadan to get ourselves together.
We need a Ramadan, that we come in the Masjid and face the Qiblah and we say “Allahu Akbar” and we stand in qiyaamah a long time until those diseases, that filth, that sickness, that hardness of the heart goes away.
We need a Ramadan that reminds us of the Hell-fire. We need a Ramadan that tells us that we haven’t been given a certificate that we are people of the Jannaah.
We need a Ramadan that lets us know that we are servants of Allah tabarak wa ta’ala.
And if we were to spend our whole life, from the time we were born until Yawm al Qiyaamah in Sajdaah, it would not be enough to thank Allah for His Mercy, His Grace and His Blessings.
We need a Ramadan and it is clear. If there is any fear of Allah left in the hearts of ours and if there is any hope of Jannaah left in us, and if there is any desire to change and to be better and to be righteous and to come to the level of Ihsaan, to come to the level of a Mumim, to have taqwa, to fear Allah? We need a Ramadan.
We need a Ramadan, a month of Tawbaah.
We need a Ramadan, a month of Maghfira.
We need a Ramadan to correct our behavior, we need a Ramadan to understand that we have been committing injustice to one another. And as the Prophet(sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “Zulumaat yawmal Qiyaamah” we’ll be changed physically into darkness on the Day of Judgement.
We need a Ramadan to understand the Hadith: to fear the duaa of the one whom we have done injustice. For there is not between Allah and the person making the invocation, the person making that supplication of the person to whom injustice has been done, there is no veil between that person and Allah. That duaa is immediately accepted.
We need a Ramadan to be as the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was. That he was the most generous, he was generous in general and he was most generous in Ramadan Like a wind, spending, giving to his right, giving to his left, giving in front of him, giving behind him, giving to anyone who came. He gave without them asking.
We need a Ramadan to inculcate these qualities. We need to control our desires. We need to control our tongue. We need to control our limbs. We need to learn self discipline. We need to control our anger. We must do things in Ramadan not out of habit, something that is just tradition, that we are most despicable when we went in. We have to change our condition. We have to change our connection with Allah tabarak wa ta’ala. For how light is the view of Allah when they disobey Him. This is what was said by one of the Sahabahs when he had the crown of the Persian King in his hand.
You’re planning for marriage, you’re planning for education, you’re planning for a job, but we need to plan for the Jannah. We need to prepare for the Jannah during the month of Ramadan
We are in severe need for Ramadan, so that we come into Ramadan with repentance, we come into it with regret, we come into it realizing that we are weak, that we need Allah tabarak wa ta’ala to correct us, realizing that we are wrong and that we need Allah tabarak wa ta’ala to place upon us that which is right, realizing that we are weak and that we need Allah tabarak wa ta’ala to grant us strength. We need a Ramadan Oh Yes!! We need a Ramadan
