Ramadan: The Heartbeat of Islam

Sheikh Abdul Hamid Lachporia
“Al Hamdu Lillaahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen was Salaatu was 
Salaamu ‘alaa Ashrafil Ambiyaa’e wal Mursaleen”.
“Praise your struggles for they will surprise you with many rewards……”
Wa Ba’d:
“O you who believe!
“Fasting has been enjoined upon you [during Ramadan]
So He made it a means of good health for our bodies and
a purification for our hearts and tongues”.

Fa ya Ayyuhal Muslimoon! Islam’s message is plain and profound. It starts as a seed and blossoms into a most beautiful garden. The Most Holy Qur’an informs us that Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala is Kind and Beneficent, Just and Merciful, Creator and Provider, Sovereign and Law Giver, Wise and True. He does not retire or sleep. He has no partners or kin. He is All-Knowing and All-Seeing. His Justice is blended with Mercy. His Mercy is blended with Justice. It is a very long journey from Here to the Aghirah.

We must have our bearings right, the right sense of destination, the right navigational equipment, and an inbuilt system of correcting the course and raising an alarm, in case one begins to zigzag or go dangerously astray. The Most holy and auspicious month of Ramadan helps to define our limits [Hudood] and is a powerful social vehicle to help us through the Month that Almighty Allah Most Beneficent and Merciful has claimed for Himself.

People of Imaan! The Holy month of Ramadan is, therefore, not just a maxim and precept, about going hungry or being nice and good; it is also about social and personal discipline, a most wonderful month built on a system of law that requires us to take time off from the necessary routines of life. Yes, Ramadan is the elevated and exalted month that stands apart from all the other months and we must thank Almighty Allah for keeping us alive to welcome it.

Worship in Islam – praying five times a day, fasting during the month of Ramadan, giving of our wealth every year in Zakat, performing Hajj once during our lifetime, if one can afford it – are all meant to keep fresh and active our consciousness of Almighty Allah Rabbul Ala’meen.  The implications of this consciousness are as much personal as social. Fasting is most efficacious in the protection of the external limbs and internal organs. It guards against disorders resulting from the accumulation of the effete matter. It expels the toxins that are injurious to health and cures the ailments that develop in the body due to over indulgence. It is beneficial for health and most helpful in lending a life of piety. We are addressed in verse 183 of Surahtul Al Baqara:

“O you who believe!”

Ibad’Allah! Islam also sets a real challenge by providing us with an enemy, a real one, so that one doesn’t have to create or invent one. The enemy is Shaytaan! He has no powers over a Muh’min, but he has been given the ability and freedom to confuse and to seduce. Human beings too have their freedom to succumb or to spurn. A real drama requires a real villain, and you cannot prove your love without being able to reject the seductions of the villain.Ramadan teaches that the Islamic society is a self-regulating society. You don’t have to abide by a law because someone is watching you and you don’t mind breaking it if you feel you can do so with impunity. An individual is answerable in his or her own cognition. The person knows for sure that he or she is answerable before Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala. There is no way one can escape His Notice, His Pleasure or Displeasure for He makes things very clear to us in verse 15 of Surahtul Al-Hujurat:

“The true believers are those only who believe in Allah and His Messenger
 and afterward doubt  not, but strive with their wealth and their lives for 
the Causes of Allah. Such are the Truthful.”

Ummatal Muslimeen! There are reasons and wisdom behind every single act in Islam, no matter how small. Salaat, for instance, is a daily training for purifying the Muh’min and reminding him or her that he or she is a member in a community of believers. Fasting, on the other hand, is an annual institution containing all conceivable attributes for human excellence. It is a splendid month of training for the body and soul, a renewal of life, encouraging the spirit of caring, sharing and giving. Its manifold benefits are immediately felt. Ramadan is the great month of Mawasat which means to show sympathy to the poor, the needy, the orphan and the wayfarer. The Holy month of Ramadan contains the most unique moral and spiritual characteristics of Islam.

O you who believe! Ramadan is a month that Almighty Allah Most Exalted and Merciful regards as the best of months. Its days are the best of days, its nights are the best of nights, and the hours are the best of hours.  The spiritual meaning of Ramadan teaches us the true meaning of sincere Mahabba (love); because when we fast we do so out of our deep love for Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala. The one who loves Almighty Allah truly is the one who knows what true love really is. The ability to relate directly, without any intermediary, to Almighty Allah while in Salaat, the joys of month-long hunger, the life-long sacrifice of a part of one’s wealth every year, and the physical hardships, monetary costs and emotional discipline involved in Hajj, bring both personal fulfillment and social enrichment.

You come to know the taste of hunger during the month of Ramadan. You find you become richer by giving. And how pleasant it is to discover that no matter the colour of your skin, the land of your birth, rich or poor, you are an equal member of the Islamic fraternity – the Ummah of Almighty Allah’s Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam. This equality does not diminish, it will continue to elevate you. This Ramadan, as the nation of Ghair-al-Uman recall the great and historic events in the life of Allah’s Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam, and the early Muslim community, it is painful to follow the situation in many parts of the world where Muslims are under subjugation, and living under oppression and repression.

Ma’aa sheral Muslimeen! Our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Kashmir, Somalia, Syria, Central African Republic, Burma, the Caucasus region, the Philippines and wherever there exists suffering and pain. It is so painful to follow the situation in many parts of the world where “Muslims” are engaging in internecine strife. The strife and blood-letting is neither for the defence nor for the promotion of Islamic ideals. It is often for the advancement of narrow sectarian interests or for giving vent to dark and mindless passions of rancour and hatred.

We need to take heed of the saying of our Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam to the effect that when Muslims fight one another both the killer and the killed would end up in Jahannum. Most Muslims look upon these events with a feeling of revulsion, pain and helplessness. What can be done to bring about a return to sanity and a situation where Muslims would be hard not against other Muslims but against the forces of evil – a situation where they would be merciful and compassionate to one another?

Beloved Brothers & Sisters in Islam! How well have we responded to this call? What effect has Ramadan had on our discipline and our training? What effect has it had on our actual commitment and effort? Such are the searching questions we need to ask and answer if we are to derive any benefit from this most blessed month. In these times of tension and heartache, we should not neglect the power of Ibadat and supplication to Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala.

During the month of Ramadan one abstains from the things of material nature – food and drink etc. in order to attain spiritual joys and moral nourishment. A Muslim empties his or her stomach of all material things; to fill his or her soul with peace and blessings, to fill the heart with love and sympathy, to fill the spirit with piety and faith and to fill the mind with wisdom and resolution.

Ih’watal Imaan! Ramadan is the heartbeat of Islam. The stroke of each hour and day that proclaims, we are Muslims: we are aware; we are enabled; we are caring; and we are thankful. Alhumdoelillah, we have been greatly blessed as the real community on a real communal climb to elevation. Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan was stipulated on the day that the Muslim community truly became a community of believers forming a single brotherhood under the banner of Taqwa and Tawhid. And Ramadan marks our elevation for our belief because we are not afraid of being tested to the core.

We who are not just the creation that can think: we  are the only creation that can “choose”. No other part of creation can stop its urge to eat when hungry, for the love of Almighty Allah. No other creation can recognize the bond and the promise of Almighty Allah Who has endowed the Muslim Ummah with this will, this incipient greatness. A greatness bestowed upon the nation of Ghair-al-Uman – the best of Ummah’s.

With a heart filled with hope of Almighty Allah’s limitless blessings we strive to do our very best during this most holiest of months so that along with the new life of nature, which is a sign of Almighty Allah’s unending power, we can all attempt to purify and strengthen our soul and increase our faith. This most wonderful month is a month of blessings; it is the month of forgiveness of sins; it is a month in which we pray during the night and separate ourselves from the shackles of our material selves; it is a month when believers attempt to obey their Exalted Creator in order to achieve perfection; it is a month when we give up all worldly cares with the hope of tasting the sweet taste of servitude.

Ummatal Qur’an! This is the month when Almighty Allah Subahanahu Wata’ala has invited all believers to His feast so that we can all come to a better understanding of His Divinity, His Greatness, His Mercy and His Mahabba. It is a triumph of pristine love over one’s pleasures for the true believers promised by Almighty Allah Rabbual Ala’meen. Since we are guests of Allah, we have to be eligible for His Divine Honour for the Holy Qur’an informs us in verse 9 of Suratul Al-Shams:

“We purified him so that he could be saved.”

Alhumdoelillah! A fasting person is in a state of Ibadat, even when (asleep) in bed, except when he or she commits Fithnah [back-biting]. Every breath of a fasting person has the reward of Tasbih. In a moving speech, the Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam described the believing soul that fasts for the love of Allah out of truthfulness and sincerity, and thus the whole day becomes an alter of Ibadat. The Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam described the sleep and the breathing, of a fasting Muslim as acts of Ibadat, because they emanate from a body regarded as being in a state of continual worship through abstaining from partaking in delicious and lawful things, solely out of obedience to the Most Glorious Creator and Sustainer.

In doing so we are freeing our souls from the prison of this egotistical world of delirium in the pure atmosphere of spirituality and we ask the Rabb of the Holy Ka’aba to help us to be honest and upright.The month of Ramadan contains all the unique moral and spiritual characteristics of Islam. Ramadan is a month that Almighty Allah Most Exalted and Merciful regards as the best of months. Its days are the best of days, its nights are the best of nights, and the hours are the best of hours.

O Ummatul Muslimeen! Islam became the rock-bottom foundation of a whole world civilization. The Holy month of Ramadan shows us how genuinely and whole-heartedly Muslims adhere to its dictates. As true Muslims, the month of Ramadan disciplines us and we come to the realization that Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala demands of us a struggle and persistent endeavour to re-establish the link between faith and power, and bringing both of them into a single unified whole. So let us passionately involve ourselves not just during the month of Ramadan but everyday of our lives, to do Allah’s Will, and still more passionately let our hearts yearn for His Divine Pleasure.

Fa ya Ibad’Allah! Let the life of our Beloved Nabee – Rahmatul Liel Ala’meen Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam energize our ambitions and priorities. Let his message be our message, let his conduct be our conduct, and let his goals be our goals. Let nothing motivate us but an intense longing to please our Glorious Creator in the world to come, and let this expectation and desire give a dicisive impetus to our life in this world. The hope of a meaningful future must make us bold enough to confront the risks and endure the pains that lie in living by Almighty Allah’s Will. Ameen. Ya Rabbul Ala’meen!

As true Muslims, we have but one option; to strive to change the world to conform to the model given to mankind by our Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam. Any other choice will only betray our hypocrisy. May Almighty Allah give us the courage to accept the Truth wherever we may find it, and enable us to live as Muslims and to die as Muslims and may Almighty Allah inspire us to do whatever pleases Him.

And Almighty Allah knows best.

And Peace be upon those who follow the Guidance.

The Truth is from Almighty Allah. The errors are all mine and

I stand to be corrected.

Baarak Allaahu Feekum wa-sal-Allaahu wa-Sallam ‘alaa
Nabiyyinaa Muhammad Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam.

 
Was Salamualaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu
Abdul Hamid Lachporia
 
Please be advised that you are more that welcomed to use and share
my Khutbah’s for propagational purposes without my prior consent. 
 

 
جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا