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Valuing the Month of Ramadan
5-31-2016
We have all been blessed with the month of Ramadan many times during the course of our lives. For some, the number will be a single figure, and for others double figures. However, for the majority of us, the month of Ramadan is just another month; it comes and goes like any other.
In relation to valuing this great month, there are many questions we need to ask ourselves. We may be well acquainted with all the virtues of the month of Ramadan; but do we take advantage of these virtues? The most important way of measuring whether we value the month of Ramadan or not is to ask the question: Have we acquired the goal of Ramadan during any of the previous months of Ramadan, which is to acquire taqwa?
If we have not yet achieved this goal, then we need to ask ourselves whether we have made it an objective in this coming Ramadan? Remember that in the famous hadith of Ka‘b ibn ‘Ujrah radhiyallahu ‘anhu, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam and Jibra’il‘alayhis salam cursed those who fail to attract the Forgiveness of Allah ta‘ala during the month of Ramadan. To help us truly value the month of Ramadan, we need to take lessons from the Ramadan of those who did value this blessed month. Let us take a glimpse at how our pious predecessors spent the month of Ramadan:
• Aswad ibn Yazid rahimahullah would complete the Qur’an every second night in Ramadan. (Siyar-A‘lam-An-Nubala’)
• Sa‘id ibn Jubayr rahimahullah would spend the time between Maghrib and ‘Isha’ [which normally people spend in resting] in tilawah and would recite the whole Qur’an in one sitting. (The ‘Isha’ salah would be delayed.) (Ibid)
• Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman rahimahullah would feed 500 people for iftar during Ramadan. (Ibid)
• Qatadah rahimahullah would complete the Qur’an every third day during the first twenty days of Ramadan and every night in the last ten days. (Ibid)
• Ibn Shihab Zuhri rahimahullah would say, “Ramadan is nothing but for tilawah of the Qur’an and to feed people.” (Lata’if-ul-Ma‘arif)
• Imam Abu Hanifah rahimahullah and Imam Shafi‘i rahimahullah would complete the Qur’an twice daily in the month of Ramadan, with the latter completing the Qur’an one more time during the night of ‘Id and yet again during the day.
• Imam Malik rahimahullah and Sufyan Thawri rahimahullah both would leave their everyday engagements and spend the whole time in the recitation of the Qur’an. (Lata’if-ul-Ma‘arif)
• Imam Bukhari rahimahullah used to complete the Qur’an 41 times in the Month of Ramadan; once every day, once during the whole month in the tarawih prayer, and ten juz daily in Tahajjud salah.
• Haji Imdadullah rahimahullah never slept in the blessed month of Ramadan. After the Maghrib salah, two huffaz led him in nafl salah, reciting one juz each until ‘Isha’ salah. After ‘Isha salah, two huffaz would recite one after the other until half the night, and then another two huffaz would recite one after the other in Tahajjud salah. In essence, the whole night was spent in worship.
• Hadrat Mawlana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi rahimahullah, even at the age of seventy, would spend all his time in worshipping Allah ta‘ala, fasting - despite the heat, and performing twenty raka‘at nafl after the Maghrib salah, reciting at least two juz in them. He would then also spend two and a half to three hours during the night in Tahajjud salah, amongst his many other devotions during the day.
• Shaykh-ul-Hind rahimahullah would spend the whole night listening to the Qur’an. It was common that he would stand in one place and the reciters would change over and take rest.
• Qari Fatah Muhammad Panipatti rahimahullah during his later life would spend the time after tarawih salah until subh sadiq reciting ten juz of the Qur’an, taking extra care in tajwid.
• Mawlana Manzur Nu‘mani rahimahullah states that Mawlana Ilyas rahimahullah daily average of tilawah in Ramadan was 35 juz, with concentration and understanding of the text. Moreover, the women folk in his home, together with their daily practices of dhikr and tasbihat, at times, would complete a whole Qur’an in one day.
• It is stated about Hadrat Mawlana Yahya rahimahullah that, during one Ramadan which he passed in mirat, he would recite the Qur’an once daily and would complete it by the time of iftar.
• Shah Abd-ur-Rahim Raipuri rahimahullah used to spend the whole night reciting the Qur’an, and in twenty four hours he would rarely sleep more than an hour.
• Shaykh-ul-Hadith, Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya rahimahullah himself completed one Qur’an daily during the month of Ramadan, and he kept up this practice for more than forty years.
Let us also value this blessed month and make the most of this great opportunity granted to us by Allah ta‘ala by making full use of its every moment and by using it to maximize our rewards, acquire taqwa and achieve salvation in the Hereafter. Amin.
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