Our state after Ramadan
Abdul Rahman Alsudais
slaves of Allah! Fear Allah. O you who performed good deeds in Ramadan, how can you leave them after the month passed!
- Categories: Urging to acts of obedience -
All the praises and thanks be to Allah, for His abundant bliss and generous giving. I praise Him, the Almighty, and thank Him for His continuous signs and blessings. I ask Allah to send His Salât (Graces, Honors, Blessings, Mercy) on the caller to His forgiveness and pleasure. Prayers and peace of Allah be upon our Prophet and upon all his family and companions.
The true Muslim is the one who has the fear of Allah as his motto and dictum during the lifetime. The true believer is the one who practices good deeds and avoids committing sins and faults. He holds this like a habit and a way of life until he dies. Therefore, the seasons of the good increase his diligence in worship, his keenness on obedience and accustoming himself to the good. If these times are passed, their effects will be represented in his life as lively pictures, a tangible reality, and a perceivable concrete deed.
Farewell Ramadan
O Muslims! A few days have passed since you have bid farewell to an honorable month and a great season. You have fasted its day and prayed of its night as much as what may be easy for you. In addition, you recited the Holy Quran, increased remembrance and supplications, gave charity generously and liberally. Moreover, you got nearer to Allah through performing acts of closeness to Him, hoping for His reward and fearing from His punishment. How many efforts were exerted, bodies got tired, hearts became afraid, hands were raised in supplication, and tears were shed. These aspects are necessary in the season of trading with Allah, the time of mercy, forgiveness, and emancipation from the Hellfire.
O noble brothers! This blessed month passed as a nice fantacy, it passed with its blessings and benefits. This month passed from our age as a witness either for our good deeds or against us with what we performed during it. Everyone should open his book of account and see, what he had done. How his deeds affect his work and behavior. Have we adopted every possible means for [Allah] accepting [our deeds] after it? Did everyone continue performing good deeds or is the reality of people is opposite to that?
Did we follow the footsteps of the righteous ancestors? Those whose hearts were afraid and souls were sad when the month of Ramadan passed; as they feared that their good deeds would not be accepted. Therefore, they used to increase their supplications after the month of Ramadan to have their deeds accepted. Allah Almighty says, {And those who give that (their charity) which they give (and also do other good deeds) with their hearts full of fear (whether their alms and charities have been accepted or not), because they are sure to return to their Lord (for reckoning).} [Surat Al-Mu’minûn :60]
{وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْتُونَ مَا آتَوا وَّقُلُوبُهُمْ وَجِلَةٌ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ رَاجِعُونَ} المؤمنين: 60
Transliteration: Waallatheena yutoona ma ataw waquloobuhum wajilatun annahum ilarabbihim rajiAAoona
‘Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, asked the Messenger of Allah, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, about the people of this verse, “Are they those who commit adultery, drink wine and steal?” He answered, “No, O daughter of As-Siddîq! But they are those who fast, perform prayer, give charity, and fear that this is not accepted from them.” [Reported by At-Tirmidhi 3175 and classified as authentic by Al-Albâni]
«قالت عائشة: أهم الذين يشربون الخمر ويسرقون. قال: لا يا بنت الصديق ولكنهم الذين يصومون ويصلون ويتصدقون وهم يخافون أن لا تقبل منهم» رواه الترمذي وصححه الألباني
Moreover, Allah Almighty says, {Verily, Allâh accepts only from those who are Al-Muttaqûn (the pious).} [Surat Al-Mâ’idah 5:27]
{إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّـهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ} المائدة: 27
Transliteration: innama yataqabbalu Allahu mina almuttaqeena
The Winners in Ramadan
Each wise Muslim should look at his condition, think of his matters, and recognize the signs of gain and loss after practicing the deed. The most important sign is continuing doing the righteous deed and following the good deed by performing another.
The one whose condition is better after Ramadan than his state before it, as he hastens to performing good deeds, is keen on performing the acts of obedience, preserves attending Friday prayer and congregational prayers, this will be a good sign that his deeds are accepted, Allah willing. In addition to the previous, he should be repentant, regretful, straight, righteous, and far from sins.
On the other hand, the one whose condition after Ramadan is the same as his condition before it, even if he got closer to Allah in this month, he will turn to his heels, return to committing sins. In addition, he will abandon good deeds, commit what Allah forbids, miss prayers, and follow his lustrous desires. Moreover, he will not guard his hearing, vision, organs, sayings, deeds, and his money from the prohibited matters. This person will be more far from Allah, we seek refuge with Allah form that.
Misunderstanding
O people of Islam! It is strange that the followers of this religion misunderstand the rituals of Islam. Thus, they do not perform good deeds except in certain seasons and specific times. When these times pass by, they will be the last times for them to perform good deeds. We seek refuge with Allah from going astray after guidance, Allah says, {And be not like her who undoes the thread which she has spun, after it has become strong,} [Surat An-Nahl 16:92]
{وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّتِي نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ} النحل: 92
Transliteration: Wala takoonoo kaallatee naqadat ghazlaha min baAAdi quwwatin
Someone of the ancestors was asked about those people who perform acts of worship during Ramadan, and abandon them after the month passed. He answered, “What bad people they are! They do not know Allah except in Ramadan.”
O slaves of Allah! Fear Allah. O you who performed good deeds in Ramadan, how can you leave them after the month passed!
Did you forget that the God of all months is One and that He is the Watcher and the Observer on your deeds and conditions.
O you who turned to your Lord in Ramadan, how can you forget Him after it?
O you who knew that the prayer is obligatory in its due fixed times and in congregation in the mosques, how do you ignore this after Ramadan?
O you who knew that Allah forbade committing sins, how could you turn again to it?
O you who embarked on reciting the Holy Quran, how did you abandon it?
What an enormous disaster and what a great deprivation that some people are changed from good to evil, from guidance to going astray, and from the way of paradise to the way of the Hellfire. We seek refuge with Allah from that.
O brothers! Where are the effects of fasting in the souls of Muslims? Where are the lessons and examples that were deducted from this great obligation? Where are piety and strength, sacrifice and patience, cordiality, and sympathy? Where is cooperation by which Muslims should be characterized all the time in order to achieve their description in the Holy Quran and to be as the religion of Islam wants them to be? In fact, these effects should remain represented in the life of Muslims perpetually not for the present time, and eternally not temporarily.
Did you forget that Allah ordered you to obey Him, commanded you to worship Him, and He did not make an end to this except after passing away?
Al-Hassan Al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, recited the following verse in which Allah Almighty says, {And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty (i.e. death).} [Surat Al-Hijr 15:99]
{وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ} الحجر: 99
Transliteration: WaoAAbud rabbaka hatta yatiyaka alyaqeenu
and said, “Indeed, Allah did not make an end to the work of the believer except by death.”
Those who quit performing righteous deeds by bidding farewell to Ramadan should know this well. Do those people feel secure from the death, which would be faced at any time, at day or night? This would happen while they are in a state that does not satisfy the Mighty and the Ever-Lasting. This would happen while they are in a state that does not benefit them on the Day of standing before the One and the Ever-Subduing?
Has not the time come to us to realize that what has afflicted us, such as weakness and disunity, is from ourselves? It is a result of misunderstanding the rulings of our religion, and of our little benefits from the times of beneficence and charity. What if these times did not affect the hearts by making them alive after death, and did not affect the nation by uniting it after disunity? Furthermore, what if these times did not contribute to solving our problems and dilemmas, and to recovering from trials and diseases? It will be a sign of the lack of insight and vision, of the low awareness, and of the misunderstanding of the ruling of the religious rulings.
On the other hand, the nation will hold the rope of rescue till it arrives at the land of peace and the shore of security, when it follows the straight path in worship. It will be safe if it does not destroy what it has built during the seasons of good, when it does not nullify what it has done during them, and when it does not submit to the evil temptations of Satan and his followers, Allah willing.
This is a call full of sympathy and compassion towards those who decided to return to committing acts of disobedience after the end of Ramadan. We ask them to fear Allah Almighty because life is short and defined. Thus, how long will you let yourselves indulge in heedlessness and avoidance? You all should repent sincerely with no return to committing sins. This is, by Allah, the true thanking for the bliss of fasting.
One of the cures for this phenomenon is exchanging advice and cooperation between Muslims, establishing the call to Allah, with wisdom and good instructions. Everyone should abide by that as possible as one can.
O slaves of Allah! Fear Allah, and thank Him for His countless blessings and His favors. Such favors are sent to you, in abundance, one after the other. In addition, He Almighty continued to send you His blessings and bounties. He has increased the seasons of the good in order to raise your grades, increase your good deeds, and forgive your sins.
The virtue of fasting six days in the month of Shawwal
It is recommended to fast six days in Shawwal, where a great reward is given for that. Imam Muslim narrated in his authentic book of Hadith that Abu Ayyûb, may Allah be pleased with him, said, the Messenger of Allah, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, has said, “He who observed the fast of Ramadan and then followed it with six fasting days of Shawwal, it would be as if he fasted perpetually.” [Reported by Muslim 1164]
«من صام رمضان، ثم أتبعه ستا من شوال، كان كصيام الدهر» رواه مسلم
Moreover, Islam has made it easy for Muslims to fast these days, as it did not make it obligatory to fast them consecutively in the month or every year.
Therefore, the wise person is the one who hurries to the worship of Allah before he passes away. It is the one who remembers the speed of the passing of the age and the nearness of the time of death. On the other hand, the feeble person is the one who opens the way for procrastination and sluggishness. It is the one who indulges himself in heedlessness and engaging matters, and who becomes satisfied with hopes and wishes that he will regret on the day when no regret will benefit anyone.
Prayers and peace of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.
Authored by his eminence Sheikh Dr. Abdurrahman ibn Abdul-Aziz As-Sudays,
Imam and Preacher of the Sacred Mosque