Upholding Ramadan’s spiritual upliftment (1)
O you who believe, be aware of God, and let every soul examine what it has put forth for tomorrow. And be aware of God; God is fully aware of everything you do. And do not be like those who forgot God, so He made them forget themselves. These are the wicked.” (al-Hashr, 59:18-19)
With the blessed month of Ramadan gone still less that a month, the spiritual discipline on the body and upliftment of the soul that it fosters on the ummah are declining.
For already, the regularity of going to the mosques for congregational prayers; constancy in recitation of the Holy Qur’an and attending tafsir, the enthusiasm in offering additional supererogatory (nawafil) prayers, and generosity in charity, are fast waning.
Ustaz Ahmad Adam Kutubi, the Police Imam of the Zone 7 Police Hqtrs, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, a Deputy Superintendent, in his kutbah said: “The month of Ramadan has gone but we must neither relax nor revert to sin because the God of Ramadan is the same God of all the other months so we must not mar the good acts of worship that we carried out now that the blessed month has passed. It is among the indicators of the acceptance of ones good deeds when he sustained the effort. Where one reverts to sin after seeking forgiveness, he attracts more severe punishment from Allah.
“Ahead of us is a measure with which our deeds, good and bad, will be weighed and those whose good deeds are weightiest, are the ones with the greatest share of reward while those whose scale is without good deeds are the losers and Hell will be their abode.
“So no doubt shuhur (the months) are like a farm for the storage of work. Each day, week or year, assignment has been given to each and everyone to carry out and the output (reward) kept for him. They are also periods for the recording of the life of each and every one of us.
So, though Ramadan is gone, yet demanded of us are the performance of the five daily (fard)prayers and the weekly Juma’at prayer when we stand before our creator and seek his forgiveness and his bounties. So harken to the call of your Lord, believe in Him and ask Him to forgive you your sins and save you from severe punishment.
He who refuses to harken to the call of Allah will not be beyond the reach of Allah and he has no guard or saviour who will rescue him from punishment.
On the weekly basis there is the Juma’at prayer and in the course of that day there is a period (sa’atul hijaba) during which du’a (supplications) are accepted.
Similarly, the night nawafil prayers have not ended. Just as we observed the tahajjud during the Ramadan, we must know that Allah is untiring in giving to His servant who abide by His injunctions and stay awake part of the night and before al-fajir (the break of dawn) in worship and supplication to Him. Not only in Ramadan but all year round.
You wonder why some people will be up and doing in good deeds for Allah’s pleasure in Ramadan, but change when the month is gone. (Those who fill the mosques in Ramadan for the daily but stop offering the salat after the month leaving the mosques with a diminished congregation).
This question was posed to one of the early scholars who was seen crying on his death bed and he said, “Woe onto such people for they do not know Allah except during Ramadan when they fill up the rows in mosques but after the month they return to their sinful ways as if they are sufficient in themselves and do not need Allah.
“They behave as if they have been exempted from what is compulsory except during Ramadan. So they revert to sin as if it has been made lawful for them.
“We pray to Allah not to let us go astray after he has saved us and not to make us blind after He has given eyes.
“He who goes astray after he has believed he a great loser. Allah says, ‘O you, those who have faith, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you dispute over a thing, then return it to Allah and the Messenger, if you have faith in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more beautiful of interpretation.’