How to Prepare for Ramadan?

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Know the value of Taqwa

When Allah SWT grants taqwa (piety), in reality He ﷻ has offered the treasure of both the worlds. The one who got taqwa has got the treasure of both the worlds.  Allatheena amanoo wakanoo yattaqoona. Lahumu albushra fee alhayati alddunya wafee alakhirah. Those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil;- For them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter; (Al- Quran: 10:63-64).  Taqwa is such a treasure that in every step, there are victories, in every step, there is ease, in every step, there is mercy and in every step, there is Allah’s ﷻ assistance. waman yattaqi Allaha yajAAal lahu makhraja. And for those who fear Allah, He (ever) prepares a way out(Al- Quran: 65:2).  For the one who has taqwa, Allah ﷻ finds him a way out for his worries, distresses and calamities. The key for worries and distresses is taqwa. The one who has the key of taqwa, he will find a way to get rid of his worries. And who is saying this? Allah ﷻ is saying this and Allah ﷻ is the most truthful. It is because of the difference in my taqwa that after every difficulty pops up a new difficulty and after every trouble pops up a new trouble. If I remove one trouble, the other one comes up and when I remove the second one, the third one comes up.

waman yattaqi Allaha yajAAal lahu min amrihi yusraa.And for those who fear Allah, He will make their path easy. (Al- Quran: 65:4)  The one who has developed taqwa, Allah ﷻ has decided for him to make every single affair easy for him. For him, the ways of ease will keep opening. Wayarzuqhu min haythu la yahtasibu. And He provides for him from (sources) he never could imagine. (Al- Quran: 65:3)  The one who has the treasure of taqwa, Allah ﷻ has opened for him the sources of provision that he could never ever imagine. Allah ﷻ will grant him provision in a way that he never imagined and he will wonder how he got that. If one has taqwa, even his small deed is not small for Allah ﷻ will magnify it. waman yattaqi Allaha yukaffir anhu sayyiatihi wayuAAthim lahu ajraa. And if any one fears Allah, He will remove his ills, from him, and will enlarge his reward. (Al- Quran: 65:5) Famani ittaqa waaslaha fala khawfun AAalayhim wala hum yahzanoon. Those who are righteous and mend (their lives),- on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. (Al- Quran: 7:35) The one who has got the wealth and treasure of taqwa, he got such a security that no fear or grief will near him. The grief is related to the past things and the khawf (fear) is related to the future. Who can be more truthful than Allah ﷻ? The one who has the treasure of taqwa will not have any fear or grief.

The worrisome state of today’s society without taqwa

Today the fear has encompassed our society.  Neither the poor in the hut is not fearful of his poverty nor the rich in the luxury house is not fearful of his wealth. The khawf has wrapped everyone. Neither the grief has been removed from the hut of the poor nor from the house of the rich. This is because both the places are devoid of taqwa. There is heap of sins inside the hut of the poor and so there is disobedience of Allah ﷻ in the house of the rich. The poor is making Allah ﷻ angry with his poverty and the rich is showing his enmity to Allah ﷻ with his wealth. The one who has taqwa will not have fear or grief. He will lead his life without any fear or grief. Glory to Allah ﷻ! The one who is fortunate to have taqwa, Allah ﷻ will make him unconcerned of all the fears of this world. O honorable ones! I swear that the one who doesn’t fear Allah ﷻ, he will fear every single thing. Even his stray thoughts will scare him. He gets fearful of even those things that do not happen. He remains fearful of conditions based on suspicion and imagination. Famani ittaqa waaslaha fala khawfun AAalayhim wala hum yahzanoon. Those who are righteous and mend (their lives),- on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.

Taqwa is your fortress

wain tasbiroo watattaqoo la yadurrukum kayduhum shayaa. But if ye are constant and do right, not the least harm will their cunning do to you. (Al- Quran: 3:120) You have a lot of enemies and there are a lot who wish harm for you and the fortress against all this is taqwa. There are many who are jealous of you, there are many who have rancor for you, there are many enemies for you and there are many who wish harm for you. And Allah ﷻ is saying if you have the wealth of taqwa, all their plans will remain futile. There won’t be any need to go to an aamil (the one who cures jinn related problems, sihr and other evil things). How great is this wazeefa that Allah ﷻ himself is prescribing! Inna Allaha maAAa allatheena ittaqaw. For Allah is with those who restrain themselves. (Al- Quran: 16:128) When one gets the assistance of the ruler, he gets courage. If one gains the assistance of an army commander, his strength inside him gets increased. The one who has the treasure of Taqwa, Allah ﷻ is saying He ﷻ is with him. Tell me how much brave he will be from inside! How courageous he would be! What sort of courage he will have!

The efforts of a pious person will never go wasted

innahu man yattaqi wayasbir fainna Allaha la yudeeAAu ajra almuhsineen. Behold, he that is righteous and patient,- never will Allah suffer the reward to be lost, of those who do right. (Al- Quran: 12:90) Who doesn’t want his hard work to be fruitful? Every person wants his hard work to bring colors, his effort brings colors and there is some good result for his work. Allah ﷻ is saying that the one who has the treasure of taqwa, He ﷻ will not let his rewards to be lost. Definitely it will be fruitful. Behind this ayat, there is a big narration of Yusuf AS. The brothers wished harm for him, his blood relatives wished harm for him, his own people wanted to kill him, he was thrown into the well, he went into the prison, there were enemies surrounding him and everyone wanted to cause him harm but he did not leave the door of Allah ﷻ and He ﷻ exalted him in honor above all of them. Allah ﷻ will not waste the efforts of the pious person. So taqwa is the treasure of both the worlds. Thumma nunajjee allatheena ittaqaw. But We shall save those who guarded against evil.(Al- Quran: 19:72) The one who has taqwa will be seen as saved from every single trial of the akhirat.

The status of a pious man

Waseeqa allatheena ittaqaw rabbahum ila aljannati zumaraa. And those who feared their Lord will be led to the Garden in crowds. (Al- Quran: 39:73) The one who has taqwa will have a warm welcome. When some great personality comes, one stands at the door to welcome him and the doors are kept open for him. hatta itha jaooha wafutihat abwabuha. Until behold, they arrive there; its gates will be opened; (Al- Quran: 39:73). The one who has such a big treasure of taqwa, who is so wealthy in akhirat and so honored that Allah ﷻ will open all the gates of jannah in advance for him. inna akramakum AAinda Allahi atqakum. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. (Al- Quran: 49:13) Today you have your own standard of honor which is all bogus. Today you will honor a person by spreading sheet over his head and tomorrow you will hit his head with shoes. Today you will make a person sit on the throne and tomorrow you will hang him from the throne. Today you will garland him with flowers and tomorrow you will garland him with slippers. Your standard of honoring is all bogus. Allah ﷻ is saying, “inna akramakum AAinda Allahi atqakum. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.” This is the standard in the court of Allah ﷻ and this is indeed a firm standard. Even if a Muslim is old, he is honored for his piety. Observe how people compete to serve the old people of Allah ﷻ when old people are normally abandoned even by the children. When the fathers pocket becomes empty, the children turn away from him, when the man’s factory gets closed, his wife turns away from him, when beauty goes away from wife, the husband’s faithfulness goes away but if the taqwa comes, more a person gets old, more honor he will get in the hearts of people.

Taqwa is the treasure of both the worlds

The more a person has taqwa, that much he will have respect in people’s heart. He might get old, his pocket might go empty; his body might become very weak that he cannot stand erect, his hair might turn grey, he might be lying on the bed but the hearts of people will be so filled with respect and honor for him that they will feel it as an honor to serve such a person. This is nothing but taqwa. inna akramakum AAinda Allahi atqakum. This bounty of honor is from Allah ﷻ alone. He ﷻ has the treasure of honor. The solution for difficulty is in taqwa, the ease of affairs is in taqwa, the ease of provision is in taqwa, the freedom from difficulties is in taqwa, the freedom from fear and grief is in taqwa, the honor is in taqwa, the security of one’s hard work is in taqwa and the protection from enemies is in taqwa. Taqwa is such a great treasure. That is why Allah ﷻ has revealed the ayat about taqwa to every single Prophet, walaqad wassayna allatheena ootoo alkitaba min qablikum waiyyakum ani ittaqoo Allah. Verily we have directed the People of the Book before you, and you (o Muslims) to fear Allah. (Al- Quran: 4:131) The command of taqwa is present in the shari’at of every single Prophet.

Peace and security of a society depends on taqwa

The peace and security of the nations of the world is related to taqwa. The peace and tranquility of societies is related to taqwa. The refuge from the trials of akhirat is related to taqwa. wattaqoo Allaha la allakum tuflihoon.And fear Allah. that ye may prosper. (Al- Quran: 3:200) Embrace taqwa and you will be victorious. The refuge from trials, the peace and tranquility is related to taqwa. The increase in the crimes is not because of the shortage of policemen or lack of proper security measures. In fact the number of security men we have today, the security measures we have today, and the number of weapons we have today, we would have never imagined this before. Similarly we would have never imagined the number of crimes we have today. If there is any deficiency, and if there is progress in crimes, then that is because of the lack of taqwa. The fear of Allah ﷻ got removed from the mankind and the man becam­­­e an animal. There is no taqwa and there is no fear of Allah ﷻ.

If there was taqwa, there won’t be crimes even if no security arrangement was made and in fact the hands will stop committing crimes even when being alone. Even in solitude, the hands will stop. When Madyan was conquered, a precious diamond fell in the hands of a man and he came to hand over that diamond to the Ameer. The diamond was so precious that its value surpassed the value of the whole of the ghaneemat (war booty). The ameer so astonished asked him, “You didn’t take anything from this??” The man replied, “Had I not feared Allah ﷻ, I wouldn’t have left any clue about this diamond to you.” Seeing the excellence of this man, the Ameer asked him to at least tell his name. The man replied, “The one for whom I did this, knows also my name”. The peace and security of the nations of the world, the peace of the society, the well being in akhirat are all present in this wealth of taqwa. Now this wealth is coming to an end and Allah’s ﷻ fear got removed.

How merciful and beneficent is our Lord!

O honorable ones! This is a great treasure. Our Lord is so merciful, beneficent and compassionate with us that He ﷻ has given us a wealth. He ﷻ revealed, Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo kutiba Alaykumu alssiyamu kama kutiba AAala allatheena min qablikum laAAallakum tattaqoon. O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint. (Al- Quran: 2:183) Allah ﷻ is saying here He ﷻ made the fasting as an obligation so we get the wealth of taqwa. SubhanAllah! If you want to possess this wealth of taqwa, then know that the season to fetch that is coming. Such a great wealth and for few worthless coins, some of us lose it. When such a great season is coming, how much should we get prepared for this! I swear on Allah ﷻ that the commands of Allah ﷻ that is being disobeyed for few worthless coins will bring only more restlessness and distress in life in place of peace. The wealth that keeps away from Allah ﷻ will bring us more distress, in place of bringing peace, it will bring more restlessness and in place of tranquility it will bring more fear.

The season for earning the wealth of taqwa is coming

To make even that worthless money, how much one gets prepared for its season? How in advance of that season, one remains concerned of it? These worthless coins work only in the markets of this worthless dunya and even in this dunya, it won’t fully benefit one. As far as akhirat is concerned, the moment the eyes gets closed, all these comes to an end. The moment the soul leaves the body, the factories are of no use but how one adopts plans for that? And in fact to make this worthless season successful, today’s Muslims earn the enmity of Allah ﷻ. Today some of the cloth merchants don’t remain as cloth merchants but they have become the merchants of flesh trade. They have dirtied the streets, markets and roads, and they are spreading the adversities and the dirt. What sort of earning is theirs! But even for this reason, how many plans they adopt! And here is a season coming to earn the treasure of both the worlds. SubhanAllah! And this is such a treasure that will never be bogus be it here or in the hereafter. Such is this treasure. This is why our beloved Prophet ﷺ used to pray, “Allahumma barik lana fi Rajab wa Sha’ban wa ballighna Ramadan” O Allah! Make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan (i.e. prolong our life up to Ramadan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings. The season of such a great wealth is coming. Such a great season is coming for which our beloved Prophet ﷺ used to make duaas months before.

The appreciation of the month of Ramadan by our elders

Those who appreciated this month used to welcome this month in a lofty manner and they will say that the preparation for the season has started and they will earn a lot in Ramadan. Sheikh-ul-Hadeeth Maulana Zakariyya (RA) used to say that seeing the women of the house, one used to get envy in the month of Ramadan as in spite of doing all the house hold work, they used to complete reciting 15-20 ajza of Quran every day. And then the adhkaar and nawaafil stands separate from this. SubhanAllah! So one is entering the season and is earning. Sheikh-ul-Hadeeth Maulana Zakariyya (RA) used to say, “Whatever juzz I had to recite for the taraweeh that night, I will recite it 31 times, that is he recites more than one Quran. I didn’t adopt this method for just one Ramadan but for all the 40 Ramadan I faced in my life. And I used to recite 31 times because in case we see the moon on 29^th night, then my count of 30 Quran gets completed.”  People used to be very appreciative of this month. O honorable ones! I am not even narrating the stories of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ. I am talking about those who passed away some years before. Alhamdulillah even today we have people who complete the Quran every day in Ramadan. You will find many people who will easily recite 15-20 ajzaa of Quran everyday for these people are those who appreciate. This is because the month is so precious that Muslims should earn more and more, and one is going to get such a great wealth, taqwa. Allahu Akbar! The one who gets the taqwa has got the glad tidings of both the worlds in his hands.

Unfortunate and cursed are those who do not benefit from this month

When this is such a great wealth, then why should even one minute of this month be wasted? If one gets to a great season of earning and there is someone who couldn’t earn, what do people tell about him? They will say how unfortunate he is! I swear on Allah ﷻ that our beloved Prophet ﷺ used to say that the one in spite of getting the sacred month of Ramadan didn’t gain anything, indeed he was deprived. He was indeed an unfortunate one. Our beloved Prophet ﷺ used to curse very little. He cursed such a man who got the sacred month of Ramadan but didn’t earn the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ at His ﷻ door. Our Prophet ﷺ said, “May Allah SWT destroy him.”  Our beloved Prophet ﷺ didn’t curse much but then a person passes through such a precious month and his life doesn’t change and he didn’t get taqwa?? When a person stands in front of Baitullah and does an act of disobedience, how do people wonder at him? They will exclaim how unfortunate this man is and look where he is committing the sin! O honorable ones! Ramadan is the month where Allah ﷻ multiplies one’s good deeds and how unfortunate is the man who doesn’t stop committing sins even in this blessed month! How deprived is this man who doesn’t restrain from disobedience even in this sacred month!

Get prepared for Ramadan

For Allah’s sake, O Muslims! Earn more in this month so we get back the wealth of taqwa in our society. Let us get this wealth and we should start preparing for that right now for Allah ﷻ has blessed us with Ramadan to possess the wealth of taqwa. If the Ramadan had been coming in my life for 60 years, 50 years and 40 years and I didn’t get taqwa, then something is going wrong. Or else if one gets the Ramadan and he appreciates that month, then he will become the wali (friend) of Allah ﷻ. Ala inna awliyaa Allahi la khawfun AAalayhim wala hum yahzanoon. Allatheena amanoo wakanoo yattaqoon.Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve; Those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil;- (Al- Quran: 10:62-63) Allah’s ﷻ friends are those who embrace taqwa after eemaan. In this month, the wilayat (sainthood) of Allah ﷻ is distributed and the crown of wilaayat is placed on one’s head whom Allah ﷻ makes His ﷻ own.

How can my life be the same before and after Ramadan?

When this is the case, can my life be the same before and after Ramadan? I have been fasting in the month of Ramadan, praying taraweeh, did even sehri, iftari but I am standing in the same point where I was before Ramadan. My haram income was not replaced with halal income; the khayanat (breach of trust) of my eyes was not replaced with hayaa (modesty), the filth of my tongue was not replaced with security, there is still music coming out of my house, there is still the haram income entering my home, still the chador of hayaa didn’t come to my daughters but the Ramadan came and passed away! There was only the return of Ramadan but no noor was achieved. There are also people in whose houses the Ramadan doesn’t even come. There are people like this. These are very unfortunate people that their young daughters do not fast, young sons do not fast. Some are so unmannered and say to the extent that let those keep fasting who don’t have anything to eat. Such misleading talks!

Why are some deprived of blessings of Ramadan?

The condition of schools and colleges has gone worst that the canteens are opened where the young generation openly revolts against Allah ﷻ.  Some deprived ones are like this and then there are others to whom the Ramadan comes but not the noor. They even fast and our beloved Prophet ﷺ told that there are many who will fast and remain awake in the nights but other than hunger and deprivation of sleep, they get nothing. One got the Ramadan but no noor and the house still remains empty without taqwa. One is having nutritious food and good medicine but still he doesn’t acquire good health. When he was checked by a doctor, he was found to have a dreadful disease and with this disease, how good food he takes, he won’t get good health. O honorable ones! To some extent, people get to worship in Ramadan but there remains some dreadful sin in one’s life because of which one is deprived of blessings of Ramadan. Ramadan has been coming for about 40 years, 50 years and even sixty years but the taqwa didn’t come in my life. There is a big disease inside me because of which my life, my family is deprived of the blessings of Ramadan and the wealth of taqwa. There is such a dreadful disease. There are ill thoughts, jealousy, rancor and malice in the heart. The duaas do not rise up to the heavens because of the ill thoughts.

Do the ibaadat abundantly

O honorable ones! Yes, one should do loads of worship in this month, lots of nafil salahs should be offered, sadqah (alms) should be given in abundance and the tongue should be moist all the time with dhikr, the first kalima, durood sheriff and istighfar (seeking forgiveness). All these should be done in abundance, nafil salahs like ishraaq, chaasht, tahajjud should be offered. There is a special relation of Quran with Ramadan that Jibra’eel (AS) used to come down from heavens to the earth and teach the Prophet ﷺ the recitation of Quran and the Prophet ﷺ used to recite the Quran to him. There is a special relation of Quran with Ramadan. During the night, Muslims used to hear the recitation of the Quran and during day they used to recite it by themselves. If you cannot complete the recitation of Quran 30 times, complete it 20 times or 15 times and if you cannot do even that, at least complete reciting the Quran 10 times. Let there be more ibaadat. I wish men get takbir-e-oola (the first takbir in jamah), women pray immediately after adhan and men spend more time in masajid.

Do not fail to restraint yourself from sins

O honorable ones! In addition to the ibaadat, give importance to abstention from sins. Taqwa is a name given for not doing anything. One will get taqwa in the sacred month of Ramadan only when there is abstention from sins. Such a big treasure comes only with abstention from sins. Let there be such an exercise that the whole month of Ramadan is passed pure without sins and then see how your life gets changed. The reason so far for not being able to benefit fully from Ramadan is because there was fasting and also sins. You fast whole of the day and in the evening you sit before television. The ears are not pure from the sound of music, the eyes are also not pure and the heart too is impure. There is only filth and filth. The sehri is done with haram food and iftar is also done with haram food. O honorable ones! You fasted but when you went outside, your eyes didn’t get protection and fell for the haram. Our beloved Prophet ﷺ told that the evil glance (to look at ghair mahram woman) is one of the poisonous arrows of the shaitaan. When one is hit with a poisonous arrow, his physical life comes to an end and when one is hit with the poisonous arrow of evil glance, the life of eemaan gets finished. Today there is no protection for eyes when we go out.

Protect the eyes and taste the sweetness of eemaan

Let Allah ﷻ guide those who have made the environment filthy and who have made the obscenity and filth as traditions. O honorable ones! In such an environment, when one protects the eyes, our beloved Prophet ﷺ told that he will be blessed with the taste of sweetness of eemaan. The one who lowers the gaze for sake of Allah ﷻ, He ﷻ will grant him the sweetness of eemaan, the taste of eemaan. The more one finds difficulty to save from sins and the more one gets courage to embrace taqwa, the more he will get the noor of taqwa. If a blind man says he doesn’t see anything evil, what is so great about this! If there is a man with good eyesight and he protects the eyes from filth, then he is a man of excellence. The path I took from my room to this masjid is apparently a peaceful one and then one comes from a place to this masjid through a difficult path. Now both will not have the same rewards. This is like the one who is sacrificing 50 sheep and the other none. It is obvious that the one who sacrificed more number of sheep, he will get more rewards. One man reached the destination easily because his path was free from sins and the other one’s path was full of sins and so he reaches the destination with much difficulties saving from those sins. Now this man is like the one who sacrificed 50 sheep in the path of Allah ﷻ and so will be his status. The one who embraces taqwa to the extent of difficulty of an environment, so he will get the noor of eemaan and so will be the blessings of taqwa. So the one who lowers his gaze for sake of Allah ﷻ will get the sweetness of eemaan.

Little courage is what needed in Ramadan to save from sins

And it is very necessary to protect the eyes in this blessed month of Ramadan. It is not easy but do it with courage. Allah ﷻ chains the shaitaan but the effect of evilness in the eleven other months will be there on the soul and the gaze raises. One enemy, the shaitan has been chained and the other enemy, the nafs has been left out and it is easy to control this nafs. A little courage is what needed. In the month of Ramadan, a large tent of mercy is set from Allah ﷻ and in that tent you can see one going to masjid and the masajid are filled with muslims and this is a sign of setting up of Allah’s ﷻ tent of mercy. In such a blessed environment, it is easy to achieve taqwa. It is easy to restraint oneself from sins as the environment is made good. So protect your eyes, protect them inside the house and outside the house. Let Allah ﷻ forbid but in case the eyes commit sin, then for Allah’s ﷻ sake immediately turn to Allah ﷻ in repentance. See that the sin doesn’t leave its adverse effect on the fasting. Like I said before, just like committing a sin in the Baitullah is very unfortunate and so is committing a sin in the month of Ramadan.

Fasting will become difficult if we sin

So let there be control of gaze and the second thing to be controlled is the tongue. The mufassireen (experts in Quran commentary) and muhadditeen (experts in ahadeeth) have written that when a man spends the whole night in ibaadat and then sits for few minutes doing gheebat (backbiting), he loses all his good deeds he achieved during the night. Once it was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ about two women who found difficulty in fasting.  The Prophet ﷺ called those women and asked them to vomit in separate bowls when fresh meat and blood was found in the vomit of those women. The Prophet ﷺ said that these women did backbiting. One of the adverse effects of sin while fasting is it becomes very difficult to fast. The one who fasts embracing taqwa won’t even feel like he is fasting. To the extent one dirties his eyes and tongue; his fasting will trouble him to that extent. Some people won’t even have courage to fast. That is how they will be anxious. Rather for a muttaqi (pious man), the fasting is very easy. That is why, if our kind Lord ﷻ didn’t place this ability in us, He ﷻ wouldn’t have made it farz (compulsory). First my Lord placed this ability within us and then commanded us to do this.

Do not get deprived of the blessings of Ramadan

And there are so many blessings in it that subhanAllah! Allah ﷻ grants us reward and also the health. The kuffar may not know much about our fasting but they have also started to advise to fast and gain good health. Alhamdulillah, for us Muslims, there are good deeds, rewards in the akhirat and also the health with fasting. As said, one of the adverse effects of the sins is that one feels the fasting to be very heavy. O honorable ones! Let the eyes be protected and let the tongue be protected so no sinful talk is uttered by this tongue.  To speak the truth, don’t even speak more than what is necessary. Speak very less in Ramadan. When a man sees more, he will also look at bad things, when he speaks more, he will also speak evil and when he hears more, he will also hear bad. Restraining yourself means you don’t even speak more. Control this tongue. If you do more ibaadat but do not control the eyes and tongue, then you will be deprived of the blessings of Ramadan. And Ramadan will pass away and you too will be fasting like others saying it is Ramadan but you will stand in same place where you were before Ramadan. Such could be the unfortunate thing.

Think this Ramadan to be your last Ramadan

O honorable ones! Who knows this might be our last Ramadan. Are we going to allow this Ramadan to leave us just like that? What a deprivation! How many you know who were alive in the last Ramadan and today they are no more! You read janaza salah for them and you buried them. How many are there like that! Who knows how many days are left for us. If Allah ﷻ is granting us this blessing, then embrace it as if this is your last Ramadan. A young man came to the Prophet ﷺ and requested him to advise him. Prophet ﷺ advised, “Pray the salaat as if that is your last salaat.” Allahu Akbar! The Prophet ﷺ is advising about the salaat that comes five times every day to pray like it is the last salaat. O honorable ones! This Ramadan comes only once a year. How many passed away! Who knows this is the last chance that Allah ﷻ has giving us to earn more rewards, to seek His ﷻ forgiveness, to gain His ﷻ proximity and to change our life. Who knows? Let your eyes be protected and let your tongue be protected.

Have more concern for halal during Ramadan

O the honorable ones! The think which is wrong to utter is wrong to hear too. Singing is haram and hearing the songs is also haram. Backbiting is haram and so is its hearing. Your fasting will go waste. All your hard work will go waste. The precious wealth will go out of your hands. So protect your eyes, tongue and ears and my honorable ones, have concern for halal food during sehri and iftar. If your income is halal then Alhamdulillah it is very blessed and if your income is not halal, then don’t let such a precious month to be wasted and try to get something halal and spend the entire month of Ramadan with halal things. To make the worldly earning season successful, people try to get money even with interest. O honorable ones! This is the season of dunya and akhirat, so have concern for halal things. Get halal money from somewhere and do your sehri with halal food and break your fast with halal money. The Prophet ﷺ mentioned about a person who undergoes a lengthy journey in a state that he is disheveled and dusty. He spreads his hands towards the sky (calling), “O my lord, O my lord”, however his food is Haram, his drink is Haram, his clothes are Haram and he has been nourished with Haram! So how will his call be answered?” So protect your eyes, tongue, ears and haram food. Do not eat haram food.

Let the Ramadan bring revolution in your life

Have concern for halal and see how your life gets changed. You will then enjoy Ramadan and you will have strong feeling of passing through Ramadan. You then won’t be like that old merchant, that old husband or that old wife and that old child. Allah ﷻ will change their entire life inshaaAllah. Their akhlaaq (conduct and manners) will change, the trustworthiness will resurge in their life, their ibaadat will excel and their entire life will change. How fortunate are those whose lives changes with Ramadan! After Ramadan, they get addicted to masajid; after Ramadan, they start earning halal; after Ramadan, they come in the company of pious people; after Ramadan, the sound of music stops coming from their houses; after Ramadan, the daughters start wearing the chador of hayaa and the daughters start looking very modest. The Ramadan brings revolution in their life. This is the month of tarbiyat (training). This is the season of taqwa and one gets the wealth of taqwa.

Get prepared right now

Very few days are left for Ramadan. The abstention of few things that I told about let it get started from right today. Let it not so happen that you have a bad habit and the Ramadan is started with this same bad habit and you end up committing some sins. And the adverse effect of this sins stay in the whole of the Ramadan. So start considering these things right now and properly you get saved from these sins in the Ramadan. That is why it is said about the one, whose Ramadan passes properly, his entire year will pass properly. Say you give your vehicle in workshop and every part of the vehicle is properly cleaned up, what you will say? “Now the vehicle will run well for the whole of the year.” If the vehicle didn’t work well, then the workshop job was not done properly. The truth is Ramadan is the month of purification and tarbiyat. If the Ramadan is passed well, then the life of the entire year will go smooth and in proper phase. So give importance from right now and do not see haram, do not hear haram, do not speak haram and have concern for halal earnings. Then there is a hope from Allah ﷻ that He ﷻ will grant us Ramadan with its complete blessings. Very strange is this wealth. The people of Allah ﷻ used to prepare and wait for this Ramadan for six months and for the rest six months, they used to pray for its acceptance. Their entire year goes around Ramadan, Ramadan. This is like if one gets one or two good seasons in a year, then the tradesmen’s life goes around these two seasons. The people of eemaan used to wait for this month and when they get this Ramadan and it passes away, they start praying for its acceptance, “O Allah! Accept our Ramadan.”

Let Allah ﷻ help us all to act on what we hear, read and write. Ameen