RAMADAN IS A MONTH OF INCREASED ACTIVITY

RAMADAN IS A MONTH OF INCREASED ACTIVITY

~Asif Nawaz 

Ramadan is the ninth month of our Islamic calendar. Islam uses a lunar calendar—that is, each month begins with the sighting of the new moon. Because the lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar used elsewhere, Islamic holidays "move" each year. This year Ramadan begins on 20th July. 2012
For more than 1.50 billion Muslims around the world—including some 140 million in India—Ramadan is a "month of blessing" marked prayer, fasting, and charity, in which we refrain from eating and drinking and is intended to teach us about patience, humility, and spirituality. We fast for the sake of Allah and to offer more prayer than usual.

All praises to Allah, Lord of the worlds. He who revealed in His Glorious Quran, "Oh you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those who came before you that you may keep your duty to your Lord (having taqwa)," 2:185.

And may blessings and-peace of Allah be upon His last Messenger Muhammad ibn Abdullah (PBUH), forever. Oh you who believe, Ramadan is a sacred month wherein Almighty Allah is constantly testing His creation and giving humanity the opportunity to achieve infinite, endless Bliss. Fasting is a complete purification and a means to developing the consciousness of Allah's presence. The consciousness of Allah, Taqwa, is a protection against the schemes of Shaitan, and the suffering of this world. Allah has informed us that, "Whoever keeps his duty to Allah (has taqwa), He ordains a way out for him and gives him sustenance from where he imagines not. And whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him. Surely Allah attains His purpose. Allah has appointed a measure for everything." (65:2)

Many Muslims today have a misconception about fasting and the activities of a fasting person. They go into a state of semi- hibernation, spending most of their daylight hours in bed. If they fear Allah, they wake up for prayer, but then return to sleep immediately. This unnatural sleep makes them become lazy, dull witted and often cranky.

Ramadan is actually a time of increased activity wherein the believer, now lightened of the burdens of constant eating and drinking, should be more willing to strive and struggle for Allah. The Prophet passes through approximately nine Ramadan's after the Hijrah. They were filled with decisive events and left us a shining example of sacrifice and submission to Allah.

In the first year after the Hijrah, the Prophet sent Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib (R) with thirty Muslim riders to Saif al Bahr to investigate three hundred riders from Quraish who had camped auspiciously in that area. On the seventeenth of Ramadan, 3 A.H., Almighty Allah separated truth from falsehood at the Great Battle of Badar. In 6 A.H., Zaid ibn Haritha was sent to Wadi al-Qura at the head of a detachment to confront Fatimah bint Rabiah, the queen of that area.Fatimah had previously attacked a caravan led by Zaid and had succeeded in plundering its wealth. She was known to be the most protected woman in Arabia, as she hung fifty swords of her close relatives in her home. Fatimah was equally renowned for showing open hostility to Islam. She was killed in a battle against these Muslimsin the month of Ramadan. By Ramadan of 8 A H., the treaty of Hudaibiyya had been broken and the Muslim armies had engaged the Byzantines in the North. Muhammad (PBUH) felt the need to strike a fatal blow to disbelief in the Arabian Peninsula and conquer the city of Mecca. The Prophet set out with an army having more armed men than Al-Madinah had ever seen before. People were swelling the army's ranks as it moved toward Makkah. The determination of the believers, guided by the Will of Allah, became so awesome that the city of Makkah was conquered without a battle, on - 20 Ramadan.

 Such was the month of Ramadan in the time of the Prophet. It was a time of purification, enjoining the good, forbidding evil, and striving hard with one's life and wealth. After the death of the Prophet, Muslims carried on this tradition and Allah used the true believers to affect the course of history. Ramadan continued to be a time of great trials and crucial events.

In the later period after The Prophet (PBUH) Islam had spread across North Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria. Spain was under the tyrannical rule of King Roderic of the Visigoths. Musa ibn Husair, the Umayyad governor of North Africa, sent his courageous general Tariq ibn Ziyad at the head of 12,000 Berber and Arab troops. In Ramadan of that year, they were confronted with a combined Visigoth army of 90,000 Christians led by Roderic. After burning his boats, Tariq preached to the Muslims warning them that and Paradise lay ahead of them and defeat and the sea to the rear. They burst with great enthusiasm and Allah manifested a clear victory over the forces of disbelief. Not only was Roderic and his forces completely annihilated, but Tariq and Musa succeeded in liberating whole of Spain, Sicily and of France. This was the beginning of the Golden Age of Al-Andalus where Muslims ruled for over 700 years.

In the year 682 A.H., Salahuddin al-Ayyubi, after battling with the Crusaders for years, finally drove them out of Syria and the whole of their occupied lands in the month of Ramadan. The Muslim world was then destined to meet one of its most frightening challenges.

This was the spirit of Ramadan that enabled our righteous forefathers to face seemingly impossible challenges. It was a time of intense activity, spending the day in the saddle and the night in prayer while calling upon Allah for His mercy and forgiveness. Today, the Muslim world is faced with drought, military aggression, widespread corruption and tempting materialism. Surely we are in need of believers who can walk in the footsteps of our beloved Prophet, the illustrious Sahabah, Tariq ibn Ziyad, Qutuz, Salahuddin and the countless heroes of Islam. Surely we are in need of believers who are unafraid of the threats of the disbelievers, yet kind and humble to the believing people; Muslims whose fast is complete and not just a source of hunger and thirst.

May Allah raise up a generation of Muslims who can carry Islam to all corners of the globe in a manner that befits our age, and may He give us the strength and the success to lay the proper foundations for them. May Allah make us of those who carry out our Islam during Ramadan and after it, and may He not make us of those who say what they do not do. Surely Allah and His Angels invoke blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad. Oh you who believe send blessings and peace to him forever.