Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) Sermon on
welcoming the month of Ramadhan
O People! The
month of Allah
(Ramadhan) has
approached you
with His mercy and
blessings. This is the month that is the best
of all months in the estimation of Allah. Its
days are the best among the days; its
nights are the best among the nights. Its
hours are the best among the hours.
This is a month in which he has invited you.
You have been, in this month, selectedas
the recipients of the honors of Allah, the
Merciful. In this holy month, when you
breathe, it has the Sawab/thawab
(heavenly reward) of 'Tasbeeh' (the praise
of Allah on rosary beads), and your sleep
has the thawab of worship.
Your good deeds are accepted in this
month. So are your invocations. Therefore,
you must invoke your Lord, in right earnest,
with hearts that are free from sins and evils,
that Allah may bless you, observe fast, in
this month, and recite the Holy Quran.
Verily! The person who may not receivethe
mercy and benevolence of Allah in this
month must be very unfortunate having an
end as bad (in the Hereafter). While fasting,
remember the hunger and thirst of
tomorrow in Qiyamat. Give alms to the
poor and the needy. Pay respects to your
elders.
Have pity on those younger than you and
be kind towards your relatives and
kinsmen. Guard your tongues against
unworthy words, and your eyes from such
scenes that are not worth seeing
(forbidden) and your ears from such
sounds that should not be heard by you.
Be kind to orphans so that when your
children become orphans they also may be
treated with kindness. Do invoke that Allah
may forgive your sins. Do raise your hands
at the time of Salat (Prayers), as it is the
best time for asking His mercy. When we
invoke at such times, we are answered by
Him, when we call Him, He responds, and
when we ask for anything, it is accepted by
Him.
O People! You have made your conscience
the slave of your desires; make it free by
invoking Him for Istighfar (repentance/
forgiveness). Your back is breaking under
the heavy load of your sins, so prostrate
before Him for long intervals and make it
lighter.
Do understand fully well that Allah has
promised in the name of His Majesty and
Honor that He will not take to task such
people who fast and offer Salat in this
month and perform 'sajda' (prostration),
and will guard their bodies against the Fire
of Hell on the Day of Judgment.
O People! If anybody amongst you
arranges for the Iftar (food for the ending
of the fast) of any believer, then Allah will
give him a reward as if he has set free a
slave. He will forgive his minor sins.
Then the companions of Holy Prophet
Muhammad (saw) said: "But everybody
amongst us does not have the means to do
so?"
Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) told them: -
Keep yourself away from the Fire of Hell,by
inviting for 'Iftar', though it may consist of
only half a date or simply with water if you
have nothing else. O People! Anybody who
may cultivate good manners in this month
will walk over the 'Siraat' (Bridge) in
'Qiyamat', though his feet may be shaking.
Anybody who in this month may take light
work from his servants (male or female),
Allah will make easy his accounting on the
Day of Judgment.
Anybody who does not tease others in this
month, Allah will keep him safe from His
wrath in Qiyamat. Anybody, who respects
and treats an orphan with kindness in this
month, Allah shall look at him with dignity
in Qiyamat. Anybody who treats well his
kinsmen, in this month, Allah will bestow
His mercy on him in Qiyamat, while
anybody who maltreats his kinsmen in this
month, Allah will keep him away from His
mercy, in Qiyamat.
Whoever offers
'Sunnat'
(Recommended)
prayers in this
month, Allah will
give him a certificate of freedom from Hell.
Whosoever offers one 'Wajib' Salat in this
month, for him the Angels will write the
rewards of 70 such prayers, which were
offered by him in any other months.
Whosoever recites repeatedly 'Salat and
salam (Salawat)' on me, Allah will keep the
scales of his deeds heavy, when in Qiyamat
the scales of others will be tending towards
lightness.
Whosoever recites in this month only one
'Ayat' (verse of the Holy Quran), he will be
rewarded in a manner as if he had recited
the full Holy Quran in the other months.
O People! The Gates of Paradise remain
opened in this month. Do invoke that the
gates may not be closed on you, while the
Gates of Hell are closed. Do invoke that
these gates may never be opened. During
this month Shaitan (Satan) is imprisonedso
ask your Lord not to let him have power
over you.
IMPORTANCE OF DUROOD SHAREEF
(Salawat): What an Angel can't do?
Shaikh Abul Futuh Razi narrates from the
Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) that: He
the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said,
"On the night of Isra and Miraj (Shab-E-
Meraj) when I ascended to the heavens, I
saw an Angel who had a thousand hands.
On each of his hands there were a
thousand fingers, and he was counting
something on them.
I asked Jibreel (pbuh) as to who that Angel
was, and what was he counting? Jibreel
(pbuh) replied that the Angel had been
appointed by Allah to count the drops of
rain, so that it may be known as to how
many drops have fallen down to the earth.
I turned towards the Angel and asked him,
"Do you know the total amount of the
raindrops which have fallen down on the
earth from the day Allah created this world
till now"?
To which he replied, "O Prophet of Allah! I
swear by my Lord who has chosen you (as a
blessing) for mankind, verily I know the
total amount of raindrops fallen on the
earth till now. Even to the extent that how
many drops have fallen in the wilds, in the
prosperous lands, in the gardens, and also
in the cemetery."
Then I told him that I was very much
surprised by the power of his mind and
intellect and the ability to remember, to
which he replied, "O Prophet of Allah! Verily
this ability to count proves futile when I try
to count only one thing." I asked him as to
what calculation was that. He replied,
"When people of your Ummah gather at
one place and send Salawat (Salat and
salam) upon you, it is beyond my ability
and capacity to count the rewards for it."
Holy Prophet Muhammad's (saw)
Teachings about the Month of Ramadhan
Imam al-Baqir (A.S.)
said that Holy
Prophet Muhammad
(saw) used to face the
people and say: "O ye people, when the
crescent of the month of Ramadhan shines,
all devils will be chained, the doors of
heaven will open, while the doors of hell
will be closed; prayers will be answered...
Then with the advent of the month of
Shawwal, the believers will be told to count
their rewards... These rewards, I swear by
God, could not be compared with material
rewards of money".
Yes, all these blessings are awarded by the
blessing of the Holy Quran in the month of
Ramadhan. But it is man who unties the
devils by committing sins. It is he who
opens the gates of Hell which Allah has
closed.
The Prince of the Faithful Imam Ali (A.S)
said: "I asked Holy Prophet Muhammad
(saw) what are the best deeds in the month
of Ramadhan, and he (saw) answered: "The
best deeds are to deter oneself from doing
what Allah made unlawful" and he (saw)
cried: I asked him what he was crying for
and he explained: "I am crying about what
is going to happen to you in this month. I
can almost visualize you praying to your
God, when the most evil man in the history
of mankind will stake you with his sword...
The Prince of the Faithful then asked:
"Would this ensure the safety and the
wellbeing of my religion" To this Holy
Prophet Muhammad (saw) answered: "Yes
it would, but who ever kills you will be
killing me, and who hates you hates me,
and who offends you is offending me. You
are to me, in the same position as myself.
Your soul is my soul, and your body is my
body.""
No comments:
Post a Comment