رمضان کی آمد پر رسول ﷺ کا ایک خطبہ

Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that on the last day of the month of Sha'ban the Messenger of Allah ص delivered a sermon to us, in which he said: “O people! A month of great majesty and blessing is casting its shadow over you. In this blessed month there is a night (Laylat al-Qadr) that is better than a thousand months. Allah has made fasting in this month obligatory, and He has appointed standing before Him at night (i.e. praying the Tarawih) as a voluntary act of worship (for which there is a very great reward). Whoever, in this month, draws near to Allah by performing a voluntary act of worship (a Sunnah or supererogatory prayer) to seek His pleasure and nearness, its reward will be equal to that of an obligatory act in another time; and whoever performs an obligatory act in this month, its reward will be equal to that of seventy (70) obligatory acts in another time. It is the month of patience, and it is the very month in which the sustenance of the believing servants is increased. Whoever, in this month, provides a fasting person with something to break the fast (seeking Allah’s pleasure and reward), it will be a means of the forgiveness of his sins and of freedom from the Fire, and he will be given a reward equal to that of the fasting person, without any decrease in the reward of the fasting person. It was said to him: ‘O Messenger of Allah! Not every one of us has the means to provide a fasting person with something to break the fast (so will the poor be deprived of this great reward?).’ He said: ‘Allah will grant this reward even to the one who gives a fasting person a little diluted buttermilk, or even a single sip of water, to break the fast.’ (Continuing his address, he said:) ‘And whoever feeds a fasting person a full meal, Allah will give him to drink from my Pool (i.e. Kawthar) such a drink that he will never feel thirst again until he enters Paradise. The first part of this blessed month is mercy, its middle part is forgiveness, and its last part is freedom from the Fire.’ (He then said:) ‘And whoever lightens and reduces the work of his slave and servant in this month, Allah will forgive him and grant him release and freedom from the Fire.’” (Bayhaqi)

The purpose and message of this Prophetic sermon ص are utterly clear. In it the Messenger of Allah ص mentioned very many of the blessings and mercies connected with Ramadan al-Mubarak. The first and greatest excellence he stated about Ramadan is that in this blessed month there is a night better not merely than a thousand days and nights but than a thousand months — a fact which, as we all know, is set out in detail in Surah al-Qadr; indeed this entire surah concerns the majesty and excellence of this blessed night, and to appreciate its greatness and importance this alone is enough. And he declared keeping vigil in the nights of Ramadan — for the Tarawih and for other Sunnah and supererogatory acts of worship of that kind — to be a voluntary devotion; so whoever keeps vigil and prays the Tarawih and the like will be granted a great reward, while whoever abandons it will be deprived of the felicity of goodness and welfare.

Likewise he ص declared that the reward of a voluntary good deed being equal to that of an obligatory one, and the reward of every obligatory good deed being seventy times greater, is from the blessing and excellence of every day and every night of Ramadan al-Mubarak. Then he ص said that this is the month of patience and sympathy, because one of the basic aims of fasting is that we acquire the habit of patience, forbearance and self-restraint, and learn to give up of our own will the things the self craves; and secondly, that we come to feel the hardships of the poor and needy who, out of poverty, endure fast upon fast.
Likewise he ص also said that in this blessed month the sustenance of the people of faith is increased. Every believing fasting person experiences this without exception: that as much good food and drink, and with as much ease, as one gets in Ramadan al-Mubarak, one does not get in the remaining eleven months — no matter by what means, in this world of causes, it may come; it all comes by the command of Allah alone and by His decree. After this, he ص described each ten-day period of the month of Ramadan al-Mubarak by a special quality of its own: the first ten days he made mercy, the middle ten forgiveness, and the last ten the ten-day period of freedom from Hell. At the end of the sermon he ص also said: in the month of Ramadan al-Mubarak treat your servants and employees with the utmost kindness and love, and be easy and considerate regarding their duties of service.

Keeping in view all these excellences, majesty and blessings of Ramadan al-Mubarak, we should all rid ourselves of our indifference and heedlessness, prepare for Ramadan al-Mubarak with single-minded focus, and receive this sacred month in a manner befitting its dignity. Even before Ramadan we should attain purity of heart through repentance and seeking forgiveness, and beg Allah for enabling grace, and make a firm and resolute intention that in the coming days we will keep away from sins and rebellion, guard ourselves against disobedience to Allah, and fulfil the rights of Allah and of Allah’s servants in the best of ways. O Allah, help us. Amin!