Ramadan & The Beauty of the Shari'ah - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Ramadan & The Beauty of the Sharī'ah

This being the first Jumu'ah of this blessed month of Ramadan, I want to begin with a hadith of our Prophet ﷺ because it was his common practice that especially for this month of Ramadan, he would greet his companions with this month. And this wasn't always the general practice of our Prophet ﷺ for every act of worship.

He wouldn't, for example, greet his companions or his followers after the obligatory prayers. And this is something which is prevalent in some communities — that when they offer one of the obligatory prayers in congregation, they greet one another after the salah. It's not from the sunnah. Maybe you can do it once or twice as a one-off thing, but it's not from the sunnah. The Prophet ﷺ wouldn't greet his companions during the time of hajj for those people that don't perform hajj. He wouldn't just go and greet them on any and every occasion.

But one time in which he would speak to them and he would greet them at the beginning of a season of worship is this month of Ramadan. And what is collected in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad and the Sunan of Imam al-Nasa'i, on the authority of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه, the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Imam Ahmad, Hadith 7148; Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 2106)

He said that indeed there has come upon you a blessed month — the month of Ramadan. And Allah has obligated upon you to fast this month. Within this month Allah has opened wide the gates of paradise, and He has closed shut the gates of the fire, and He has ordered and commanded that the devils be chained. And then he ﷺ said: within this month is a single night — it is equal to a thousand months. Whosoever is prevented from attaining the good of that night, then they have been prevented from all good.

So the Prophet ﷺ would speak to his companions, he would address them and speak to them about the importance of this blessed month. And that's because this month has an amazing opportunity for reward, and it has many lessons and many things that we can take and benefit from it.

The Central Lesson: The Beauty of Islam

All of those lessons go back to a single point. And that is the point that I want to bring to your attention in this khutbah. If you think of all of the khutbahs that you've heard over the years concerning this month of Ramadan — the different aspects and the different virtues and the different benefits, the different acts of worship that you've heard spoken of in the context of Ramadan; from charity to fasting, from prayer to the recitation of the Qur'an, from tawbah and seeking Allah's forgiveness — if you think about the do's and the don'ts and the concessions that are on offer in this month of Ramadan, they all come back to a central point.

And that is: one thing that Ramadan brings to us and to our attention is the beauty of Islam, the beauty of the sharī'ah. There are many occasions in which you can see the beauty of Islam, but few are as big and as emphasized as the month of Ramadan.

A Season to Excel in Good Deeds

This is a month in which we're told to excel in our good deeds. And that is from the beauty of our religion — that Allah has given to us seasons and times and places in which we need to up our efforts, we need to put in some more time and some more effort into attaining Allah's pleasure. This month of Ramadan is a prime example of that.

We as humans, all of us without exception, are people of sin. We sin by day and we sin by night. We sin in open and we sin in secret. We sin alone and in seclusion. And we sin openly and publicly and in congregation. We have so many sins that if you were to try to write them down, to remember them, to enumerate them, it would be beyond our capabilities. And that is our nature as humans.

And Allah has given us opportunities throughout the year — none greater than the month of Ramadan — to seek forgiveness for those deeds, for those sins that we've committed. Our Prophet ﷺ told us, and perhaps one of the most oft-quoted ahadith when it comes to this month of Ramadan:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 38; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 760)

Whosoever fasts this month of Ramadan having iman — believing in Allah, knowing that Allah is alone worthy of worship, and then making their worship sincerely for Him — and having ihtisab, hoping in the reward from Allah, knowing that Allah is the one alone who gives and grants reward, but at the same time fearing His punishment in case their good deeds are not accepted, in case we fall below that minimum level that is desired of us as Muslims — whosoever has those two components of faith and hope and fear, and they fast this month of Ramadan, Allah will forgive them for all of their sins.

And whosoever stands the nights of Ramadan in taraweeh prayer, praying to Allah, again with those two conditions of iman and hope and fear, then Allah will forgive them for all of those sins. But such is the greatness of this month that our Prophet ﷺ then went on to say: whosoever stands just the one night of Laylatul Qadr — just that single night — but they have iman and belief in Allah, and they have those components of hope in Allah's reward and fear from Allah's punishment, then Allah will forgive them for all of their sins.

And that is why our Prophet ﷺ — who already had all of his sins forgiven, who already didn't need to fear Allah's punishment, was already given salvation — in this month of Ramadan he too would excel, he too would realize that this is too good of an opportunity to pass by.

Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه said, in what is collected in Sahih al-Bukhari:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6)

Our Prophet ﷺ was the most generous of people. Outside of Ramadan, he was the most generous of people. No one ever came to him to ask for something except that he gave it to them. And if he didn't have it, he would ask for someone else to give it to them. No one would come to him with some need or some issue or some problem or some advice that they needed, except that they would find the Prophet ﷺ open and willing. He epitomized generosity in all of its forms. But then Ibn Abbas said: he was the most generous when the month of Ramadan came. You would think that generosity couldn't be surpassed, that there wasn't more that he could do — but in the month of Ramadan, he would do more. He would do more not only in charity, but in terms of his prayers, in terms of his recitation of the Quran, in terms of generally coming closer to Allah, as an example for me and you.

And that is part of the beauty of our religion. Allah has given us this amazing opportunity to gain reward, given us this opportunity to seek forgiveness for our sins. And you may think that it's only one Ramadan, that it's only one month, that it's only a few days of fasting or a few nights of prayer. But there is a big difference between those people who fast even one month of Ramadan as opposed to those people whom Allah decreed would pass away last year and were not able to see another month of Ramadan.

And what is collected in Sunan Ibn Majah and in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, on the authority of Talha ibn Ubaidillah رضي الله عنه — he said that there were two companions in the time of the Prophet ﷺ. One of them was more ardent in his worship, strove more in his worship than the other. And that one who strove more died, passed away. And then a year later, his brother, his friend also passed away.

Talha رضي الله عنه — one of the ten companions promised Paradise, an amazing senior companion — he said that I saw the two of them in a dream. And I saw the one who died a year later, even though he apparently seemed to be less in motivation, less in his acts of worship — he was given a greater reward than the one who died the year before. So he mentioned this to the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ said to him: Did not this man who died a year later pray so many prayers that his brother didn't pray? And did not this one who died a year later fast another month of Ramadan that his brother wasn't able to fast? The companion said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said: So the difference between the two is like the difference of the heavens and the earth.

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3925; Musnad Imam Ahmad, Hadith 1396)

That amazing opportunity — that one month of Ramadan that someone else wasn't able to have — Allah gives the reward whose difference is like the heavens and the earth. And that is part of the beauty of our sharī'ah.

The Sharī'ah is Easy — A Religion of Mercy

Also from the beauty of our sharī'ah that this month of Ramadan brings to our attention is that the sharī'ah is easy. It is a sharī'ah and a religion of mercy. It is a sharī'ah in which things have been made such that there are things we can manage with and cope with. Allah tells us in the Quran:

Allah hasn't placed any difficulty or burden upon you in this religion that you can't bear. Yes, there is effort, and yes, there is a need to push ourselves in this month of Ramadan. And we don't do anything in this life except that there's some effort that is part and parcel of that action. But at the same time, this religion is easy. Any component that we find too difficult to bear — that has adverse effects upon our health or our well-being — the sharī'ah comes and it facilitates ease. And it's not just in Ramadan, but outside of Ramadan as well.

In the hadith of Aisha رضي الله عنها in Sahih al-Bukhari, just to show you the beauty of this religion — she said that we were travelling with the Prophet ﷺ and we were coming back from a battle, from an expedition of war. And we stopped at a place to rest. We were at a time in our journey where all of our water had finished. We didn't have any water left that we were carrying. And the place that we stopped to rest also didn't contain water.

But as we were there resting, I lost a necklace that was dear to me. So I was trying to find it and I couldn't find it. So I told the Prophet ﷺ and he too began to search for it. And then the Prophet ﷺ spent so long searching for it that the evening set in and it was too late to continue to travel. The whole army is now stationary because of a necklace belonging to Aisha رضي الله عنها.

The companions, some of them became agitated and upset. They don't have water to drink, water for their animals, there are no watering holes nearby, and they don't have water for wudu. So they came to Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه and they said: it's because of your daughter and her necklace that we're in this predicament. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, sensing the frustration of the companions, came to the Prophet ﷺ and his daughter Aisha رضي الله عنها. The Prophet ﷺ was sleeping in the lap of Aisha. And he began to say to his daughter: it's because of you and your necklace that you held up a whole army — no water to be found, no water to be drunk, and the whole army is now waiting because of you and your necklace. And she said he began to poke her to show how upset he was.

And she said that she didn't move because of fear that she would disturb the Prophet ﷺ who was sleeping in her lap. They spent that night there. And in the morning when they woke up for Fajr and they needed to make wudu, Allah sent down to them the verses of tayammum.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 334)

And this is the beauty of the sharī'ah. Whenever we're in a situation and a difficult place that we think there's no way out, the sharī'ah always comes and it facilitates ease.

In the salah, many of our elders and our brothers are sitting on chairs. That is from the concession, from the beauty of the sharī'ah. Imran ibn Hussain رضي الله عنه, the companion, said: I came to the Prophet ﷺ and I complained of hemorrhoids and I couldn't pray because of this condition. So the Prophet ﷺ said to me:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1117)

Pray standing. But if you can't pray standing, then pray sitting down. And if you can't pray sitting down, then pray lying down on your side.

The Prophet ﷺ, in a third example of this — in what is collected in Sahih al-Bukhari — when the people were getting ready to perform Hajj, he passed by an elderly man who was old in age, leaning on the shoulders of his two sons on either side. They were walking with him and he was dragging his feet. The Prophet ﷺ said: What's wrong with this elderly man? Why is he walking like this? Why doesn't he ride? Why are his two children dragging him along? And he's in ihram, he's going for Hajj.

They said: O Messenger of Allah, he made an oath to Allah that he would only make Hajj walking on his feet. He made an oath to Allah that he would travel from Medina to Makkah walking on his feet. And he's an old man, he can't walk. The Prophet ﷺ said: Indeed Allah is free and rich from this man having to punish himself. Allah doesn't need him to go through that extent of ordeal and difficulty, harm his life, his health, make so much difficulty for his own children. Allah doesn't need that kind of worship. Rather, tell him to go and ride.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1865)

And this is the beauty of the sharī'ah. And that is why Allah, when He speaks to us about fasting, He says:

Whosoever from amongst you is sick or they're traveling, then make up those days after the month of Ramadan. And if you can't make up those days because of your elderly age or because of some other condition that you have, then you feed a poor person for every single day that you missed. That's from the beauty of the sharī'ah.

And from the beauty of the sharī'ah is that when you take that concession, Allah gives you exactly the same reward as if you were fasting. The Prophet ﷺ told us:

When a person has a condition — when they have a valid excuse that prevents them from doing any act of worship — Allah says to the angels who write down the good deeds: write for this person the best of the actions that they used to perform. Not just any action, not just any deed — the best of the good deeds that they used to perform. And that is from the beauty of the sharī'ah.

So when, in this month of Ramadan, our sisters don't fast because of their monthly cycles, our elders who don't fast, people who have medical conditions that prevent them from fasting, if you're traveling for a valid reason — those are all concessions in the sharī'ah. And that is from the beauty of Islam.

Balancing Striving and Ease

So how do we balance? What is the sharī'ah giving to us as individuals in order to maximize this opportunity of Ramadan? On the one hand, we're told to strive and to excel and to do as much as we can. And then on the other hand, we're told that this religion is easy, that it facilitates mercy, that it makes things comfortable for people.

And the way that we balance between the two is also from the beauty of this religion. And that is that Allah has left it to each and every single one of us to command our own schedule, to determine what it is that we can and cannot do. Allah has told us all of the opportunities that are available to us — all of those doors of good deeds and those gates of reward that are before us. But then Allah only obligated fasting upon us. And everything else He left for us to choose, so that it fits in with what is easiest for us.

Because there are some of us who aren't able to fast. And some of us who can't pray the taraweeh prayer. And maybe there are other people who, because of their work schedule and how early they have to wake up in the morning, it's not easy for them to do the actions and the good deeds that other people who don't have those same commitments are able to perform.

The beauty of the sharī'ah in every single aspect is that it gives to you the ability to choose what is better for yourself — on the condition that you do so with sincerity and to the best of your ability. So when the people used to come to Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah, they used to ask him: what is the best type of hajj that you can perform? Is it the hajj in which you make the umrah and then come out of ihram and then make the hajj — the tamattu'? Which type of hajj is best? He would reply: the one that is best for you is best. If it is easy for you to do the two things separately, that is better. If it's not, then it is better for you to combine them. And if you can only make hajj alone without that umrah, then do so.

And that's how it is in the month of Ramadan. Allah has given to us many opportunities of good deeds. And those good deeds — yes, we know that we should read as much Quran as possible, preferably finish the Quran once if not twice, if not three times; that we should pray as much as we can and give as much charity as we can. But that may not always be possible in the case of every person. You know yourself best. And Allah knows your sincerity. And Allah knows if you're performing those actions to the best of your capability.

Small Deeds of Amazing Reward

But from the beauty of the sharī'ah, and from the ease of the sharī'ah, and from the amazing nature of this religion that Allah has given to us, is that there are so many small deeds that we can perform — that if we were to concentrate upon them in this month of Ramadan, small actions that we take for granted, small deeds that we often overlook and neglect — they contain amazing amounts of reward. Things that we take for granted, that we do every single day, that outside of Ramadan have become habitual and routine to us. If we were to spend some time focusing on them in this month of Ramadan, there are gates to amazing reward.

Perfecting Wudu

From amongst them is making wudu. Everyone makes wudu — we make wudu multiple times a day. But the wudu that is being referred to is what is called isbāgh al-wudu — perfecting your wudu, making wudu properly and calmly, doing it to such an extent that you make sure that you wash each and every single limb properly as it should be washed.

The Prophet ﷺ, when he spoke about the gates of Jannah — the gates of paradise are eight gates, each one of those gates is for a single act of worship; there is a gate for the people of fasting called al-Rayyān, and there is a gate for the people of jihad and for the people of charity and for the people of prayer — then the Prophet ﷺ was asked about those people who on the Day of Judgment will be allowed to enter from any of the eight gates that they choose. All eight gates will be open before them. And you would think that it takes amazing amounts of deeds and amazing actions of worship to be able to earn that honor. But the Prophet ﷺ told us that whosoever makes wudu and they perfect their wudu, they do it to the best of their ability, and then afterwards they say:

Allah will open for them all of the eight gates of Jannah. A simple action that we take for granted. In this month of Ramadan, if you're busy, if you don't have time, or if you're at work but you're going to make wudu irrespective of where you are — just taking some extra time, a couple of minutes more, and doing that wudu properly has amazing reward.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 234)

The Sunnah Prayers

Not only that, but when it comes to our salah — if normally we're busy and we only pray the fard raka'ahs, only the obligatory part of the salah, and we miss our sunnahs — this is an amazing opportunity for reward. The Prophet ﷺ told us:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 725)

Those two raka'ahs of Salat al-Fajr are better than this world and everything within it. And whosoever prays twelve optional raka'ahs a day, Allah will build for them a palace in paradise.

Slowing Down in Salah

Not only that, but even in our salah when we're praying — another issue that's become habitual to us. We pray and we rush, and so many times our mind is so busy and preoccupied that we rarely connect — or only connect very little — with our salah. If in this month of Ramadan, an act of worship that again is easy to perform and that you're going to be performing anyway — you take two or three minutes extra, slow down the pace, and think about what it is that you're reading — it contains amazing reward.

In the hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ saw a companion enter the masjid and pray. And then as he stood up from ruku' he said:

He said it in such a way that the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 799)

I saw over thirty angels, each one of them racing to be the first one to write down that good deed — just because of the way that he said it. One single statement of the salah, and over thirty angels race towards it. It is an amazing opportunity for reward.

Reciting the Quran

Reciting the Quran — when you're traveling to work or coming back from work, when you have a few moments to spare. It's not a condition of the Quran that you have to have it open all the time and read from cover to cover. Yes, that's something that we should do and aim to perform in this month of Ramadan. But those times where an opportunity isn't available, reading what you know from memory is also equally rewarding.

Surah al-Ikhlas — that surah that all of us know, that we sometimes think is not enough to read. Didn't the Prophet ﷺ tell us that it is equal to a third of the Quran? If that's all you can know and all you can read whilst you're busy, whilst you're at work, whilst you have a few moments to spare — it is an amazing amount of good deeds.

Dhikr — Remembrance of Allah

Making dhikr of Allah and remembering Allah — those simple statements that flow so easily from the tongue, yet most of us don't have the mind or the ability to remember that it's something that we need to do. It is an amazing source of reward.

The Prophet ﷺ told us that saying الحمد لله — just praising Allah, saying alhamdulillah — fills the scales of good deeds. To say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ, Allah plants for you a tree in Paradise.

To say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ، سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ — the Prophet ﷺ told us in the last hadith that Imam al-Bukhari collected in his famous book of hadith — he said that there are two statements, SubhanAllahi wa bihamdih, SubhanAllahil Azeem, that are beloved to Allah, light upon the tongue, but extremely heavy upon the scales.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6406)

To say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ a hundred times — the Prophet ﷺ said it will forgive for you all of your sins, even if they're like the froth of the ocean. It takes you two to three minutes, wherever you are, to say SubhanAllahi wa bihamdih a hundred times, and it gives you forgiveness for all of your sins.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6405; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2691)

To say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ a hundred times — the Prophet ﷺ told us — will write for you a thousand good deeds, or will remove from you a thousand sins. These are things that don't take more than a minute or two to complete.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2073)

To say لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ — the Prophet ﷺ said: kanzun min kunūzil jannah — it is from the treasures of Paradise.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6384; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2704)

To show you how amazing this opportunity of reward is — our mother, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, Juwayriyah رضي الله عنها, she said that one day the Prophet ﷺ left for Salat al-Fajr, and she was sitting in her place of prayer, remembering Allah, making dhikr. And then he returned many hours later, once the sun had risen, and she was still in the same exact spot, remembering Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ said to her: Have you spent all of that time in that same position, remembering Allah? She said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah, I've been making dhikr. The Prophet ﷺ said: By Allah, I have said four statements — only four things — during that whole time that are heavier in the scales than all of that dhikr that you made. All of that hour of making dhikr — four things I said, and they are heavier in the scales than everything that you just did:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2726)

All praise is due to Allah — by the number of His creation, and by how much He is pleased with Himself, and by the weight of His throne, and by the number of His words. Saying this simple dhikr — which doesn't even take you ten to fifteen seconds — gives you more reward than two, three, four hours of sitting there and making dhikr. The opportunity for reward is amazing.

Visiting the Sick and Family

Doing things that we can do in the month of Ramadan — visiting people who are sick, visiting people, your family — has amazing reward. The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever visits their fellow Muslim, Allah will keep them within the khirfat al-jannah. They said: what is the khirfat al-jannah, O Messenger of Allah? He said: it is in the trees of paradise — it's as if they're plucking the fruits of jannah.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2568)

Simple actions that we can perform that Allah has shown us — in the beauty of Islam, it's not just about the great actions that we should also be attempting to perform as much as we can. But don't let it be an opportunity or an excuse when you're busy, when you're working, when for many hours during the day you're preoccupied with other things that you have to do — that is also part of your role as a husband, or a mother, or a father, as your role as a Muslim. Don't let it be an excuse to not also worship Allah with those simple small deeds that you can perform — and their reward is amazing outside of Ramadan, and as we know, in the month of Ramadan, those rewards are multiplied.

May Allah make us from amongst those people who use our time wisely and allow us to benefit and maximize our time. And that Allah makes this month a month in which we truly earn His forgiveness and increase in our scale of good deeds and rewards. And we ask Allah that He forgives our sins.

The Greatest Lesson of Ramadan: Submission to Allah

The amazing nature of our religion, the beauty of our sharī'ah, is something which Allah has built into our religion. And one of the amazing lessons that we learn from this month of Ramadan — and it is perhaps the greatest lesson that we learn — is the lesson of submission, to submit to Allah.

That is the most basic component of faith, the most basic component of our religion and our worship and our duty to our Lord and creator Allah — the duty of submission. And what submission means is that when we hear that Allah has commanded us with something or has prohibited us from something, we submit willingly and immediately.

When Allah speaks about the Prophet Ibrahim عليه السلام in the Quran, He describes him in Surah al-Baqarah and He says:

When Allah commanded him and said to him "submit," he said immediately: I submit to the Lord of all creation. And that is why when Allah describes him in the Quran, He says:

Ibrahim — who was one man — was like a nation. Why? Because the trials he was given, the tests that Allah placed before him, whole nations and whole communities would fail those tests. But Ibrahim, a single man, would pass those tests — and that's why he is like a nation.

Every single test that Allah mentions in the Quran that was placed before Ibrahim عليه السلام, he passed with flying colors — because he submitted. When Allah commands him to leave his wife and child in the desert, he submits. When Allah commands him to go and to sacrifice his son with his own hand, he submits. When he's told by his people, his own parents, his own family that he's going to be thrown into the fire because they don't like what he's preaching — he submits to the will of Allah.

And that is Islam. That is the lesson of Ramadan. So now that Allah has told us to fast — seventeen to eighteen hours — we wake up so early in the morning despite having work, despite having children, despite having families and chores and responsibilities, and then we stay awake till after midnight because we're in the masjid praying taraweeh. That is a sign of our submission. We don't have any qualms. We don't have any issues. We don't have any problems within our heart doing so. It is a testament and a sign of our faith.

And that's not only something that we have to do in Ramadan but in every single aspect of the sharī'ah. That is the test of iman — how willingly you are to submit to something that you hear from Allah or from His Prophet ﷺ.

A Month of Charity and Giving

Finally, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam — as you know, this month of Ramadan is a month of charity and a month of giving. It is a month of generosity, and our Prophet ﷺ would be at his most generous in this month. And there are many causes vying for your attention and all of them are worthy — from our brothers and sisters in Palestine to our brothers and sisters in Syria and in Burma and across the world, and even those brothers and sisters who are needy within our own community. But also from amongst those causes that is extremely important is your own masjid and the need for you to donate willingly and openly towards this masjid so that it can continue to function and provide the services that it does.

We ask Allah that He makes this month a month of blessing for us. And that Allah showers His mercy upon us and our families. And that Allah makes it a month in which we achieve emancipation from the fire and salvation in this life and the next. And that Allah grants us, our parents, our families, our children, and all of our brothers and sisters the highest ranks of Jannah. We ask Allah that He makes easy for our brothers and sisters across the world their affairs. And that Allah brings peace and stability to them. And that Allah helps those who are under stress. And that Allah cures those who from amongst them are ill. And that He has mercy upon those who have passed away.