How to Prepare for Ramadan - Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem

Khutbah: How to Prepare for Ramadan

By Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem

Opening — Khutbatul Hajah

Amma ba'd.

My dear respected brothers in Islam, as we all know that we are fast approaching the blessed month of Ramadan — of which, first and foremost, we ask Allah that He, Dhul Jalal wal Ikram, enables us to witness this season of reward and good deeds, and may Allah give us tawfiq and ability to make the best usage of the month of Ramadan.

Secondly, my dear brothers in Islam, as we are fast approaching the month of Ramadan, we need to prepare ourselves for this very special occasion — as we make preparation whenever we have an event in our life. If we were to arrange a wedding, we make a preparation. If you want to travel to another country, you spend a couple of days, or even weeks or months, to prepare yourself for that journey. And now we are very close to the month of Ramadan — an opportunity when Allah is going to close all the gates of Hellfire, and all the doors of mercy and Jannah and Paradise will be wide open. It will be an opportunity for us to please Allah, to seek forgiveness, and to attain His mercy and His blessings. That is why it is very, very important for us to prepare ourselves.

The Three Key Preparations for Ramadan

1. Seeking Knowledge

When we talk about the preparation for Ramadan, there are a number of things that we need to bear in mind. First and foremost — which is very, very important — is we must seek knowledge. We must learn about the fasting. We must know how to spend the month of Ramadan. We must spare some time to go through the ahadith of Rasulullah ﷺ to know the Sunnah and the practice of our beloved Prophet ﷺ with regards to the month of Ramadan.

Seeking knowledge is one of the core obligations upon Muslims anyway, as the Prophet ﷺ has said, seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every single Muslim. But there are certain matters within the religion of Islam that you need to know in depth — and fasting is one of them. Because the month of Ramadan is one of the pillars of Islam, every single Muslim has an obligation to know about the fasting, the rulings on the fasting, and we must know the do's and don'ts — what is permissible and what is not permissible, how to begin the fast, how to end the fast.

There are so many details that the Prophet ﷺ has given us: what can be done and what cannot be done while fasting; what breaks the fast and what does not break the fast; who has to fast and who are exempted from fasting; and those who are exempted — what is the situation and what is the ruling with regards to them; what are the different ways of making up the missed fast; is there any other way to compensate for missing a fast. There are so many rulings that we need to learn.

We should not spend the month of Ramadan such that the month passes by and we know nothing — and on every single day we worry whenever we come across a situation, we try to contact an imam, and the imam is not available, and then we end up committing mistakes within the month of Ramadan and we lose opportunity and we lose the reward. That is why it is very, very important that we must seek knowledge about the fasting.

Not only fasting — other things that we must be doing within the month of Ramadan. For example, many people decide to pay their zakah during the month of Ramadan. You must know the ruling: how to calculate your zakah, what type of wealth you need to pay zakah on, do you need to pay zakah on your salary, do you need to pay zakah on your savings, what type of saving you need to pay zakah on, is there zakah on property, is there zakah on a loan — there are so many rulings we must know.

If you have decided to pay your zakah during the month of Ramadan, you must know the rulings as well. This is something you cannot leave for an imam to answer your question every single time, or approach the imam only whenever you come across a difficult situation. No — you, as a Muslim, you must know. These are the basics of Islam. This is why Rasulullah ﷺ said:

"Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every single Muslim." (Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 224)

And the scholars have said that it is a compulsion and it is an obligation upon every single Muslim to know and to understand the basics of Islam, so that he and she is able to worship Allah. And as we know, the fasting and zakah both of them are the pillars of Islam — every Muslim must know about them. So this is one of the most important parts of our preparation for the month of Ramadan.

And we must not forget — Imam al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, in his book Sahih al-Bukhari, he set a chapter called Kitab al-Ilm, and under this chapter he had many sub-headings. One of them he said:

"Knowledge comes before saying and actions." You must have knowledge before you say anything or before you do anything. How can you practice the religion of Islam without knowledge? You must understand the rulings of whatever you want to do within the religion of Islam.

And then Imam al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, in order to support his claim and his statement — الْعِلْمُ قَبْلَ الْقَوْلِ وَالْعَمَلِ — knowledge comes before saying and action — he, may Allah have mercy on him, took the evidence from the ayah of the Quran in Surah Muhammad, in which Allah says:

The word فَاعْلَمْ comes from عِلْم, which is knowledge — "you must know" — أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. So Imam al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, says that Allah mentioned the word عِلْم — فَاعْلَمْ — before لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ, even before the Tawhid of Allah. How can a person enter into the fold of Islam without knowledge? If a non-Muslim wants to convert to Islam, we ask them: what do you know about Islam? What is your knowledge about Islam? And we do not advise a person who has no knowledge about Islam to accept Islam, because he doesn't know. That is why knowledge is very, very important.

So with regards to the fasting, Zakat, likewise Zakatul Fitr, and Eid, and many other rulings — this is one of the basic preparations for the month of Ramadan.

2. Strengthening the Relationship with the Quran

Secondly, my dear brothers in Islam, as we all know that the month of Ramadan is the month of Quran. Generally, whenever we mention the word Ramadan, the very first thing that comes to our mind is fasting. No doubt the month of Ramadan is the month of fasting, which is the pillar of Islam — but Allah in the Quran made mention of the word Ramadan only once. And when Allah mentioned the word Ramadan in the Quran, He did not say the month of Ramadan is the month in which fasting is an obligation. Rather, Allah said:

"The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed."

We need to ask ourselves: what type of relationship do we have with the Book of Allah? If you cannot enhance your relationship with the Book of Allah Dhul Jalal wal Ikram within the month of Ramadan, then it may be difficult for you to establish that relationship with the Quran after the month of Ramadan. So this is the best time, best opportunity, best chance to strengthen and enhance your relationship with the Book of Allah Dhul Jalal wal Ikram — in terms of reciting the Quran, listening to the Quran, attending Salatul Taraweeh in order to listen to the Quran, and also reflecting and pondering on the ayat of the Quran, going through the meaning and the tafsir of the Quran.

3. Mental and Spiritual Preparation

Lastly, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, when it comes to the preparation for the month of Ramadan, the preparation does not include only the fasting, Zakah, and attending the Masjid for Salatul Taraweeh. We must prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually — which means that from now, although we are already very close to the month of Ramadan, we need to prepare ourselves mentally and we must try our best now to change our daily habits and our daily routine.

If you do not change yourself now, before the month of Ramadan starts, then you may end up losing the whole month of Ramadan in planning. The month of Ramadan begins and you say, "From tomorrow I will do this, this, and this" — and then you miss the first day. You say, "Ok, from tomorrow." And then tomorrow, then the next day, and the day after, and next week, and after the weekend — like this the whole month of Ramadan goes and you are fast approaching the end of the month of Ramadan, and now you regret. And this is all because of not being mentally and spiritually ready before the month of Ramadan starts.

That is why it is very important that we prepare ourselves now, before the month of Ramadan starts. Whatever plan you want to make — make it now and finalize it now: in terms of your daily routine, in terms of your sleeping pattern within the month of Ramadan, attending the Masjid, attending Salatul Taraweeh, and your work routine. Everything — make the plan and finalize everything before the month of Ramadan begins, so that when the month of Ramadan starts you are fully ready and then you can spend the month of Ramadan smoothly.

Asking Allah that He gives us the ability to benefit from this blessed opportunity — the blessed month of Ramadan. May Allah give us the ability.

A Special Message to the Community

Dear brothers in Islam, I believe the community of Birmingham and the congregation of Greenlands — you are so blessed that Allah has given you the opportunity to seek knowledge, and through this Masjid, alhamdulillah, we offer so many opportunities of seeking knowledge. As I said, it is very important to learn about the fasting, the Zakat, and everything related to the month of Ramadan.

We have already delivered a six-week intensive course covering various topics within the Fiqh of fasting and Zakat, and we have arranged another one for tomorrow and the day after — an intensive course on the Fiqh of fasting. And then throughout the month of Ramadan we will have so many activities taking place, all for you to take benefit from.

Throughout the month of Ramadan we will have daily Tafsir of the Quran class that will be conducted by our respected brother Dr. Ahsan Hanif, hafidahullah, and there will be other lectures and activities. So we would like to encourage everyone of you to please take part in these activities, take the benefit, and do not lose this opportunity. People around the country and even around the globe — not every single Masjid offers these types of activities, and not the congregation of every single Masjid has the opportunity to seek knowledge and to benefit from these activities. So that is why I say you are so blessed — Allah has given you this opportunity, so you must make the best usage of it and do not miss it.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah that He, Dhul Jalal wal Ikram, gives us tawfiq and ability to increase our Iman and to increase our knowledge. And we ask Allah that He, Dhul Jalal wal Ikram, allows us to witness the month of Ramadan and to observe the fasting of the month of Ramadan and to fulfill our obligations to Allah within the month of Ramadan. And we also ask Allah that He, Dhul Jalal wal Ikram, increases the love for the Quran in our hearts. And we ask Allah that He, Dhul Jalal wal Ikram, forgives our sins and Allah showers His mercy upon us.