Sheikh Salman al-Oadah

Abû Ayyûb al-Ansârî relates that Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) says: "Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan and then follows it with six days of fasting in the month of Shawwâl, it will be as if he had fasted the year through." [Sahîh Muslim (1163)]

The month of Shawwâl is singled out for the observance of extra fasts, since this month follows immediately after Ramadan. The six days of voluntary fasting are to the obligatory fast of Ramadan what the Sunnah prayers are to the obligatory prayers.

It is related from Thawbân that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The fast of Ramadan is like observing ten months of fasting. Fasting six days of Shawwâl is like observing two months of fasting. This together is like fasting throughout the year." [Sahîh Ibn Khuzaymah (2115) and Sunan al-Nasâ'î al-Kubrâ (2860) – and authenticated by al-Albânî]

Al-Nawawî observes [Sharh Sahîh Muslim (8/56)]:

Scholars have explained that it is like observing a year of fasting because the reward of one's good deeds are multiplied tenfold. Therefore fasting the month of Ramadan is like fasting for ten months and fasting six days in the month of Shawwâl is like fasting for two months.

Virtues of Fasting Six Days in Shawwâl

1. Fasting six days in Shawwâl after observing the Ramadan fast gives the person the reward of fasting throughout the year.

2. The fasts of Sha`bân and Shawwâl are like the Sunnah prayers that accompany the five obligatory prayers. Like the Sunnah prayers, these extra fasts cover up for the deficiencies in our performance of our obligatory worship. On the Day of Judgment, our voluntary acts of worship will compensate for the shortcomings in how we carried out our duties. Most of us have deficiencies in our observance of our Ramadan fasts and we need something to cover up for those deficiencies.

[Note: The deficiencies being discussed here are not missing days of fasting. Rather, they are the deficiencies in our conduct that detract from the value of our worship.]

3. Our return to the habit of fasting right after Ramadan is a sign that our Ramadan fasts were accepted. When Allah accepts our worship, He blesses us to engage in further acts of piety. The saying goes: The reward of virtue is further virtue. Therefore, following one good deed with others like it is a sign that the first deed had been accepted by Allah. By contrast, if a person's good deed is followed by a sinful one, it is an indication that the first good deed might not have been accepted.

4. Those who observe the fast of Ramadan are given their recompense of the day of`Îd al-Fitr, the day when the fast is rewarded. Getting into the habit of fasting again soon thereafter is a means of giving thanks to Allah for the blessings that we have received. There is no blessing greater than forgiveness for one's sins, and we know that fast of Ramadan is recompensed with forgiveness of one's previous sins.

Indeed, Allah has commanded us to give thanks for the blessings of the Ramadan fast and to do so by making mention of Him and through other means of giving thanks. Allah says: "(He wants you) to complete the number of days, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance you may give thanks." [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 185]

Fasting these days in Shawwâl is one way for us to express our thanks for Allah blessing us in our observance of the Ramadan fast.

It is known that some of the Pious Predecessors would try to get up at night to pray the Tahajjud prayer. When Allah blessed them to wake up and do so, they would fast the next day in thanks to Allah for blessing them to observe that prayer.

Once Wuhayb b. al-Ward was asked about the blessings of various acts of devotion and he replied: "Do not ask about the blessings that can be earned by performing these acts of worship. Rather, ask how you can show your thanks to Allah if He blesses you to perform them, for he is the one who assists us in doing so."

Every blessing that Allah gives us is something that we have to be thankful about. Moreover, when Allah blesses us to show thanks, this is a further blessing from Allah that deserves further thanks from us. If we show further thanks, this in turn is another blessing deserving our gratitude. There is no end to this and we can never be thankful enough. When we recognize that our thanks is never enough, this is the highest expression of gratitude we can give.

Source: www.islamtoday.com

By Tawfique Chowdhury

May Allah the great accept from us and you! You have fasted and prayed and wept and begged Allah the Great and now is your time to rejoice as His mercy and forgiveness envelopes the Universe. May Allah shower you and your family with His choicest rewards and please you on the Day you meet Him just as you are pleased today.

A lot of people ask the question: How do I know if Allah has accepted my Ramadan? How do I know that my deeds were not rejected, but accepted and written in my scale of good deeds? And you too must ask this question, since Ali radiallahu anhu said: “Do not be so concerned about the number of deeds as the acceptance of it.

Do you not remember what Allah the great said?

Verily Allah only accepts from the pious. [AlMa'idah: 27]

The answer to that, is simply: That your relationship with Allah after Ramadan is better than your relationship with Him before Ramadan. That you feel and act closer to Allah in Shawwal than you did in Shabaan. This strengthening of your relationship with Allah, is a feeling of the heart as well as from the action of the limbs.

The feeling of the heart, is that you see Allah’s signs in creation, and feel His authority and mercy and blessings in your life and thus draw nearer to Him by constant remembrance of Him. Ibnul Qayyim rahimahullah said: “The more that you witness the magnificence of His Lordship and the meagerness of our servitude to Him, and the more you learn about Allah and His greatness and about your soul and its meagerness, it will become manifestly clear to you that that which you have put forward from your offerings is not the least bit suitable for the Lord of Truth, even if you were to offer the deeds of all of Mankind and Jinn together. As a result, you would be full of fear how your measly offerings would ever be acceptable to Him. However, it is out of His honour and nobleness and graciousness that He accepts it. On top of that, He even rewards you for it, by His grace, nobleness and honour!” [Madarij As-Salikeen (2/439)] Glory be to Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful!

And that you draw closer to Him through your actions. That you feel the need to turn to prayer so you resolve to pray at the earliest time, that your heart wants to come back to the mosque so you make every attempt to pray in congregration, to open the Quran even on the day of Eid or start memorizing - so you make every effort to read it frequently, that you desire and miss the taraweeh and so make the resolve to continue to pray tahajjud and that you miss the fasts, so you resolve to do the 6 days of Shawwal. Then you remember the hadeeth of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam:

“If the Prophet used to do any action, then he used to stick to it (i.e. make it a habit).” [Reported by Muslim]

Based on this, you resolve to make good habits out of the bootcamp that Ramadan provided so that good deeds become second nature to you.

Remember, if you want to get that special Ramadan feeling in your heart again, then take a path to gaining knowledge.

“Whoever Allah wants good for, then He gives him the fiqh of this religion.” [Reported by AlBukhari]

This is the surest sign that Allah accepted your Ramadan, that after it, you are more knowledgeable about Islam than you were before it. Islamic knowledge is now more accessible to you than ever before. So, make every effort to attend courses, read books and listen to lectures so that you draw closer to Allah every day. There is an AlKauthar course in your city, just around the corner, so make sure you attend it. Once you have gained that knowledge, then act upon it by calling to Allah through all those projects that are working on helping Allah deen. Mercy Mission has a project that you can get involved in or help you to launch your own.

Lastly, I hope to see you all soon in an event near you. Glory be to Allah that He has given us life until the end of this Ramadan, may Allah give us all the opportunity to see the next Ramadan and protect you and your families and all Muslims till then. Ameen.

Source: http://islam4parents.com

Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Allaah be pleased with him) reported Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying: He who observed the fast of Ramadan and then followed it with six (fasts) of Shawwal, it would be as if he fasted perpetually. (Muslim, 2641)

With the end or Ramadhaan drawing near, we – Muslims - thank Allaah for the blessing of giving us the opportunity to fast and observe the night prayers during this blessed month, for making that easy for us and saving us from the Hell-Fire.

Such is how days and nights pass so quickly. Yesterday, we were receiving Ramadhaan and today we are bidding it farewell; and we do not know whether we are going to live to witness the next Ramadhaan or not. We beseech Allaah to let us have many more of it.

All righteous deeds should be concluded with Istighfaar (seeking Allaah’s forgiveness) . Prayers, Hajj, night prayers and meetings are all concluded with it too. Fasting should also be concluded with Istighfaar to amend for any act of forgetfulness, negligence or perversion we might have committed. Istighfaar erases the feeling of arrogance and ostentation from the heart and lets one feel his shortcomings. It is this very feeling that leads to doing more righteous deeds after Ramadhaan and getting more rewards.

Explaining the need for Istighfaar, Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said: “Having pleasure and contentedness for merely doing an act of obedience is of the frivolities of the mind and its stupidity, for, the resolute and knowledgeable people do more Istighfaar immediately after each act of worship because they recognize their shortcomings and their failure to give Allaah what befits His Majesty and Greatness in that act.”

Though we are now bidding farewell to Ramadhaan, this should not mean a farewell to acts of worship. A Muslim should rather strengthen the tie between himself and his Lord so that he may have a perpetual blessing. As for those who break their covenant with their Lord and abandon mosques as soon as Ramadhaan ends, such are miserable people who know their Lord only in Ramadhaan and afterwards turn back on their heels. Allaah Says (what means): “Say (O Muhammad): ‘Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds.’”[Quran 6: 162]

There is no value in an act of worship by which one does not increase in piety and fear of Allaah. Where is the impact of fasting when one abandons the recitation of the Quran, no longer observes the congregational prayers and desecrates other people’s honors? Where is the impact of his acts of worship in Ramadhaan when one afterwards consumes usury and takes other people’s properties wrongfully? Where is the impact of Ramadhaan when one abandons the path of the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, for local customs and traditions and governs his life with man-made laws?  Where is the effect of fasting and night prayers if one engages in acts of deception in his business transactions and lies day and night? Where is the impact of Ramadhaan on him if he does not call the misled to the Path of Allaah, feed the hungry, cloth the naked and make a sincere supplication for Islam and the Muslims?

Ibn Al Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said: “There is indeed a distance between a righteous deed and the heart, and there are in that distance a lot of impediments that prevent the deed from reaching the heart. Hence, you see a man who has many deeds to his credit and yet nothing of that finds its way to his hearts, for he never carried out the deed out of love for Allaah, fear of Him, hope in His mercy, in abstention from worldly life or out of craving for the Hereafter. Neither does he possess the light by which he can differentiate between those who love Allaah and His enemies. Had the impact of his deed reached his heart, he would have had the light and recognize the truth and falsehood.”

Needless to say, Allaah does not need the movements and efforts that we make in our acts of worship. He only requests our piety thereof. He, The Almighty, Says (what means): “O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.”[Quran 2: 183]

He also says (what means): “Their meat will not reach Allaah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you.”[Quran 22: 37]

Of the good deeds that are recommended after Ramadhaan is fasting for six days in the month of Shawwaal. The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Whoever fasts the month of Ramadhaan and follows it up with a fasting of six days in the month of Shawwaal is like the one who fasts for a complete year.” [Muslim]

Ramadhaan has filled our minds with blessings, awakened our conscience and purified our souls. It has taught us how to resist the insinuations of Satan and the whims of the evil inclining soul and how to eliminate differences and its causes. The ranks of the Muslims have become solidly united during Ramadhaan, so we should not let it become disunited again after it. The eyes have shed tears during Ramadhaan, so we should not let them become dry after it; mosques have become full of worshippers during Ramadhaan and the tongues were engaged mentioning Allaah, praising Him and invoking Him, so let this continue after Ramadhaan; we have been overwhelmed with desirable manners and characteristics such as humbleness and tranquility during Ramadhaan, we should not spoil that away with arrogance, ostentation and stupidity; we have become generous during Ramadhaan, so we should not withhold our generosity after Ramadhaan.

The fasting Muslim has two occasions of happiness: when he breaks his fast and when he meets his Lord; one is a worldly happiness and the other is the everlasting one in the Hereafter when he will have the greatest enjoyment and bliss which is Paradise in which there are enjoyments which no eyes have ever seen, no ears have ever heard of, and no human mind has ever imagined- a place where we, Allaah willing, will be addressed (what means): “Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you put forth in the days past." [Quran 69:24] 

Such is Paradise which when a slave is made to enter it, he forgets his misery, distress and sorrow as it is reported that the Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “The most unfortunate person in this world among the people of Paradise will be given a short dip into the Paradise and he will be asked: ‘Have you ever known misery? Have you ever experienced difficulty’? He (or she) would say: ‘No, by Allaah, I have never experienced any misery nor known any difficulty!’” [Muslim]

The Muslim nation is now bidding farewell to the blessed month of Ramadhaan while its agonies are still ongoing. It is experiencing great calamities that can be seen in what is happening in Palestine and other places in the Muslim world; a merciless war aimed at Islam in order to exterminate it.

The Islamic nation has been tested during its long history with different kinds of conspiracies and afflictions some of which are enough to wipe other nations out of existence, but the power of Islamic belief that was and is still keeping this nation alive. This gives us a hope that the future is certainly for Islam.

It is therefore a duty of all Muslims to help the causes of Islam, to exercise patience and self-control, to make sincere supplications and to seek the help from Allaah in the face of all these tribulations so that He may rescue us from all these sufferings.

Source: www.islamweb.net