by Shaykh Saaleh bin Fawzaan bin Abdullah Aal-Fawzaan - May Allaah Preserve him
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
All Praise
belongs to Allaah, the Lord of the ‘Aalameen and May the Peace and Blessings of
Allaah be Upon His Messenger Muhammad, upon all His Family and Companions.
There is no
doubt that this month is a month in which we increase in doing good deeds.
Allaah, Glorified and Exalted, has made it a reoccurring favour for us, every
year in the life of a Muslim he has this opportunity act in this month. This
month has features and advantages which distinguishes itself from the other
months. So the Muslim should accept this month from his Lord as it is more
virtuous than any other month. This is because, and Allaah Knows Best, for two
reasons:
Firstly: The
actions of a Muslim is insignificant, his lifespan is short, however due to the
blessings placed by Allaah in this month, the deeds a Muslim does in this month
is multiplied. This is perhaps because he is deficient in his life and because
of this month being filled with blessings, his good deeds are multiplied as if
he lived a life which is longer than his actual number of years.
Secondly: This
month is a month of practice and training, it trains and programs us to do good
deeds in the hope that we continue doing them after the month of Ramadan has
ended. So it is a month of programming and training, making us steadfast and
eradicating negligence and of our shortcomings.
So as you can
see, it is a great month as the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon
him] described it. It is a great and blessed month. Allaah has Blessed it so
that the deeds you do are multiplied to the degree that you will not even
realize how much reward you will receive for it, depending on your intention
and sincerity to Allaah, The Glorified and Exalted.
This month has
acts of worship that have been obligated for us to fulfill, thus this month
especially incites the Muslim to increase in doing good deeds, fulfilling his
obligation, some of which are absolutely necessary for him to carry out, such
as their five daily prayers, fasting etc. These are obligatory for a Muslim to
follow, even more so in this month as they are from the pillars of Islaam.
Likewise, the
Muslim is also encouraged to increase in voluntary acts of righteousness, and
its types are many. Therefore, the Muslim in this month shouldn’t settle with
doing what is obligatory upon him alone, even though there is great good in
doing the obligatory deeds, however he should program and encourage himself to
increase in accompanying these obligatory deeds with optional ones.
The scope of optional deeds one can perform
is vast, however it depends on the individual, the slave of Allaah, on how
close he wants to get to his Lord and the hope he has within himself and how
determined he is. As for obligatory deeds, then this is absolutely necessary.
Obligatory deeds are never waived from a person, it is binding that he carries
them out, however he may perform them in the best manner he can.
[Baqarah
2:286]
As for optional acts of righteousness, then
the subject is broad despite it involving a great amount of goodness. It is
narrated in an authentic narration that Allaah, The Exalted and Glorified,
said:
"My servant doesn’t come close to me
with something I Love except when he performs the obligatory deeds…"
So one gets close to Allaah, The Glorified
and Exalted, by performing the obligatory deeds
Then Allaah, The Exalted and Glorified, said:
"…and he continues to get closer to Me
by doing optional deeds…"
So by doing optional deeds, the slave gets
close to Allaah and His Love. This is the incitement we should have by doing
these optional deeds. This is important because some people are very lazy and
negligent in this regard, once they hear that a particular act of worship is
Nafil or optional or if they find out it is recommended or Mustahab, they
become lazy. They say, 'As long as it is not obligatory then it is Okay if I
leave it.' He doesn’t realize that this one optional deed may carry a great
weight and it may be that he desperately needs the reward from this one deed,
and most of these deeds are easy and they do not create difficulty for the one
performing them, however when they hear that it is not obligatory, they
automatically become lazy and negligent of it. Sometimes, this laziness spoils over
to the obligatory deeds, they become lazy and negligent of performing the
obligatory deeds, so if one is lazy in himself in performing optional acts of
righteousness,
Then he will also become lazy in performing
the obligatory ones. So the Muslim needs to pay attention to this.
Another thing they should pay attention to is
that even if you fulfill your obligations, it doesn’t mean that they are
perfect. There will always be a shortcoming in them. This is always the case.
There is no way that one can perform obligatory deeds without there being any
form of shortcoming.
So if you have performed optional deeds, the
shortcomings in your obligatory deeds will be strengthened by these optional
deeds, as this appears in the Hadeeth.
Therefore you are in need of doing optional
deeds, so how can you neglect them whilst you are in need of them? You have
shortcomings in your obligatory deeds, so don’t leave off performing optional
ones. If you hear that doing a particular deed is opinion, then you may often become
lazy and think the affair is all of a sudden easy, however you do not know the
benefit of performing it, despite you being in need of it.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon the Muslim to
be active in being obedient to Allaah, train yourself, program yourself to do
acts of obedient and don’t spare any opportunity of doing good deeds if it presents itself. Do
not become lazy. Your desires is like an animal, if you train it to come back
then it will come back. If you leave the animal to fend for itself from the
very beginning, then you will have no control over it. So your desires is like
an animal that needs to be trained.
Therefore, it is necessary that you program
yourself to come back, return to doing good deeds and acts of obedience. There
is no doubt that a person and his soul finds it difficult to program itself in
being obedient, it becomes lazy, however it is a must that you strive and work
hard in being patient. Patience comes after a long time of programming and
training oneself in being obedience, if one does this then he will taste the
sweetness in doing them and he will become accustomed to it.
Based on this, as soon as the Salaf heard
about standing the night in prayer, they rushed to it. They worked hard and
they became enduring upon it. This is
because, and there is no doubt in this, that if humans are sleeping at night,
they have the warmth of their beds during the winter, or they are tired and
they have a need to sleep during the night, despite all of this they make
themselves firm in standing during the night in Salaah, then it will not be
difficult for him to do this as he trained himself from the very beginning. He
has become accustomed to its taste because doing good deeds and being obedient
has a beautiful taste, only if people train themselves to accept its taste.
Whatever the case, humans don’t obey
intrinsically rather they need to be trained to obey. Rather, they need to be programmed and become
pleased in being obedient. So if you train yourself, it will become easy but if
you leave it then it will be extremely difficult for you to return. These
people are already overcome, they are overcome by themselves. They are overcome
by laziness, the love and need of relaxing and they have lost the desire for
the ending.
People need to work hard and program
themselves. If you obey your desires then it will overcome you and it will be
very difficult for you to worship. However, if you grab yourself firmly and
make yourself return then it will become easy for you and you will lose this
laziness, as a result you will taste the sweetness of worshipping Allaah. Because
of this, Allaah, the Most High, says:
9. Indeed he succeeds who purifies his
ownself (i.e. obeys and performs all that Allah ordered, by following the true
Faith of Islamic Monotheism and by doing righteous good deeds).
10. And indeed he fails who corrupts his
ownself (i.e. disobeys what Allah has ordered by rejecting the true Faith of
Islamic Monotheism or by following polytheism, etc. or by doing every kind of
evil wicked deeds)."
[Shams
91:7-10]
The one who purifies himself is successful,
if he purifies it by doing good deeds and acts of obedience by returning to the
worship of Allaah.
The one who is corrupted is the one who is engulfed
by the dirt of the earth, he is debased and undignified; this is the corrupt
one. This person thinks that he can get whatever he wants however in reality he
is insulting himself. In contrast, if someone is given something and he uses
this to obey Allaah then he will be honoured and dignified, even if it appears
as if he is inferior to the other. It appears as if he is deprived from
attaining what he desires and that he lacks in freedom however in reality, this
person is honourable and his status is elevated.
So this is an extremely important affair so
the Muslim must take it upon himself to make sure he understand it. He should
understand it with awareness internally and externally, this month has many
benefits and virtues, more so than any other month. The Muslim cannot live
whilst wasting his life, he is getting older and this month is an opportunity
for him. You have heard the statement of Allaah, the Most High;
"Eat and drink at
ease for that which you have sent on before you in days past!" [Haaqah 69:24]
Meaning, what you have done in the days that
have passed of your life, from the acts of obedience in the world, then this
will be said to them. In the hereafter, it will not be said to them, eat and
drink and enjoy it. Be at ease because of what you did in the past. The
opposite is also true, those who had wasted their past, then it will not be
said to them, 'eat and drink' or 'be at ease' rather it will be said to them,
"drink from the hellfire, from the tree called Zaqoom (a tree in hellfire
of which the roots come from the bottom of hellfire and its fruits resemble
that the heads of Shayaateen engulfed with thorns), from Hameem (extremely
boiling and scalding water)"
So it is incumbent for the Muslim to be
attentive to this.
May
Allaah enable us all to do what He is Pleased with and Loves and May the Peace
and Blessings of Allaah be Upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon His Family and
all His Companions.
http://ramadhan.af.org.sa/node/1440
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