As the blessed month of Ramadan commences, it is incumbent upon - TopicsExpress

As the blessed month of Ramadan commences, it is incumbent upon all Muslims to identify the meritorious acts in the blessed month and how to do those acts. No doubt, one of the factors that places Islam ahead of other religions is that there are laid down rules on how to perform every acts. One of them is fasting in the month of Ramadan. MAKING NIYYAH (INTENTION): Intention is a condition of the obligatory fasting of Ramadan and all other compulsory fasting according to the Hadith which says: “whosoever did not intend his fast during the night, there is no fasting for him. (Bukhari,…) The Niyyah can be made at any time during the night and even if it is a minute before the break of dawn. Intention has always been the determination of the heart on an action, hence pronouncing it verbally is a later innovation. Anyone who knows that fasting starts tomorrow and is determined to fast has really made his intention (Majmuul 25/210) EATING SAHUUR: It is blessed and prosperous meal, which is quite opposed to the action of the people of the Book (the Jews and the Christians). HASTENING THE IFTAR (BREAKING OF THE FAST): because of what the Prophet (SAW) says: break fast before praying (the maghrib) with ripe dates, if there were none, he would use dried ones and if there was none, he would have a few sips of water”. (Tirmidhi 3/79) The fasting person would then say after the Iftar, as related by Ibn Umar (May Allah be pleased with both of them), that whenever the Prophet (SAW) breaks his fast, he would say: “Thirst is gone, vein are moistened and the reward is certain, insha Allah” (Abu Dawud2/760, Darul Qutni 21/185) AVOIDING INDECENT BEHAVIOURS: says the Prophet (SAW) “When any of you keeps a fast, he should not utter a filthy or indecent word…” (al Bukhari). GIVING IN CHARITY AND DONATIONS: Another good deed of this blessed month of Ramadan is charity and benevolence, narrated 1bn ‘Abbas (R/A) “The messenger of Allah is the most generous of people, and he used to be more so in the month of Ramadan when Jibril (Gabriel) visited him. Jibril used to meet him on every year in the night of Ramadan until the end of the month. The messenger of Allah used to recite the Noble Qur’an to Jibril, and when Jibril met him, he was more generous than the fair wind [sent by Allah with glad tidings (rain), referring to doing charitable needs)”. (Muslim) Providing for one to break the Fast:an example of charity in the blessed month is providing food or drink to fasting Muslim. Allah’s Messenger said: “He who provides a fasting person something with which to break his fasting, will earn the same rewards as the one who was observing the fast, without diminishing the reward of the latter at all”. (At-Tirmidhi). INCREASING THE RECITATION OF THE QUR’AN: The blessed month of Ramadan is the month in which the Qur’an was revealed. Thus, this blessed month of Ramadan is even more special in relation to the Qur’an; because Allah distinguished it by revealing the Qur’an during it. Another reason is that on every night of Ramadan, the angel Jibril (Gabriel) used to meet the messenger of Allah who would recite the whole Qur’an to Jibril etc.