By Shaykhul-Hadīth, Hadrat Mawlānā Muhammad Saleem Dhorat دامت برکاته
We have all been blessed with the month of Ramadān many times during the course of our lives. For some, the number will be a single figure, and for others double figures. However, for the majority of us, the month of Ramadān is just another month; it comes and goes like any other.
In relation to valuing this great month, there are many questions we need to ask ourselves. We may be well acquainted with all the virtues of the month of Ramadān; but do we take advantage of these virtues? The most important way of measuring whether we value the month of Ramadān or not is to ask the question: Have we acquired the goal of Ramadān during any of the previous months of Ramadān, which is to acquire taqwā?
If we have not yet achieved this goal, then we need to ask ourselves whether we have made it an objective in this coming Ramadān? Remember that in the famous hadīth of Kā‘b ibn ‘Ujrah رضي الله عنه , the Prophet صلی اللہ عليه وسلم and Jibrīl علیه السلام cursed those who fail to attract the Forgiveness of Allah Ta’ala جل جلاله during the month of Ramadān. To help us truly value the month of Ramadān, we need to take lessons from the Ramadān of those who did value this blessed month. Let us take a glimpse at how our pious predecessors spent the month of Ramadān:
• Aswad ibn Yazīd رحمه اللہ would complete the Qur’ān every second night in Ramadān. (Siyar-A‘lām-An-Nubalā’)
• Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr رحمه اللہ would spend the time between Maghrib and ‘Ishā’ [which normally people spend in resting] in tilāwah and would recite the whole Qur’ān in one sitting. (The ‘Ishā’ salāh would be delayed.) (Ibid)
• Hammād ibn Abī Sulaymān رحمه اللہ would feed 500 people for iftār during Ramadān. (Ibid)
• Qatādah رحمه اللہ would complete the Qur’ān every third day during the first twenty days of Ramadān and every night in the last ten days. (Ibid)
• Ibn Shihāb Zuhrī رحمه اللہ would say, “Ramadān is nothing but for tilāwah of the Qur’ān and to feed people.” (Latā’if-ul-Ma‘ārif)
• Imām Abū Hanīfah رحمه اللہ and Imām Shāfi‘ī رحمه اللہ would complete the Qur’ān twice daily in the month of Ramadān, with the latter completing the Qur’ān one more time during the night of ‘Īd and yet again during the day.
• Imām Mālik رحمه اللہ and Sufyān Thawrī رحمه اللہ both would leave their everyday engagements and spend the whole time in the recitation of the Qur’ān. (Latā’if-ul-Ma‘ārif)
• Imām Bukhārī رحمه اللہ used to complete the Qur’ān 41 times in the Month of Ramadān; once every day, once during the whole month in the tarāwīh prayer, and ten juz daily in Tahajjud salāh.
• Hājī Imdādullāh رحمه اللہ never slept in the blessed month of Ramadān. After the Maghrib salāh, two huffāz led him in nafl salāh, reciting one juz each until ‘Ishā’ salāh. After ‘Ishā salāh, two huffāz would recite one after the other until half the night, and then another two huffāz would recite one after the other in Tahajjud salāh. In essence, the whole night was spent in worship.
• Hadrat Mawlānā Rashīd Ahmad Gangohī رحمه اللہ , even at the age of seventy, would spend all his time in worshipping Allah Ta’ala جل جلاله , fasting – despite the heat, and performing twenty raka‘āt nafl after the Maghrib salāh, reciting at least two juz in them. He would then also spend two and a half to three hours during the night in Tahajjud salāh, amongst his many other devotions during the day.
• Shaykhul-Hind رحمه اللہ would spend the whole night listening to the Qur’ān. It was common that he would stand in one place and the reciters would change over and take rest.
• Qāri Fatah Muhammad Pānipattī رحمه اللہ during his later life would spend the time after tarāwīh salāh until subh sādiq reciting ten juz of the Qur’ān, taking extra care in tajwīd.
• Mawlānā Manzūr Nu‘mānī رحمه اللہ states that Mawlānā Ilyās رحمه اللہ daily average of tilāwah in Ramadān was 35 juz, with concentration and understanding of the text. Moreover, the women folk in his home, together with their daily practices of dhikr and tasbīhāt, at times, would complete a whole Qur’ān in one day.
• It is stated about Hadrat Mawlānā Yahyā رحمه اللہ that, during one Ramadān which he passed in mīrat, he would recite the Qur’ān once daily and would complete it by the time of iftār.
• Shāh Abd-ur-Rahīm Raipūrī رحمه اللہ used to spend the whole night reciting the Qur’ān, and in twenty four hours he would rarely sleep more than an hour.
• Shaykhul-Hadīth, Mawlānā Muhammad Zakariyyā رحمه اللہ himself completed one Qur’ān daily during the month of Ramadān, and he kept up this practice for more than forty years.
Let us also value this blessed month and make the most of this great opportunity granted to us by Allah Ta’ala جل جلاله by making full use of its every moment and by using it to maximise our rewards, acquire taqwā and achieve salvation in the Hereafter. Āmīn.
Source: © Riyādul Jannah