Ramadan, one month training exercise, for What??

﷽

 إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ هَادِيَ  إِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْىِ هَدْىُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَشَرَّ الأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلاَلَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلاَلَةٍ فِي النَّارِ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمَّا بَعْدُ 

Praise be to Allah, we seek His help. Whomsoever Allah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allah leaves astray, no one can guide. The truest of word is the Book of Allah and best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those that are newly invented; every newly-invented thing is an innovation and every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah (alone with no partners) and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. To proceed

(this is how Prophet SAW used to start his speech Nisai 3278, Nisai 1578)

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي ‎﴿٢٥﴾‏ وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي ‎﴿٢٦﴾‏ وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِي ‎﴿٢٧﴾‏ يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي ‎﴿٢٨﴾(Taha)

My Lord, open up my heart [with assurance] And ease for me my task And untie the knot from my tongue That they may understand my speech.[20:25-28] Ameen

 اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

O Allah, send salah upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad (Nasai 1292)

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Why is there such a hype of Ramadan? What happens in Ramadan? Let's see, what is the importance of Ramadan and how it is a one-month training exercise. In short everything revolves around Quran.

Ramadan has two importance's.

 1) Quran was revealed in this month 

Allah says in Quran;

شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِّنَ الْهُدَىٰ وَالْفُرْقَانِ ۚ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ...﴿١٨٥﴾

The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So, whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; .... [Baqarah 2:185]

So, Quran was revealed in this month. What is the importance of Quran? why was Quran revealed in the first place? The answer to both these questions are in the same above-mentioned Ayah. It is a guidance for people. The question arises for whom it is a guidance for, will it guide everyone or some specific people. In the above Ayah, it is said, for all the people, Naas. Let's see what the Allah says in other places in his Book 

ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ ‎

This is the exalted Book (the Qur’an), in which there is no place for doubt; a guidance for the pious. [Baqarah 2:2]

It will guide everyone but those who are God fearing (pious مُتَّقِينَ) or for those that are willing to accept guidance, by the fear of God. So, the question arises that how one can become pious because if we don't, then according to Quran we won't be able to get proper guidance from Quran. You can also read the verses of Surah Baqarah from 3-5 in it is explained the characteristics of the pious people.

Let's first understand, what is Taqwa. لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ 

Taqwa

Taqwa, in literal means to avoid or to evade and generally it means to fear Allah. In short, it means to fear the wrath of Allah and avoid breaking the boundaries which He has set. It is not some mystical power, which is gained through some special knowledge, that you will gain by going to some special saint or baba. It isn't the length of beard or size of turban either. Then how to gain Taqwa?

It means that only those willing to get guidance will be able to get guidance. 

 2) Fasting was made obligatory in this month 

Allah says in Quran;

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ‎﴿١٨٣﴾ 

O Believers, the Fast has been made obligatory on you just as it was prescribed for the followers of the Prophets before you. It is expected that this will make you pious. [Baqarah 2:183]

First of all, fasting of Ramadan is obligatory on all sane adult men and women. So, the main reason of fasting is to produce piousness in oneself. How does that happen? During fasting, a person keeps himself away from eating and doing those things which are Halal for him, why? because Allah has commanded him to do so. It's a training exercise that, Allah commands a person to stay away from some Halal things from Dawn to Dusk, so that in normal days he stays away from Haram stuff. On top of that Shaytaan is imprisoned this whole month. There is only one entity, which is left to take care of, which is our Nafs (desires). This is done, so that on normal days, when we are influenced by Shaytaan. We have been trained so much in these past 30 days, that when the time comes and we are in actual field with Shaytaan, we have the light or guidance power or our Nafs has been trained so well that allows us to think twice before doing any Haram stuff.

Abu Hurairah narrated that :

the Messenger of Allah said: "On the first night of the month of Ramadan, the Shayatin are shackled, the jinns are restrained, the gates of the Fires are shut such that no gate among them would be opened. The gates of Paradise are opened such that no gate among them would be closed, and a caller calls: 'O seeker of the good; come near!' and 'O seeker of evil; stop! For there are those whom Allah frees from the Fire.' And that is every night." [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 682 Hasan]

then there is a night in which the reward of worship is better than the worship of thousand months.

Allah says in Quran;

إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ ‎﴿١﴾‏ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ ‎﴿٢﴾‏ لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ ‎﴿٣﴾‏

Behold, We revealed this (Qur'an) on the Night of Power.(1) And what do you know what the Night of Power is?(2) The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.(3)

[Qadr 97:1-3]

It was narrated that Abu Hurairah said:

"The Messenger of Allah said: 'There has come to you Ramadan, a blessed month, which Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, has enjoined you to fast. In it the gates of heavens are opened and the gates of Hell are closed, and every devil is chained up. In it Allah has a night which is better than a thousand months; whoever is deprived of its goodness is indeed deprived."' [Sunan an-Nasa'i 2106]

Someone might ask a question Laylatul Qadr of my country or of Saudia's as there might be a difference in moon sighting. For this you can read this article

In short, Quran was revealed in Ramadan and the purpose of Quran is guidance. To attain proper guidance, it is only for God fearing people. At the same time Fasting was made obligatory, to enhance this characteristic in a human, so that he may get guidance from Quran.

One may say, that sometimes non muslims also gain guidance from this Book and they don't have taqwa. They have one thing which is thirst for guidance, otherwise why would they look into Quran for guidance, and if someone strive to learn the truth, Allah helps him. As mentioned earlier it is a book of guidance for all the people.

وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ‎﴿٦٩﴾‏

As for those who strive in Our way, We will certainly take them onto Our paths, and indeed Allah is with those who are good in deeds. [Ankaboot 29:69]

So, my suggestion to my brothers and sister will be to utilize most of the time in Ramadan, try reading Quran with translation in this month. It is better than completing the whole Quran without knowing what is written in it.

Most important thing to remember is, that this month is a marathon, not a sprint race. So take it slow otherwise it may become hard for you. In the beginning, you might be energetic but by the end of the month that energy would have gone away.

Take this month and try to come closer to Allah and know what Allah wants from you by understanding Quran.

I have discussed the spiritual part of it, some may say that even after going through this training exercise which is Ramadan. People don't change, they still cheat others, they still don't weight justly, they are still greedy and their hunger for money make them do haram stuff. Muslims these days don't follow the theme of Ramadan they just go through it as a part of culture, they don't understand the true spirit of it, and if you don't understand the true spirit of it. It won't benefit you. 

• You may earn a degree in Computer science or Software Engineering but at the end of the day if you don't learn anything from it. It is just a piece of paper nothing more.
• Similarly, you may say Sahada then do whatever you like and take Allah for granted and still call yourself a Muslim but 

Are you really considered a Muslim in sight of Allah? 

You can suggest a topic too, to write the next article on.

O Allah! Enable us to see the Truth as Truth and give us the ability to follow it. And show us the falsehood as false and give us the ability to refrain from it. Ameen