After Ramadan
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger,
Allah Subhanhu Wa Ta’ala says (وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّتِي نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ أَنكَاثًا) (16:92)
(And do not be like the one who undoes the thread which she has spun, after it has become Strong), Abdullah bin Kathir and As-Suddi said: “This was a foolish woman in Makkah. Every time she spun thread and made it strong, she would undo it again.” Mujahid, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd said: “This is like the one who breaks a covenant after confirming it.”
In Ramadan, all Muslims compete with each other in good deeds and benevolence. During this blessed month, souls are trained in virtue, they learn to disdain vices, sins and acquire all good attributes. Whoever witnesses this month without gaining any of its rewards is indeed poor. However, what is appalling is to see some of those who were guided to do good deeds and take provisions from virtues during this month hastily destroying what they had built. This is a gross mistake and shameful act in the true sense of the word.
Ramadan has ended but you still have several renewed types for worship. Allah Subhanhu Wa Ta’ala says: (وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ) And worship your Lord until there comes to you the certainty (death). (15:99). We should know that the Lord of Ramadan is the Lord of other months and days, and that He is the Lord of all times and places. We should be straight following the laws of Allah until we meet our Lord while He is satisfied with us. Therefore, I do advise myself, my dear brothers and sisters to consider the following acts after Ramadan:
Istighfaar (seeking Allah’s forgiveness)
All righteous deeds should be concluded with Istighfaar. Prayers, Hajj, night prayers and meetings are all concluded with it too. Fasting should also be concluded with Istighfaar to amend 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 Ramadan and getting more rewards.
Fasting
1- Make Up for Missed Fast Days
A Muslim should hasten to make up for the missed fast days of Ramadan if he or she has missed fast day(s) of Ramadan for a valid reason such as illness, travel, or menses in the case of women
2- Fast Six Days in Shawwal
It is highly recommended by the Sunnah for a Muslim to fast six days in the month of Shawwal. Fasting for six days in Shawwal entails great reward and blessings from Allah Almighty. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, “Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan, and then follows it up by (fasting) six days of Shawwal, it is as if he has fasted the whole year.” (Muslim)
Here, it is important to point out that it is not necessary for a Muslim to fast the six days of Shawwal consecutively. So long as one has fasted six days, either consecutively or separately, he or she will fulfill the requirement and will receive the same rewards, inshaa’ Allah.
3 – Fasting on Mondays and Thursdays.
4- Fasting the 13th, 14th, and 15th of every lunar month.
Al Quran
Fasting and Qur’an will intercede for the servant on the Day of Judgment. It is narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr, may Allah be pleased with them, that he said: the Messenger of Allah said: “Both fasting and Qur’an will intercede for a servant on the Day of Judgment. Fasting will say: ‘O Lord! I have caused him to give up food and (sexual) desire during the day. So, please, accept my intercession for him.’ The Qur’an will say: ‘O Lord! I have caused him to spend the night sleepless. So, please, accept my intercession for him.’ Thus, their intercession will be accepted for him.” [Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad] Therefore, we should start learning Allah’s Book by heart. Recite what you have learned during Prayer and keep reciting the Qur’an as much as you can.
Charity
The greatness of Sadaqah can be felt by knowing that we are having a trade with Allah (Subhanhu Wa Ta’ala) The Most Generous, He is the One who gave us our money at first place, yet He is not saying that give this money back to me! He is saying to us: Who gives Allah a loan? If we were to be offered a great business deal with great people, would we be stingy!? We would even wish that we have more money to put in that investment! So what about Allah? By Sadaqah you are having a transaction with Allah directly, and this is the virtue of it. Charity is not necessary to be a monetary Sadaqa, but it has a wider meaning.
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “On every joint of man, there is charity, on every day when the sun rises: doing justice between two men is charity, and assisting a man to ride an animal or to load his luggage on it is charity; and a good word is charity, every step which one takes towards (the mosque for) Salat is charity, and removing harmful things from the way is charity”. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. Therefore, we should keep on taking care of the poor and the needy.
Night Prayer
It was narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas may Allah be pleased with him said, “The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said to me: ‘O ‘Abdullah! Do not be like so-and-so; he used to get up at night (for voluntary prayer) but abandoned it later.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
May Allah help us be steadfast in the right path until we reach the following Ramadan in best state of health and Iman.
Written by Shaykh Abou Abdel Rahman
www.jannatalquran.com
