| REWARDS FOR FASTING Prof. Dr. Mahmud Es'ad
COSAN Aůzu billâhi
minesh-shaytŕnir-rajîm. Bismillâhir-rahmânir-rahîm.
Alhamdu lillâhi rabbil
ŕlemîne I seek refuge with Allah
from Satan In the name of Allah the
Merciful the Beneficent. Praise is due to Allah, the
Lord of the Universe. We praise Him with the best of the praises
endlessly. Peace and blessings of
Allah be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammed Mustafa. May Allah
convey our
greetings and respect to the Prophet. May He grant us his
intercession on
the Day of Judgment and keep us on his path. We have reached such a
blessed month. How nice to appreciate it! When the three
months --
Rajab, Sha'ban, Ramadhan -- arrived, the Prophet would do more worship
in these
months. The Prophet has been
reported to say: "Rajab is the month of planting; Sha'ban, cultivating;
Ramadhan, harvesting." That means the process of earning rewards
starts with the beginning of Rajab and continues through Ramadhan. As indicated in a hadith,
the beginning of Ramadhan is mercy; the middle, forgiveness; and the
end is (itkun
minan-nâr) freedom from hell. As a person offers prayers and
fasts,
his rewards accumulate and he attains forgiveness. That leads to
freedom
from Hell. The danger of falling into hellfire is kept away from
the
person. If a servant is kept away from Hell, he is placed in فمن زحزح عن
النار وادخل الجنة فقد فاز (اۤل عمران:١٨٥) (Femen zuhziha anin nâri
wa udkhilel jennete feqad fâz) "So he who is drawn away from the
fire
and admitted to Ibn-i Abbas RA was a
knowledgeable companion of the Prophet. He was one of the four
Abdullahs. He was asked which month was the best. He said:
"the best of the months is Ramadhan." We all know this without
any doubt. It was reported from Abű
Zerr-i Ghifârî RA: انه سمع
رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: يوم اهل شهر رمضان
لو يعلم العباد ما فى شهر رمضان لتمنى العباد ان
يكون شهر رمضان سنةً (Ennehű semia rasűlallah
SAS yeqůlu: Yewme uhille shehru ramadhŕn) The Prophet of Allah
said:
"When the crescent of the month of Ramadhan is sighted, (lew
ya'lemul
ibâdi mâ fî shehri ramadhŕn) if the servants knew what is in
Ramadhan --
the blessings, mercy, rewards -- (letemennel ibâdi en yekűne shehru
ramadhŕn, seneten) they would wish that Ramadhan lasted a whole
year."
We fast during the day and
the Isha and Tarawih prayers add up to 33 rakat. Both have great
rewards. Those who know the rewards would wish that the whole
year were
Ramadhan. That means it would not be
sufficient no matter how much we respect, love and appreciate this
month.
Alhamdulillah, we are in such a month. I have been reading these
ahadith from the book Ghunyatut Tŕlibîn written by our great master
Abdulqadir-i Geylânî RhA. I love this book. You love
Abdulqadir-i
Geylânî RhA, too. May Almighty Allah grant his intercession on
the Day of
Judgment. He was among the greatest of awliyaullah, the leader of
the
Qadîrî tariqa. He was a great scholar, a descendent of the
Prophet
SAS. I love him very much and keep his book with me. It has
a
section on Ramadhan that contains information that is not found
elsewhere
together. May Almighty Allah bless his soul and elevate his
stage.
May He make us neighbors to him in Naturally, as we read from
His book, he earns rewards because a book is sadaqa-i
jâriyah -- a running charity. When a person writes a
book and the book is benefited from, the author earns rewards for that
as long
as the book is used. If a teacher raises a student, he would earn
rewards
as long as the student is in the service of Islam. Your imam, for instance,
has been raised by a teacher. He led the prayer in congregation,
alhamdulillah we offered the prayers together. The imam earned
rewards as
you earned your rewards; also his teacher earned rewards.
Not only
that, your parents earned rewards for raising you as Muslims.
They
continue earning rewards even after they die. Dear Brothers and
Sisters! There is good news: Our elderly who passed away
are
informed about our good deeds every Friday. They are told: "Your
son
or daughter did this and this." They feel happy to receive such good
news. May Allah bless them all, illuminate their graves and
elevate their
stages. May their graves be like gardens of Nűr means light. If
the lights are turned off, we cannot see anything. There is light
and we
enjoy it. I could see the pages of this book and read it.
Light is
something very good. Each person needs light in the grave and on
the نورهم يسعى
بين ايديهم وبايمانهم (التحريم:٨) (Nűruhum yes'â beyne
eydîhim wa bi-eymânihim) "Their light will proceed before them and
on
their right." (Qur'an 66:8) The worship of the believer will
become
light and illuminate his path. Those who passed away feel
happy in their graves when they are told that their children did
something
good. On the other hand, if their children are doing something bad,
they feel
sorry. As you are aware the evil
has to kinds: 1. Doing bad things If a person fails doing the
obligations (fard), he would be doing something evil.
Doing
something prohibited (haram) is evil, too. The best gift a person
gives to his parents who passed away is being a good person because an
equal
amount of rewards for the good deeds carried out by this person is
given to the
parents. Nothing is reduced from the rewards of the person--no
need to
worry. Almighty Allah does not take away any rewards from
him; He
has endless mercy and blessings. He gives an equal amount of
rewards to
the parents. Alhamdulillah, this is a great blessing. You can imagine: We have been reading some
ahadith about Ramadhan. Abdullah ibn-i Abű Awfâ RA reported: قال رسول
الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: صمت الصائم
تســبــيحٌ،
ونومـه عبادةٌ، ودعاؤه مســتجابٌ، وعملـه مضاعفٌ
(راموز الاحاديث:١٤/٣٠٨) (Qŕle rasűlullah SAS)
The Prophet SAS said. The source of knowledge is the
Prophet.
Almighty Allah revealed to the heart of the Prophet all the light and
knowledge
on the spiritual matters and other knowledge. He conveyed that
knowledge
to people for 23 years. He explained the Qur'an and the details
that are
not in the Qur'an. He also practiced and showed people
Islam. He was
a living example of perfect Muslim and follower of the Qur'an. He
was a
great example for the companions and for us, too. As you know, the painters
and sculptors take a model and produce their work by looking at that
model. Our role model, the one we are going to follow, is our
beloved
Prophet, Muhammad the chosen one. When we follow his footsteps,
we will
find salvation. He is the source of all knowledge. Almighty
Allah
revealed the Qur'an to him, and he informed us about it. The
Qur'an came
to us through the Prophet SAS. With all of these, the
Prophet SAS is the crown on our heads. We uphold his Sunnah. It
is not
possible to abstain from the Sunnah of the Prophet. We cannot
say,
"the Qur'an suffices for us" because the Sunnah is the interpretation
of the Qur'an and a personified example of the Qur'an. I state
these
because some people who lack knowledge make incorrect statements that
are
misleading and confusing to people. We ought to get the facts. The Prophet SAS said: (Nawmus-sâ-imi ibâdetun)
This is one of the rewards of fasting: "The sleep of the person who is
fasting is a form of worship." Sometimes, the person who is
fasting
feels sleepy and takes a nap. The season could be summer or
winter, hot
or cold. Days could be long. We were in They do not sleep at all at
night in Ramadhan. They pray the maghrib at the mosque, eat
something
there, pray Isha and Tarawih. Stay there a little while and pray
Fajr and
go to work. They are brave people. As they get out the
work, they
deserve some sleep. (Nawmus-sâ-imi ibâdetun)
"The sleep of the person who is fasting is a form of worship. (Wa
samtuhű tasbîhun) His silence is glorification Allah." It is
like they keep saying subhanallah. they receive rewards for
that. A
person who is fasting could talk less than other times. Fasting
makes a
person more pleasant. The sleep and the silence
of a person who is fasting are forms of worship. (Wa duâuhu
mustajâbun)
"The prayers of a fasting person are answered." A person who
fasts becomes a beloved servant of Allah. He abstains from eating
food,
drinking water and intimacy with his spouse for the sake of
Allah. He
abandoned the strong desires of his nafs for Allah. That is why
Allah
loves him. Allah loves him because he is doing all of that for
the sake
of Allah. Then his prayers are answered. Knowing this, we ought to
try to get the prayers of a person who is fasting. We ought to
keep him
happy and serve him. We ought to offer him good things and food
for
iftar. That is how we can get his prayers for us. (Wa ameluhű mudŕafun)
"His deeds are rewarded in multifold." The fasting person is
rewarded 70 times more in Ramadhan than other times for the same
deeds.
This is not a small difference--very significant increase indeed! I would not know if you
offer nafilah salat after Isha. I would not know if you
make fresh
wudu'u and offer salat before going to bed or if you get up for the
night vigil
(tahajjud) prayer. But I know that we offer 20 units of
Tarawih
prayer after Isha in Ramadhan. If we multiply it by 70, it would
make
1400 units! We are given the rewards of 1400 units of
prayer. If we
spend for charity, it would count seventy times in Ramadhan. If
we do
dhikr, it would be rewarded seventy times more, too. That is why some Muslims
who know this fact, who learned the secrets of the matter from their
teachers,
pay their Zakah in Ramadhan. As you know, there are some
conditions for
the Zakah. One of the conditions is that it has to pass one year
after
the possession of the goods for them to be subject to Zakah.
Suppose you
earned some money now. You are not required to pay Zakah on that
money until
a year passes while that money is in your possession. Some people
make
calculations and pay their Zakah ahead of time in Ramadhan. If you go to That is the amel-i mudŕaf.
Mudŕaf means 'in many folds." We know from other ahadith
that the
good deeds are rewarded in seventy folds in Ramadhan.. Abű Hayseme reported: كانوا
يقولون: رمضان الى رمضان، والحج الى الحج، والجمعة الى
الجمعة، والصلوة الى الصلوة كفاراةٌ بما بينهن ما
اجتنبة الكبائر. (Kânű yeqůlűne ramadhŕnu
ilâ ramadhŕn, wal hajju ilel haj, wal jumuatu ilal jumuah, was salâtu
ilas
salâh, keffârâtun bimâ beynehunne mejtunibetil kebâiru) "A Ramadhan
is
an expiation for the sins committed since the previous Ramadhan
provided that
the major offenses are not committed. So are a Hajj since the
previous
Hajj, a Friday since the previous Friday, and a prayer since the
previous
prayer." If one avoids the major offenses, fasting in Ramadhan,
performing Hajj, offering the Friday prayer and offering daily prayers
causes
the sins to be wiped out. This is such a good and comforting
news. Alhamdulillah we are in the
first week of Ramadhan. Last year we fasted in Ramadhan, and we
are in
Ramadhan again. If we fast in this Ramadhan properly, Almighty Allah
erases all
of the offenses that we committed since the last Ramadhan. When
we offer
the Friday prayer properly, a week of sins will be wiped out.
There are,
of course some manners of offering the Friday prayer such as taking a
bath (ghusl)
before coming to masjid. A prayer wipes out the sins committed
after the
previous prayer. If we want our sins to be forgiven, we must
offer our
prayers regularly, not miss the Friday prayers and appreciate the
Ramadhan
well. Hadrat Omar RA was one of
the Ashara-i Mubash-sharah. He was one of the ten people who were
informed by the Prophet that they would go to There is an anecdote about
Hadrat Aisha RA, the mother of the believers, in the book Dalâil-i
Khayrat. She had a dream that three full moons fell
off the sky to her room and disappeared there. It was amazing:
three
large full moons disappearing in her little room. She went to her
father,
Hadrat Abubakr as-Siddîq RA, and told him about her dream. He
used to
enjoy interpreting the dreams. He told his daughter: "O my
daughter!
Three blessed persons will be buried in your room. These three
persons
are the most blessed persons on the face of the earth." Hadrat
Aisha
was the wife of the Prophet, and she had a room next to the masjid of
the
Prophet. The grave of the Prophet is in that place. Time passed. When the
Prophet SAS left this life for the hereafter, the companions consulted
among
themselves where the Prophet should be buried. One of the
companions
suggested: "The prophets are buried where they die. They
are
not taken away elsewhere. We must bury him in the room he
died." That is how the Prophet's body was buried. After the
funeral, Hadrat Abubakr as-Siddîq RA went to his daughter Hadrat Aisha
RA and
said: "O my daughter! Do you remember the dream you told me
about? Three full moons had disappeared in your room. I had
told
you that three of the best people in the world would be buried in your
room. The Prophet was one of the three moons. He was the
best of
all." This blessed person, Hadrat
Abubakr RA, must have known the second and the third persons to be
buried there
because he was the highest of the awliya. Allah knows, Hadrat
Abubakr
must have known that the second person to be buried there was himself
and the
third person Hadrat Omar RA. They were great personages. Hadrat Omar RA was a great
person, too. He was a father-in-law to the Prophet SAS. He
was
buried in the same room with the Prophet. He had the honor of
being close
to the prophet in grave. Dear Brothers and Sisters! Why am I
telling all
of these things? There were fractions among Muslims, and hatred
and
enmity grew towards some of the companions of the Prophet SAS.
There are
people who consider Hadrat Abubakr and Hadrat Omar as their
enemies. I
would like tell them something logical: "If they were not good people,
Almighty Allah would not allow them to be buried next to His beloved
Prophet. They both are among the Ashara-i Mubash-sharah as
informed by
the Prophet. Aren't these proofs enough? Stop talking
against these
blessed people." Hadrat Omar RA used to say
when Ramadhan arrived: مرحبًا بشهر
خيرٍ خير كله صيام نحاره وقيام ليله (Marhaban bishahri
khayrin!) "Welcome o month which is full of goodness." The Arabic word shahr
refers to a month 29 to 30 days of
time length. Shahri Ramadhan means the month of Ramadhan.
In
Farisî, it is mâh. Mâh-i Ramadhan is the month of Ramadhan in
Persian. Shehr does not mean a
city or town with the walls and houses in it. The word shehir is used for that in Turkish, and
it comes from Persian. Hadrat Omar RA would
welcome the month and say: (Khayru kulluhű, sýyâmu nehâruhű qiyâmu
layluhű)
"All is goodness, fasting during the day and prayers at night."
The night starts with the sunset, and the prayers at night refers to
the
Tarawih prayers. Yet some of the true lovers
of Allah would go home and pray more. That is light upon light,
cream on
top of cream! How nice it is! May Allah accept their
prayers. Or a Muslim went home after
the prayer and slept because he worked during the day and got
tired. The
Tarawih prayer could make him more tired. Since now it is winter
time,
all the prayers in the mosque ends by Bismilâhir rahmânir
rahîm: ومن الليل
وتهجد به نافلةً لك، عسى ان يبعثك ربك مقامًا
محمودًا (اسراء:٧٩) (Wa minel leyli
fetehejjed bihî nâfileten lek, asâ en yeb'aseke rabbuke maqŕmen mahműdâ)
[As for the night, keep vigil a part of it, as a work of supererogation
for
thee; it may be that your Lord will raise thee up to a laudable
station.]
(Qur'an 17:79) Our Lord has ordered the Prophet to offer
voluntary
prayers at night, and the Prophet never neglected it. In a hadith
he
said: ركعتان من
اليل خيرٌ من الدنيا وما فيها (Rek'atâni minel leyli)
"Two units of prayer at night (khayrun mined dunyâ wa mâ fîhâ)
are
better than this world and everything in it." When we hear the word
"world," we may have a difficulty imagining it. However, when
we hear "everything in it," the meaning sinks in our mind.
There are so many things in the world: The shores, mansions,
palaces,
treasures... There are so many things in the world. Getting up to
offer
two units of prayer at night is better than the world and everything in
it. We have a hard time getting
up for the night vigil prayer outside the Ramadhan because we go to
sleep
late. We have a hard time getting up for the Fajr prayer.
We are
not used to. It is difficult to get up for the Fajr prayer.
This is
the general state of Muslims. It is the beauty of Islam to have
the
ordinary people as well as the elite get up for suhur in Ramadhan for
the sake
of eating some food--pastry, pilaf, fruit, sweet stuff or juice.
Everybody gets up in the middle of the sleep, happy and content,
without any
complaints. The children, the grown-ups, the brave, and the
strong,
everybody gets up for suhur meal in Ramadhan. Other times people would
not get up from the sleep even if you drag them from their feet.
If the
person is strong, he would get angry at you and ask you to go
away. But
in Ramadhan, he gets up. Once he gets up, he should make wudu'
and offer
two units of night vigil prayer and earn rewards that are better than
this
world and everything in it. He should not miss this great
opportunity. I am reminding you about this as I talk. What did Hadrat Omar RA
said? "Welcome o Ramadhan that is full of goodness! All is
goodness, fasting during the day and prayers at night." Why is fasting during the
day is good? Almighty Allah says in the Qur'an: الصم لى
وانا اجزى به (خ. عن ابى هريرة) (As-sawmu li wa ene ejzî
bihî) "Fasting is mine; I accept it for Myself. I will
reward it Myself." Almighty Allah will reward it in an unaccountable
way
because the fasting is a hidden form of worship. It is not like
formal
prayer (salat, namaz). People can see you offering prayers
as you
stand, bow down and prostrate. You could not know if a person is
fasting
unless you ask the person. In Ramadhan, we assume that everybody
fasts,
but other times we cannot tell if a person is fasting. You offer a person some
food: "Come and eat with us!" "No thank you. I will
not eat." "Come have some with
us at our table." "Thank you very
much. I will pass." "Are you fasting
today?" You ask the person because
you cannot tell if a person is fasting. The worship carried out
in
secrecy is preferred. Also, the fasting represents
self-control. A
person who is fasting overpowers his nafs, frees himself from his
desires, and
controls his will power. This is very desirable. That is
why
Almighty Allah says, "Fasting is for Myself, and I will reward it
Myself." Fasting has advantages
despite the hunger and thirst we experience. You can ask doctors
about
its medical benefits. There is a sugar production plant in
Burdur.
There may be one in ..... May Almighty Allah awaken
all of us from the sleep of unawareness. May he place us among the
knowledgeable and aware servants. May He make us His
awliya. May He
have us lead a life in compliance with His consent. May He grant
His
guidance with us. May He make us His special servants.. May He
grant us a
pleasant end as we depart from this life. May He honor us with
his Beauty
in His Paradise. With the secrets of Surah
Fâtiha! Mehmed Çiçek Mosque -
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