The month of Ramadan is a special gift to us. Besides the gifts of Rahmah, Maghfirah and the opportunity to be saved from the Hellfire, which I have covered earlier, there is this night called the Lailat-ul-Qadr translatable into English as the Night of Power, during which night the fate of the Universe and all therein are determined and decreed (hence I had referred to it as the Night of Determination in an earlier entry). In their translation of the Holy Qur-an, Darussalam Publishers and Distributors translated the Lailat-ul-Qadr as the Night of Decree. The Lailat-ul-Qadr can be any one of the last ten nights in the month of Ramadan, but nobody knows when it falls each year. The worth of any act of worship and servitude performed that particular night is multiplied 30000 times at the least, for that one night is better (more) than a thousand month. However, since nobody knows as to when the Lailat-ul-Qadr falls each year, pious Muslims spend every single one of the final ten nights in the month of Ramadan holding vigil, performing prayers, reciting the Qur-an, chanting zikrullah, and performing other such acts of pious worship and servitude. The Prophet SAW is reported to have spent the last ten nights of Ramadan each year at the mosque. The gift of Lailat-ul-Qadr is in recognition of our relatively short life spans compared with those of earlier ummahs.
At this juncture, it is appropriate to highlight the position of the mosque in Islam. The mosque is first and foremost a House of God, and whoever visits a House of God is a guest of Allah SWT. Yes, it is true that we are already His guest wherever we are, since we inhabit His earth. Still, visiting a house specially dedicated to His worship makes us quite another type of guest. Just to be present at a mosque, without doing anything else, is already considered a deed of piety. Those who show reluctance to visit, or feels bored at a mosque, cannot therefore be considered as someone who welcomes the opportunity to be His guest. One day, we will all be gathered on the Plains of Mahsyar, craving to be His guest in Paradise. Can we really consider ourselves worthy of the privilege to be His guest then, if we do not cherish the idea of being his guest now?
Men are supposed to perform the ritual solat prayers in congregation at the mosque under normal circumstances, unless there is no mosque available. For women however, it depends on circumstances. If she is going in circumstances that can create fitnah, than its better that she stays home. Likewise, if by her going she deprives a man the chance to perform his obligatory Friday prayer (that he must perform in congregation at a mosque), whereas it is not compulsory for her, then she should also stay at home. However, when these limiting circumstances do not exist, e.g., when there is no risk of fitnah, she should go. For example, a woman can go in the company of the husband or a brother.
A lot of things take place in a mosque. Besides the congregational prayers, there are the lectures, tazkirahs, etc., that take place in between the prayers. Attendance at such ‘majlis ilmu” is often likened to being in one of the gardens of Paradise. I have been told that there are hadis saying that the value of such attendance exceeds that of performing the non-obligatory prayers many folds. Certainly, there are occasions when you feel that the Ustaz is not worth listening to, because he has nothing to say that is worth listening to. But I have heard that the honey bee will always find nectar although the house fly will always find the rotten wherever they may be.
The month of Ramadan should be spent performing pious deeds and abstaining from all things forbidden. This gift of a month when all good deeds are magnified many folds (some say at least seventy folds) should thus be spent cleansing ourselves of our accumulated sins by performing all manner of pious acts of servitude. One Ustaz likened the month of Ramadan to a madrasah or a university. The core subject is the fast and the electives are the zikrullah, the charity, the supplementary prayers (of which the taraweh is only one), the recitation of the Qur-an, etc. We cannot expect to do well by passing the core subject only. We must also do well in the electives. Otherwise we will not graduate. Malaysians seems to spend too much time and money on the Hari Raya, which in many instances go against the grain of Islamic teaching. Wastefulness and partying with free mingling between people of the opposite sexes seems to be the usual way of celebrating the end of Ramadan.
We should all take advantage of this month of Ramadan. Just because we are still young, or think we are still young, it does not mean that we can wait to repent when we get old. Does anybody really know how much time he or she has? So don’t wait. Repent and adhere to the requirements of being a Muslim, starting now. Start with the Obligatory Solats. Do not miss it ever again. And Do it early, not at the last minute. Arrange your affairs around it and not arrange it around your other affairs. In Islam there is an order of priorities. Allah SWT is always first. The Prophet SAW comes next. All others come after them. Children (including even grown ups) are supposed to listen to their mothers followed by the fathers, but only after Allah SWT and the Prophet SAW. Married women have to listen to their husbands, but again, only after Allah SWT and the Prophet SAW.
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