Blessings of Ramadhan

The month of Ramadaan is a blessing for which Muslims await throughout the year. Rasoolullah (SwallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam referred to this month as “The Month of My Ummah” and it is no doubt a month in which the Ummah can take advantage of the innumerable blessings, both spiritual and worldly. Hereunder is a discussion of some of the excellent qualities of the month of Ramadaan, as told to us by our Beloved Master Muhammad Mustafa (SwallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam). In shaa Allah it would inspire us to perform as many good deeds as we can during this sacred month.
Rasoolullah (SwallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) once delivered a sermon on the last day of Shabaan and said the following from his blessed lips:

“O people! A mighty month has cast its protective shade to screen you. A blessed month, a month in which there is a night that is better than a thousand months! Allah has made keeping fast therein an obligatory duty and the observance of night vigil therein a voluntary practice. If someone seeks to draw near to Allah therein by setting just one example of good conduct, or performs just one religious obligation, that person will be exactly the same as someone who discharges seventy religious obligations during all the other months of the year. It is the month of patient endurance, the reward of which is paradise. It is the month of charitable sharing and it is the month in which the sustenance of the true believer is increased. So if someone provides a meal for a person who is keeping the fast, this will result in forgiveness for his sins, and in his emancipation from hell. The benefactor will also be granted a reward equivalent to that earned by the recipient of his generosity, without any reward being reduced from the former.”

Some of those that were present said that not all of them had the capacity to provide a meal to a fasting person, to which Rasoolullah (SwallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) replied:

“Allah will grant this reward to anyone who gives some kind of nourishment to a fasting person, even if it is merely a dried date, a drink of water or a cup of diluted milk. It is a month, the beginning of which is a mercy, the middle of which is forgiveness, and the last part of which is a deliverance from the fire of hell. During the course of this month you must therefore cultivate four practices and repeat them frequently. Two of these are practices by which you will earn Allah Ta’ala’s pleasure, while the other two are practices that you simply cannot afford to do without. As for the two practices that will earn you Almighty Allah’s pleasure, they are testifyingthat there is no God except Allah (L a I l a a h a I l l a l l a h) and begging Him for forgiveness. As for thetwo that you simply cannot afford to do without, they are imploring Allah to grant you the Garden of Paradise and taking refuge with Him from the Fire of Hell. Furthermore, if someone provides a satisfying meal in the course of this month for a fasting person, Allah Ta’ala will grant the benefactor a drink from my Fountain, after which he will never feel thirsty again.”