How Is Your Ramadan Going?

One week into the month of Ramadan, how is your Ramadan going? To give us all a little motivation, and a benchmark, let’s see what we know about how the pious predecessors (radiAllahu’anhuma; may Allah pleased with them) used to observe Ramadan.

Mu’allah ibn Fadl said: “They used to ask Allah (ﷻ) six months before Ramadan to grant them long life so they could reach Ramadan, and they would ask Allah (ﷻ) six months after Ramadan to accept their fasting.”

Once in Ramadan, when it came to the Qur’an, some Companions would recite it cover to cover every 10 nights, some every 7 nights, and others every 3 nights. In fact it is authentically attributed to Imam Shaf’i that he would recite the Qur’an from cover to cover 60 times in Ramadan, so two times a day. Imam az-Zuhri would pause all of his classes on hadith and knowledge in Ramadan and say: “It is now time to recite the Qur’an and distribute food.”

As for their approach to Salah, they would spend their entire nights in prayer. Al-Saa’ib ibn Zayd said: “the leader of the prayer would recite hundreds of verses at a time, till we would need to lean on sticks and the prayer would end just before Fajr.” Abdullah, the son of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (radiAllahu’anhuma; may Allah pleased with them) said when they finished their qiyam, they had to hurry to eat their food in case of Fajr coming in. This is how deep into the nights that their prayer would last.

As for their fasting, it was by no means limited to abstention from food and drink. Ali (radiAllahu’anhu; may Allah be pleased with him) would deliver a sermon, after Fajr and Asr prayers, reminding people that fasting is: “not merely from food and drink, but rather from lying, falsehood, and vain talk.” [al-Sunan al-Kubrá lil-Bayhaqī 7955]. Jabir ibn Abdullah (radiAllahu’anhu; may Allah be pleased with him) also said: “If you fast, then guard your ears, eyes and tongue against lies and evil deeds; do not abuse your servants; be tranquil and dignified on the day you observe fasting; do not let the day when you do not fast and the day when you fast be the same.” [ibn abi Shayba]

These are great examples for us to be able to follow. We might not be able to exactly reach their levels of Qur’an, but we should certainly do as much as we can in our capacity. If you don’t yet read Arabic proficiently, then read as much as you can, and if you don’t read it at all, then read the translation. For nightly prayers and fasting there should be no excuse, as every one of us can emulate what the pious predecessors did in that respect. At a minimum we should be attending Taraweeh, or spending our evenings in prayer in our houses. The aim is to build our relationship with Allah (ﷻ) this Ramadan. May Allah (ﷻ) enable us to emulate the Prophet (ﷺ; peace be upon him) and the esteemed predecessors (radiAllahu’anhuma; may Allah pleased with them) in our worship during this blessed month, Ameen.

Dua said after breaking the fast: [Abu Dawud:2357]