SHA`BAAN AND THE COMING OF RAMADAAN

SHA`BAAN AND THE COMING OF RAMADAAN

By Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb (RA)

The phrase, ‘It’s in the air’ alludes to the general feeling or expectation of something to happen in the near future or something which is already present or prevailing.

For the Muslim who reaches the months of Rajab and Sha`baan, the presence of Ramadaan is keenly sensed and felt. There is anticipation and expectation. It is near, with each day closing the distance between us and Ramadaan. Its blessings are ‘in the air’ – so to say …just as we have fragrance permeating the atmosphere, infusing the air, whether of flowers or of Itr or other perfume.

…The stronger the perfume, the stronger the Itr, the greater the distance its scent travels – so much so, that even though we may be far, we too get a hint of something special. The same with a braai – we find the aroma being carried by the wind, over a distance.

…Then what of the sweet fragrance of Ramadaan?

It is in the air. Most definitely 

It is just that our “receivers” are not working well. …If there is a transmitter and there is transmission, but our receiver is not working, we will not pick up transmission. Similarly, if our sinuses are clogged, we will not smell the fragrance.

When it comes to the month of Sha`baan – especially from the middle ofSha`baan onwards, the excitement of the Auliya-Allah, the pious and the righteous knows no bounds and limits. They have understood the virtue and significance ofSha`baan because it heralds the coming of Ramadaan, the guest of distinction and greatness. …They have been waiting for the Mubarak month of Ramadaan, and Sha`baan signifies the final countdown to its arrival. They are enthusiastic and eager just to see and meet the month of Ramadaan, and thus we find the beautiful Masnoon dua : ‘O Allah, bless us in Rajab and Sha’baan and grant us life to see Ramadaan.’

Whilst they enjoy and make the most of the blessings of Sha`baan, it is unfortunate that the majority are neglectful, if not ignorant of its blessings.

Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wassallam) said, “Sha`baan is a month between Rajab and Ramadaan which is neglected by many people. And it is a month in which an account of deeds is presented before the Lord of the Universe, so I wish that my deeds be presented at a time when I am in a state of fasting.” [1]

We also find in this blessed month, the night of Bara`ah : A Favour and Bounty of Allah Ta’ala Who, through this night, makes it easy for us to prepare for Ramadaan.

First, Allah Ta’ala gives us the 15 th night of Sha`baan – an exclusive opportunity for Taubah, Rujoo Ilallah, Dua and other Ibaadah… and then He gives us an entire month saturated with opportunities to secure His Pleasure. He gives us Ramadaan. Alhamdulillah.

The following analogy came to my mind : That the Ibaadah of the 15 th night ofSha`baan is similar to how a person does a re-paint of his house.

When a person wants to paint his house, what does he do if the old paint is flaking, if the old paint is peeling and falling off? Would he just take the new paint and apply a fresh coat on top of all the old, flaking paint? …No.

The person firsts scrapes off all the old paint. After doing this, he applies the new paint.

The night of Bara`ah is akin to scraping off the “old paint”. Allah Ta’ala gives us this blessed and auspicious night so that we scrape off all the old paint and all the dirt of malice, of greed, of pride, of anger and of other bad and evil traits, which have spoilt the beauty of our hearts and which have worn out the shine of our hearts, and through which we have lost the colour of Divine Love which coated our hearts.

…Thus, if we are not on talking terms with our family members, or have cut off ties with parents or vice versa, or have been disobedient to parents, or if there is anyone taking some kind of intoxicant, or engaging in some form of shirk, or is harbouring malice and jealousy, or engaging in any form of immorality and disobedience – then the opportunity to rid the heart of its evil, to clean it and purify it, to paint it in the dye of Allah Ta’ala’s Love, to beautify it with the Noor of sincere repentance and the Remembrance of Allah Ta’ala is presented to us in the form of the 15 th night of Sha`baan.

…Very much like the scraping of the old paint … with a re-coat of fresh ‘paint’ before the month of Ramadaan. We apply the new coat so that it begins to shine in advance of Ramadaan and increases in its shine and beauty with each passing day of Ramadaan.

So Allah Ta’ala gives us this night, in preparation for the coming month of Ramadaan. And most of us are acquainted with the merits of this night : That it is a night for forgiveness of sins, a night in which Allah Ta’ala’s Mercy descends.

From our side, we should maximise on the wonderful bounties found in this night, by engaging ourselves in Ibaadah, in Dua and in Istighfaar.

There is no hard and fast rule as to what to read and how to occupy ourselves in this night. In reality, it is spending the time in diverse Ibaadah; whatever our hearts incline to – some recitation of Qur`aan Shareef and Zikrullah, together with sincere Taubah, abundant Istighfaar, and deep-hearted Dua. Sleep for a little while and try and get up for the Tahajjud Salaah and engage in Dua. …There is no reason to feel disappointed if the person is working the entire day and does not then have the capacity to remain awake for most of the night… to whatever extent, the person makes an effort in this night.

My purpose was just to highlight one or two points – the main point being that irrespective of how far we may have distanced ourselves from Allah Ta’ala, if we turn to Allah Ta’ala, we make “I'tiraaf- e-qusoor” – acknowledge our weakness, our sins…

“O my beloved Allah! Looking at my own weakness, looking at my lack of strength and energy, what else can I take support from except that You are Most Merciful?

My crying before You, my tearing before You, my repentance are what I have to offer. I do not have the kind of strength that the Sahaaba-e-Kiraam (RA) had. I do not have that kind of strength that the Taabi’een and the Tabe Taabi’een had. I do not have that kind of Ibaadah, Zikr and Tilaawah which the righteous and the pious and the Sawliheen had, or they have.

I am of those who are extremely weak. With my “I'tiraaf- e-qusoor”, with my acknowledgement of my sins, and with my tears of repentance, I seek Your Support. Overlook my sins, overlook my shortcomings, overlook my weakness. My life has gone by in so much of disobedience to You and your Rasool (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wassallam). But this night, I am turning towards You…”

Ask Allah Ta’ala for complete forgiveness from all sins, whether major or minor sins, wherever they may have been committed, whether deliberate or unintentional. Whatever it may be, ask Allah Ta’ala for forgiveness of all sins, and sincerely promise and pledge not to return to them.

With this kind of Taubah and Istighfaar, the Light of Imaan will shine in our hearts. Thereafter, it is left to us to then preserve that Light by staying away from those sins in the future.

On the other hand, if the person is going to merely engage in lip-service Istighfaar and Taubah for the night, and continue with the same evils the very next day, how will any Noor remain in the heart? …Then, when Ramadaan does arrive, the person will be empty in his heart, and if he continues in the same direction of sins, he will not be in the right frame of spirituality to fully benefit and draw from the downpour of Noor, Rahmah and Barakah of Ramadaan.

May Allah Ta’ala grant us all the understanding and the ability to practise on our knowledge with Ikhlaas. May Allah Ta’ala grant us the full blessings of Sha`baan and Ramadaan.

NOTE: this years 15th of sha'baan is On friday 13/06/2014

Assalamu alykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh  :)

The message

I am lying on the bed. My children, brothers and sisters are all sitting by my bedside. Some close friends too are standing and overlooking my face. Suddenly I start breathing with long breaths. Someone among the people sitting in the room, everyone around repeats with the reciter. My breath starts to ease out. I am opening my eyes and looking at something. The Angel of death has arrived. I am getting late for the eternal journey. My mouth has opened up. My brother is dropping some water into my mouth; it is perhaps the “Zam Zam” water which I had preserved for the very moment. Then everyone starts to recite, “Laa’ilaaha illallaaha Muhammadur Rasoolullaah”. I have lost my vision. I have lost my tongue, I have even lost my sensation but I can still hear. I can hear my loved ones weeping in grief. I’m not dead yet but I am almost lifeless. The Angel of death makes the final act and takes my soul out with an intensive jerk. I have now left this world. All my wealth, cars, properties, bank balances, contacts and connections are of no use now. My identity is my grave and I am being referred to as ‘dead body’. My near ones are preparing my grave and some of them think it as inauspicious to keep the dead body inside the house for too long. The house which I myself built and lived in is shrinking in space for me. My bath is being prepared. I am taken out in the compound for the final bath. My bathroom fitted with expensive bath fittings is not for me now. I am being wrapped in the white cotton shroud. I am boxed in a wooden box for the travel to my grave. My expensive car is not for me now. For what then did I amass so many worthless things? Why did I lie to earn the useless wealth? It is of no use to me. Woe to me for I wasted my life in vain. I forgot that my last journey is near and certain. Why did I sin so much? Oh! I have lost my game. Now stop imagining! This is going to happen one day with you and me. So be prepared.
 adapted from muhammed faraaz ebrahim dawah emails

Nafs/slave of Allah

Assalamu alykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh. So there is this site i go when i want exclusive islamic informations,hadiths, lectures etc it's a dawah site which belongs to Muhammad faraaz ebrahim to go to the site click here . I pray Allah increase his imaan, accept his dawah efforts as an act of ibadah and at the end make him gain jannah.
I saw this piece on the site and i think i should share.

In the Qur'an the word nafs is used in two ways:

★•——• 1. First way that the word nafs is used is to indicate our own-self. Some people would translate it in English as self, some people would translate it in English as soul. An example of this is when Allah (لاعتَو ُهَناَحْبُس ) says in the Qur'an :

Waothkur rabbaka fee nafsika tadarruAAan wakheefatan wadoona aljahri mina alqawli bialghuduwwi waalasali wala takun mina alghafileena —••——••—Allah says:  And do thou (O reader!) bring thy Lord to remembrance in thy (very) soul, with humility and in reverence, without loudness in words, in the mornings and evenings; and be not thou of those who are unheedful. sura AL ARAF chapter 7 verse 205

★•——• 2. The second way the nafs has been used in the Qur'an ,which is quite frequent, is that the nafs is referring to a specific part of our self and it is that part of our self that has desires, appetite, some people call it ego. It has anger, it has passion, it has lust, desire, it has all these things. Some people may even call it the carnal self or the carnal soul. This nafs is not part of the Ruh ,its part of the physical human being. So if we wanted to say that we have some physical part of our creation, that is our body and our nafs and then Allah (لاعتَو ُهَناَحْبُس ) has also put inside of ourselves an inner or spiritual part of our creation, that is our ruh. This nafs is part of our physical self, even though its not part of our physical body.

Three adjectives have been used in the Qur'an to describe three different types of nafs.

—• 1. First type of nafs is known as nafs-ul-ammarah

Wama obarrio nafsee inna alnnafsa laammaratun bialssooi illa ma rahima rabbee inna rabbee ghafoorun raheemun
Three adjectives have been used in the Qur'an to describe three different types of nafs.

Allah says:  "Nor do I absolve my own self (of blame): the (human soul) certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His Mercy: but surely my Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." sura YUSUF chapter 12 verse 53

So this refers to that nafs that is ruling over the self. This means that the nafs commands us and tells us what to do. So when the nafs has any desire, any wish, any appetite, it simply commands us, it dominates us. It is that nafs which is sovereign over a human being, it has sovereignty over us. What it means is that the nafs is sovereign over us, if it is Ammarah ,it means we are subjugated by it, we are sub-ordinate to it, we listen and follow all of its dictates and commands. So this is the first type of nafs and the sign that a person has this type of nafs is that they sin wantingly, blatantly, remorselessly, in any way that they ever want.

And if you think about it, in many places in the west, this concept is actually glorified because people say you should do whatever makes you happy, do whatever pleases you, do whatever your heart desires. They may glamorize that by saying that it’s the heart but actually there are many people, whether in east or west, even muslims now, that are doing what our passion desires. So that means that we have a nafs-ul-ammarah .

—• 2. Second type of nafs is known as nafs-ul-lawwamah

Lawwamah, lawwam, it’s the same type of word as ammar and Allah (swt) has mentioned this in Qur'an :

Wala oqsimu bialnnafsi allawwamati —••——••—Allah says:  And I do call to witness the self-reproaching spirit; (Eschew Evil). sura AL QIYAMAH chapter 75 verse 2
Lawwam here means to self incriminate, to self reproach, to have blame, to do mulamat of oneself. So, this is that nafs that does sometimes bring a person to do sin, but then that nafs self incriminates itself, it reproaches itself, it feels bad, it feels guilty. Lets put it that way, it feels guilty. And then this guilt is supposed to increase so much so then the person leaves those sins because they feel so guilty about them. So, the sign of this is precisely that that the person has such a nafs that when they commit a sin they feel remorse, regret, they feel guilt, they feel shame, they feel embarrassment, they wish they could take it back, they wish they never did it, they may even intend at that moment never to do that again. So, they are fighting a battle with their nafs . Sometimes they make sin and sometimes they are able to stay away from sin.

—• 3. Third type of nafs is known as nafs-ul-mutmainnah

Ya ayyatuha alnnafsu almutmainnatu IrjiAAee ila rabbiki radiyatan mardiyyatan
Allah says:  (To the righteous soul will be said:) "O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction! "Come back thou to thy Lord well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him! sura AL FAJR chapter 89 verse 27-28

So, Allah (لاعتَو ُهَناَحْبُس ) addresses the mutma’in nafs . And mutma’in here means two things.

a) Number one is that they are mutma’in, they are content with the hukm of لَجَوَّزَع ُهَّللَا ,there is nothing else that makes them happy. So, this person is also doing what makes them happy. But this person has been molded and trained and disciplined it in such a way, that the only thing that makes it happy, that gives it solace, the only thing that it is mutma’in on, that it is content with, is what Allah (swt) is please with, what لَجَوَّزَع ُهَّللَا is content with. So, it’s heart’s content lies in that which Allah Ta’ala is happy and pleased with.

b) Second meaning of mutma’in is that has reached a state of serenity. The serene, contented, tranquility, at peace nafs. And obviously, the peace here means that it has aman, itminan from doing sin and also aman and itminan from desiring sin. It has no unlawful desires. It has desires, that is what the nafs does, but it only desires good things. The sign of this is exactly what we just mentioned that this person, not only do they not do sin, they no longer desire sin. That faculty, that part of their humanity that desires, only and only desires things that لَجَوَّزَع ُهَّللَا views as desirable and has stopped desiring those things that Allah Ta’ala has labeled as undesirable.

And had preferred the life of this world, The Abode will be Hell-Fire; And for such as had entertained the fear of standing before their Lord's (tribunal) and had restrained (their) soul from lower Desires, Their Abode will be the Garden.

Short Story

There was once snake catcher who once went to the mountains. Due to the winter cold and heavy snow, many very big snakes lay motionless, as if they were dead.

The Snake Catcher picked up one of these seemingly lifeless snakes and took it to Baghdad, with the purpose of using it for a show. Showing it off, he made big claims as to how he had brilliantly captured the snake.

However, when the sun began to shine and its warmth cloaked the snake, the coldness in its body disappeared. The signs of life were soon apparent and when the snake began to move, the Snake Catcher and all those around, fled.

Moral of the Story: Our Nafs (self) is like that Snake. With Tazkyia (purification), Mushaqqat (effort), our Nafs becomes frozen. It appears to be dead. But give it a little heat from the fire of sin and it will bite again. A little exposure to some past sins and the Nafs swings back to life.

We should not think that we have killed our Nafs and thus become unmindful. Yes, with some Mujahadah (striving), Suhbat (company) of the Sheikh, Tilawat (recitation) of the Noble Qur'an, Dikrullah, following Deen and Shariah and in building up that contact and love for Allah Ta'ala and Rasulullah (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam), and the Nafs can be frozen. However, a little taste of sin revives the evil Nafs

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Peace.