It’s the 30th day of Ramadhan. I’m sitting in Holy Masjid in Makkah with my iftar in front of me, waiting for the adhan to be called so I can break my fast and complete a month of trying to worship Allah and trying to seek His pleasure. I look around, and everyone is all smiles and full of happiness as the month is drawing to a close, but then I realise someone making du’aa, and as the minutes were passing, and it was getting even closer to Maghrib, his du’aa seemed to get more deeper, and his breath was getting much more heavier. Then, the mu’adhin called the adhan for Maghrib to announce the end of the month of Ramadhan and the entering of the night of Eid. At this moment, you would expect this person to put his hands down and begin to break his fast. Instead, he burst out crying. When I say crying, I don’t just mean tears rolling down his eyes, I mean crying uncontrollably as if he has been informed of the loss of a very dear relative. He then forced a date in his mouth while trying to stop crying. I assume he done so because he knew it was from the Sunnah to haste in breaking the fast, so he only ate it to try to stick to the Sunnah, as it was clear he really did not want to eat it.
Looking at the person, and then pondering on what may have caused him to do so will only lead us to one explanation. He was crying because he did in fact lose a very dear friend, and this friend is Ramadhan. The month of mercy is over. The month of forgiveness is gone. The month of being freed from hellfire has finished .The Shayateen are now released from their shackles to spread evil in the land. The chance to be freed from hellfire has passed. The reward of multiplication of good deeds by 70 fold is now not available (except by the will of Allah).
If we really understood Ramadhan, why wouldn’t we cry when it finishes. How can we not be sad after it finishes when all of the blessings that were available in Ramadhan will not return until another year. If one of the blessings of Ramadhan left us, then that is sufficient to make us cry from sadness. Have we ever contemplated if we have been forgiven in Ramadhan, or should our noses be rubbed in the dirt. We all know the hadeeth of the prophet (peace be upon him) when he stepped on the pulpit and said “Ameen” three times, then he clarified to the people the reasons why he said “Ameen”, which was due to Jibreel making three du’aas, and one of these du’aas were “May his nose be rubbed in the dirt, whoever witnesses Ramadhan but is not forgiven.” (Reported in Tirmidhi).
My brothers and sisters, it is a win or lose situation, and there is no third category in this. You are either forgiven in Ramadhan, or are from the ones who Jibreel made du’aa against and the prophet (peace be upon him) said Ameen to his du’aa. It is due to this we need to be more prepared in how we approach Ramadhan, and need to ensure we do not waste a single moment of it, and it is due to this we see many people crying at the end of Ramadhan as they are never sure if what they did has been accepted or not, and have they been forgiven or not.
We should also note that we must be happy in Eid, and the two Eids come after times of worship because we should be happy and celebrate that Allah gave us the ability to worship Him in these blessed times. I am sure the brother was happy afterwards, but it was just a moment of sadness that Ramadhan is over, which was followed by a moment of happiness that Allah gave him the ability to worship Him in the blessed month of Ramadhan.
What I want to say is, do we really perceive Ramadhan as we should? And do we really make the most out of it? If we were to be told that a guest will come and visit us once every year, and every time this guest comes, he brings with him presents for us, some to use while he is visiting us, and many to keep afterwards. However, this guest will only visit us in the house we are currently living in, and if we move houses, he will not visit us again. How will our anticipation for his arrival be? How will our hospitality to this guest be? How will the attention we give this guest be? How will we act in his presence? How much will our use of his presents be, knowing that some of them he will take back with him and we will not keep them? How sad will we be when his visit comes to a close? How sad will we be when he actually leaves?
This guest is in fact the holy month of Ramadhan, and it comes with many blessings which will not be available at any other time. When Ramadhan leaves, we are never sure if we will be in this life when it comes back again, so we need to make the most out of it while we are in this life and while it is here. I want you now to go back and read the paragraph before, imagining that this guest is a real human, and imagine how your reaction to his visit will be.
Now, I want you to ask yourself, did you treat Ramadhan last year like you would have treated this guest? Did you prepare yourself for its arrival by repenting and cleansing yourself from the evil traits you carry? Were your actions in Ramadhan the actions of a respectful and pious person, or were you swearing, wasting time, mocking others, and doing other bad actions? Did you make use of the blessings of Ramadhan, the multiplication of deeds, the locking up of the shayateen, the praying behind the imam until he leaves to get the reward of praying the whole night, laylatul qadr? Did you feel sad when Ramadhan finished?
My brothers and sisters, this is the reality of Ramadhan. It is the blessed month which if we really look at ourselves in, we will only come to the conclusion that we are heedless of tying to maximise our potential for this month. We are very neglectful of its blessings and we rarely make use of them, yet they only come once a year. My brothers and sisters, Ramadhan has not started yet, so make sure you plan ahead from now and ensure that the good you did last Ramadhan does not even compare to the good you do this Ramadhan.
Hadith Commentary 