Ramadhan - Month of the Quran & its affect upon us

The graceful month of Ramadhan has set in; the month during which the gates of Mercy are wide open, the gates of Hell are shut and the Shayateen are chained up. It is a month chosen by Allah سبحانه وتعالى as a month of fasting; an act of Ibadat that Allah سبحانه وتعالى made special to Him. He سبحانه وتعالى favoured this month over all other months by making it the month of mercy and reverence for all the believers.

Also, in this month were revealed the scriptures of Ibrahim (as) and Musa (as), as well as the Zabuur and the Injeel. Indeed, this month is the most superior of months in which Allah سبحانه وتعالى revealed His final revelation, the Qur'an.

So in this month we recite the Qur'an everyday, we pray the Taraweeh salah in which the Qur'an is recited. But do we understand and practice this Qur'an? Aisha (ra) described the Prophet's صلى الله عليه وسلم character as being the walking Qur'an, are we in our characters like the Qur'an. Do we implement in our lives? Do we feel the weight of the Qur'an on our shoulders? Do we feel the burden of the Qur'an? Have we realised the power and might of this Qur'an which revealed by the one almighty in power?

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the Qur'an in Surah al Hashr:

لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ وَتِلْكَ الْأَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

"Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbling itself and split asunder (crumbling) by the fear of Allah. Such are the parables that We put forward to mankind that they may reflect." [Al-Hashr, 59:21]

Allah سبحانه وتعالى is saying that if He had sent the Qur'an upon a mountain, imagine the size and magnitude of a mountain. From humbling itself it would split asunder by the fear of Allah.

Let us ask ourselves, the Qur'an has been revealed to us, not to the mountain! Do we feel humbled by it?

وَتِلْكَ الْأَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

"Such are the parables that We put forward to mankind that they may reflect."

Is this the impact that the Qur'an has on our souls and on the lives of this Ummah. Let us look at the impact that this Qur'an had on the Sahabah and the Muslims in the past, it is known that some of the Sahabah when hearing a verse of the Qur'an would faint.

So what made Abdullah ibn Masud go out and recite this Qur'an in front of the Quraysh and endured a beating, fearing none but Allah.

So what made Abu Huraira (ra), one of the stars of the sky cry on his deathbed and he was asked: "What makes you cry?" He replied: "I do not cry for this world of yours, rather I cry over the long journey ahead of me and how few provisions I have with me. I am rising on a runaway to paradise and Hellfire and I do not know which of them it would lead to."

What made Tariq bin Ziyad, the conqueror of Spain in the month of Ramadhan burn his boats motivating the Muslims that Paradise lay ahead of them and defeat and the sea to the rear, leading to the conquest of Spain in this blessed month.

إِنَّ اللّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الجَنَّةَ

"Verily Allah hath bought of the believers their lives and their riches for the price that theirs shall be the Garden" [Tawba, 9:111]

Mu'ad ibn Jabal (ra) once called the people of the town and said to them, "Today the reciters of Qur'an are few but the implementers are many, what of the time when the reciters will be many and the implementers will be few."

He was describing our time! Today the reciters may be many but the implementers are few.

Why is it that many Muslims come to the mosque and pray taraweeh - so we see the mosques are full but as soon as Eid comes, many people stop coming to the mosque, stop reading the Qur'an and even stop praying regularly. Today we read the Qur'an but do we implement it?

Allah سبحانه وتعالى said:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

"O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. The noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah is the Knower, Aware." [Hujraat, 49:13]

Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi said that the circumstances in which this Ayah was revealed, the Asbab an Nuzul (circumstances of revelation) was when in the opening of Makkah which occurred in Ramadhan, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ordered Bilal (ra) to say the Adhan and Abu Sufyan said can't you find someone better than this black man to say the Adhan then this verse was revealed. Explaining to us that in Islam no one better on the basis of colour or from what part of the world he has come - rather what distinguishes us in the sight of Allah سبحانه وتعالى is our actions. So the noblest of us is the best of us in our actions.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

«إن الله يرفع بهذا الكتاب أقواماً ويضع به آخرين».

"Allah will elevate some nations through this book and degrade others with it" [Muslim]

We know how the Islamic Ummah was elevated in the past through the implementation of the Qur'an, the Khulafaah in the past through implementing the Shari'ah of Allah سبحانه وتعالى made this Ummah elevate and progress and look how we are degraded today when the Qur'an is not implemented.

Today the Qur'an is not implemented in our lands, if we look to the problems in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan or others how do our countries deal with them? What solution do these people bring, do they look to the Qur'an and the Sunnah which tells us to liberate Muslim land and not to take the colonialists as our Allies? No! rather they run to America and the United Nations for solutions.

Ziyad ibn Labid narrated that Allah's Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم spoke of something and said: It will happen when knowledge will be no more. I said: Allah's Messenger, how will knowledge vanish despite the fact that we will be reciting the Qur'an and teaching its recitation to our children and our children will teach its recitation to their children up to the Day of Resurrection? Thereupon he said: Ziyad, may your mother weep over you. I was of the opinion that you were one of those who have greatest understanding of religion in Medina. Do these Jews and Christians not recite the Torah and the Bible but not act according to what is contained in them? [Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi.]

Today the rulers have become like the aforementioned who may recite the Qur'an but not implement it, they even attack those who work for the re-establishment of the Khilafah. So we may hear of the beautiful recitation of the Qur'an in the Haram in Makkah, yet we see that the Qur'an is not implemented over this land in which the Ka'ba resides. Rather the Americans still have their troops stationed in this land.

Some Muslims have become like those who were chastised by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم because they recite the Qur'an but do not act according to it in their lives, so limit the Qur'an to Ramadhan and not in the rest of their lives.

The leaders of the Muslim lands have made Bush their Mufassir, the Whitehouse their Qibla and hold fast to the rope of Kufr.

We need to take the Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم as our Mufassir, restore the Ka'ba as our Qibla and hold fast to the book of Allah. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ

"And hold fast all together by the rope which Allah and be not divided among yourselves" [Al-Imran, 3:103]

Ibn Masud said that the rope of Allah in this ayah means the Qur'an.

We are in the month of reward in which the Qur'an was revealed, we must hold fast to the rope of Allah, we must recite the Qur'an, increase our understanding of it and implement it in our lives.

Abdullah ibn Abbas narrated that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "He in whose heart there is nothing of the Qur'an is like a house in ruin." [Tirmidhi]

The Qur'an should never be allowed to left on our shelves gathering dust, we must realise that it is the Guidance that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has sent for humanity.

The Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said "Learn the Qur'an and recite it, because the example of one who learns the Qur'an, reads it and recites it in Tahajjud is like an open bag full of musk, the fragrance whereof spreads over the entire place, and a person who has learnt the Qur'an but sleeps while the Qur'an is in his heart, is like a bag of musk but with its mouth closed" [Tirmidhi, Nisaa'i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban]

Let us not allow our hearts to become rusty devoid of the Qur'an!

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, "These hearts become rusty just as iron does when water affects it." On being asked what could clear them he replied, "A great amount of remembrance of death and recitation of the Qur'an." [Bayhaqi transmitted it in Shu'ab al-Iman. Abdullah ibn Umar narrated]

The implementation of the Qur'an is what the world is in need of today, look at the oppression in every place - In Palestine, Afghanistan, in Iraq as well as in the West.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

الَر كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ لِتُخْرِجَ النَّاسَ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَى صِرَاطِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ

"ALIF-LAAM-RAA'. This is a Book we have revealed unto you, O Muhammad, in order that you may lead mankind out of darkness into the light". [Ibrahim, 14:1]

So let us make this month of Ramadhan, the month of prayer, the month of worship, the month of recitation of Qur'an, the month of giving Zakah, the month of strengthening the relations between our relatives, the month of generosity and goodness to the needy, the month of being aware of our speech and actions, the month of re-invigorating our Iman and purifying our hearts and the month of engaging in the da'wa to re-establish the Khilafah, the implementation of the Qur'an on the earth.