Ramazan
(Wednesday 2nd August 1978)
Hazrat Sahib was speaking in English to some foreign students of the Islamic
centre. Talking about the forthcoming Ramazan He said,
It is too much for people to come here in the latter part of the day in
roza. For the first twenty days, it is better to say tarawih in your local
mosque. The last ten days will be as usual. So you will complete 25 parts of
the Qur'an and the rest you will have to complete yourself. One Insha Allah
will be completed here. You should also try to read at least one yourself in
Arabic and preferably one in translation. Those people who understand Arabic
they should read while understanding. If they come to a passage that they do
not understand they should refer to the translation. The meaning should also
be read as well as the words. The words have their own benefit. In the Hadis
the Noble Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) has
said that every word is like an illumination and He added that this means
that Alif Lam Mim are words. So one must read the whole of the Qur'an or as
much as one can because the Qur'an and Ramazan have a very special
relationship. As it is in the Qur'an that it was revealed in Ramazan and we
are told that the Noble Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) used to recite the whole of the Qur'an in Ramazan before Hazrat
Jibrail (A.S.) once, and in the last Ramazan, he did it twice.
Everything we do, we try to do according to the practice and the teaching of
the Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
The month of Ramazan is something very special to the Muslim community. I
don't think there is anything comparable to this anywhere in the world. In
this month people devote themselves specially to worship and thus quite a
unique type of atmosphere is created. Even those people who may not be
following are enveloped by this atmosphere, in fact whole towns and cities
are enveloped by this atmosphere. Everything appears to be quiet and
serious. They are affected by this month of special worship. This is a very
great blessing of Allah and full of hidden benefits.
Those who are not engaged in worldly activities in this month can take the
fullest advantage and should try to devote themselves as much as is humanly
possible, as much as they can bear, to worship of various kinds: prayers,
nawafil, tilawat, darood sharif. According to our Sheikh the time between
Zohr and Maghrib should be specially kept apart for worship and if one has
to perform worldly activities do them as far as possible before Zohr, which
is usually the time of worldly work and try to preserve this time for
worship. Shah Sahib used to teach that after Zohr recite Darud sharif as
much as possible. If you recite a thousand times that is excellent. Five
hundred too is very good, or recite even less than this. Everybody has his
own capacity. Any Darud sharif which you like best, which you feel affects
you most. In our Shajarah there are two.
Allahumma salle ala Sayedina Muhammedin ma'danal jude wal karm wa alehi wa
sallam.
Allahumma salle ala Muhammedin wa alehi beqadre husnehi wa jamalehi. This
one is specially for Fridays and this too has a special attachment with
Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
After Darud sharif one should recite Qur'an as much as possible. One can
recite at other times too, it depends on how much one can recite and so on.
One should recite one and half part daily. One part daily means that if one
misses a single day then it is difficult to make up. So it is better to
recite more. If anyone can recite more than two parts or three for two
Qur'ans or three Qur'ans.
After Asar one should try to concentrate one's full heart and soul towards
Allah in the form of Muraqiba: meditation. It means concentrating the mind.
Actually Muraqiba means watch over the mind that no foreign thoughts should
come into it. If some foreign thoughts come then brush it aside. So Muraqiba
from the positive point of view means that one should watch that it is all
the time directed towards the thought of Allah.
One way of doing it is by the type of Zikr given in the Shajra. Say Allaho
in the incoming breath and in the outgoing breath say Allah. In the two
breaths, silently and with closed eyes. Allaho Allah. That is a very good
way of concentrating on the thought of Allah. This one should do as long as
one possibly can.
There are various grades of Zikr one with the formulated words, one with
words of the heart and one with just pure concentration on the thought. If
any one can do this that is simply keeping His thought in mind then that is
better for those people who can do this. Otherwise it is better to do in the
previous way. This is specially for the period between Asr and Maghrib which
our Sheikh said is the best time when there is special Attention of Allah
towards His creatures, who are fasting, there is a special attraction
towards Himself. So this should be done up to some fifteen minutes before
Maghrib. This is just a little over an hour.
This requires silence and if possible to be alone. Solitude is not available
then one should make oneself in solitude, when we are not concerned with the
outer world. And if everyone is doing the same then also it is solitude.
After Maghrib there is little time and then one is expected to go for
Taraweeh. If anyone can recite Tahujjud before Sehri then that is excellent.
Another time of special blessing is between Salatul Fajr and sunrise. It has
a certain quality of its own. If anyone at that time recites Qur'an or some
Zikr or keeps himself busy with the thought of Allah he is very much
rewarded.
All times are not equal like all places are not equal. The last ten days of
Ramazan are special. According to the Sahaba, the special companions of the
Noble Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), the Noble
Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) made special
efforts in the last ten days, to devote himself entirely to worship and
exhorted other people to do so. The E'tekaf is a sunnat devoted entirely to
Zikr and Fikr. This is not a vow of silence but one should avoid speaking
unless it is absolutely necessary for work or something to do with worship
or Ramazan or Qur'an Sharif. E'tekaf is very beneficial to cut oneself
entirely as far as one can. The purpose is concentration on Allah and being
occupied with Him alone. The intention should be very clear and there should
be no mixture specially of ostentation or spiritual pride otherwise it
destroys all the good in it.
So one should take full advantage of Ramazan while one has the health,
leisure and the desire.