All praise is due to Allah, whom we seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from whatever evil our hearts conceal and from the consequences of our evil deeds. Whoever Allah grants guidance will never be led astray. Whoever He leaves astray will never find guidance.

I attest that none is worthy of worship except Allah, who has no partners and I attest that Muhammad is the final slave and Messenger of Allah.

Usually when we receive a special guest we try to make sure that we look our best and that our houses are clean so that we can give the guest a great impression when they arrive. We request that the table is laid with our most expensive cutlery and dinner set, that the best meal is prepared and that the house is spick and span in anticipation of the guests’ arrival.

This is what most of us do, right?

We have a special guest; a guest that changes our personalities, a guest that makes us good people every time he comes. This guest is here for a month. He is not staying for a weekend, nor a week; he stays for a whole month. This guest is the month of mercy, the month of opportunity, it is the month of Ramadaan, the month of the first revelation of the Glorious Qur’an. As Allah says in Surah Al-Baqarah V. 185;

شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْهُدَىٰ وَالْفُرْقَانِ

“The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance.”

Just as we would prepare ourselves for any other special guest, we should prepare ourselves for this guest because he is a different one, he doesn’t care if you have the cleanest house, the nicest clothes, or the best smell, but he cares about the cleanliness of your heart, and how pure your niyyah (intention) is.  Ramadan wants us to take advantage of him; he is only one month long; that is why he wants us to do everything we can to get the best reward from Allah. Ramadaan is not like any other month, the rewards in Ramadaan are doubled, and tripled to thousands of times than all the other months.

This month is so valuable that if you lose one day of it you can never pay it back no matter how hard you try. The Prophet Muhammad said: “Whoever breaks his fast of one day in Ramadan without any excuse or sickness, he will never be able to make that one day up, even if he fasts for the whole year.” (An-Nisa’I, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah)

That is how great the reward is of fasting one day in Ramadaan is, it is so great that you can never ever make it up, so imagine fasting for the whole month!

And when we read Qur’an the reward gets even greater. Why? Because it is the month that the Qur’an was revealed in, As Allah says, “The month of Ramadaan in which was revealed the Qur’an” (Surah Baqarah 2:185)

Look at how the salaf (the righteous followers of the sahaba) used to read the Qur’an in Ramadan. It is said that Al- Aswad Bin Yazid used to complete the whole Qur’an in only two nights in Ramadan, he would sleep between Maghrib and Isha, and during the other months besides Ramadan he would complete the whole Qur’an in six nights!

When Ramadan would come, Malik Ibn Anas would avoid talking; he would only read the Qur’an until the month was over, just to pile up the rewards.

Ash-shafi’, the great scholar, used to complete reading the whole Qur’an in Ramadaan 60 times, and during the other months 30 times. These people made reading the Qur’an their primary aim during Ramadaan.

Honestly speaking, where are we in comparison to them? When Ramadaan comes we get excited about the delicious Sambusak and the TV series Tash ma Tash. Many of us forget about getting closer to Allah, we forget about reading the Glorious Qur’an.

We forget the true purpose of Ramadaan; women are busy shopping in the ‘Souq’ with full make-up, the men are not lowering their gaze, the coffee shops are full of boyfriends and girlfriends having a date like its ok! This is Ramadaan, there is no joke; the punishment is double the punishment, in the other months. Besides, these actions are unacceptable in all twelve months of the year, not only in Ramadaan.

Some people say; “What should I do, Ya Akhi, the shaytaan is stronger than me!” What shaytaan? Did the Shaytaan hold a machine gun to your head? No. Did the shaytaan pull you by your ears to sit with a woman at the coffee shop? No. Did Shaytaan threaten you? No…

Moreover, there is no Shaytaan in Ramadaan, as the Prophet Muhammad said: “When Ramadaan comes, the doors of heaven are open, the doors of hell are locked and the devils are chained up.” (Bukhari) If the Shaytaan was around whispering to us we’d have an excuse, but Allah has made it easy for us to keep away from sins.

So sit back, take a minute and think about this opportunity – forgiveness from Allah. We need the forgiveness; what does it require for us to do to be forgiven? Fast? Read the Qur’an? Give Sadaqah? Is this true indeed?

No! It requires me to purify my niyyah first, to clean my intention, and then fast, pray Qiyam Al-Layl, read the Qur’an, and give charity.

But if my intention is not pure before I do any of these good deeds, then what is the benefit of doing them? Nothing, there is no benefit.

That’s why the sahabah and the salaf used to purify their intentions before Ramadaan comes, and before they do any act of good deeds. Doing good deeds was like a competition for them, they would race for it. Oh, fulan reads the Qur’an in one week? Then I will read it in one day. Just like that. Why? Because they understood, by knowing the truth it lead them to perform good actions with the intention of impressing Allah, because when a person impresses Allah, he will be impressed when he meets Allah. Does Allah get impressed? Yes. How can a person impress Allah? By racing to do good and by believing in Allah. If these two actions are there, then congratulations!

وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُون

And we shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter). Surah An-Nahl (16:97)

The best of what they used to do. Do you know what that means?

Take this for example: Each year you have two performance tests to get a higher position at work. You take the first test and get 60/100; six months later you take the second test and get 100/100.

Your boss takes a look at the 60/100 then he looks at the 100/100, he erases the 60, and makes it 100/100 instead. Why? Because you did perfect on one test so you deserve a higher position at work due to your perfection on that one test.

That is how Allah impresses those who impress him, Allah impresses them with his generosity when they meet him. You go to Allah walking and He comes to you at speed. And for Allah is the best examples.

Imagine that you are a footballer performing at a match, and you keep shooting goals by implementing what your coach taught you, the score is 5 nil and you are the one who is scoring those goals. Your coach, audience and fans will be ecstatic and thrilled at your performance.

Imagine Ramadaan as a football match, your preparation for Ramadaan is your training with your coach, your obedience to Allah is your performance at the match, and Allah is your audience. If you keep shooting goals by obeying Allah, your audience “Allah” will be impressed right?

So after the individual purifies his intention, what is left for him to do is that he must race to do good deeds. Why?

1)      So he can prove that his intention is pure. He has to compete with others, and try to surpass all the believers he knows.

Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “One day, the Messenger of Allah commanded us to give Sadaqa. At that time Umar said: I had some property, so I said, ‘Today I shall surpass Abu Bakr, I will give more than Abu Bakr.’ I, therefore, brought half of my property. The Messenger of Allah asked, ‘What have you left for your family?’ Umar replied, ‘The same amount.’ Abu Bakr came and he brought all his money, everything that he had with him. The Messenger of Allah asked him, ‘What have you left for your family?’ He replied, ‘I have left Allah and His Messenger for them.’ Umar said, ‘I shall never be able to compete with him in anything.’”

It was a competition between them, Abu Bakr As-siddeeq was always the first one to do good, that is why Umar Ibn al-khattab said: Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq’s imaan, his faith, is equivalent to the whole ummah’s faith.

2)      Competing with others and racing to good deeds is also proof that Allah loves you, because he chose you to be a key amongst the good keys on Earth.

As Allah says,

وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ فِعْلَ الْخَيْرَاتِ

“And We made them leaders, guiding (mankind) by Our Command, and We inspired in them the doing of good deeds.” (Surah Al-Anbiya 21:73)

Not just anybody gets this manzila; this is a status for a selected group of Allah’s slaves.

The Prophet Muhammad said, “Some people open the door to good and close the door to evil…” Meaning they do all kinds of good deeds that can possibly be done, and they avoid all that is haram. “And some people open the door to evil and close the door to good. So Glad tidings to those in whose hands Allah places the keys to good, and woe to those in whose hands Allah places the keys to evil.” (Ibn Majah 237, Saheeh)

It is only our deeds that count in this life, nothing else. If the individual does good; the result is good, and if he does bad, the result is bad. It’s simple, if you study for your exam; you pass, and if you don’t study you fail. This Qur’an was given to us as a guide, it is up to us where we decide to go with it.

We are all one of three types of people:

Allaah says:

ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ۖ ۚ

“Then We gave the Book (the Quran) for inheritance to such of Our slaves whom We chose.

فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ

Then of them are some who wrong their own selves, {this is the first type}

وَمِنْهُمْ مُقْتَصِدٌ

and of them are some who follow a middle course, {This is the second type}

وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ

and of them are some who are, by Allah’s Leave, racing with good deeds. {This is the third type}

ذَ‌ٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْكَبِيرُ

That (inheritance of the Quran), that is indeed a great grace.”

Rayan Arab,