THE RAMADAN SYNDROME

By Ebrahim Moosa (Cii Youth Foundation& Crossroads presenter on Cii)

With the Holy month of Ramadan dawning upon us once more, alarm is again  being raised in several quarters regarding the emergence of what has been called an “all new culture” that is steadily gaining sway over large segments of the Muslim community.

While the month has traditionally been associated with fasting, prayer and an overall increase in spirituality, events of recent years have seen Ramadan become synonymous with music, drag racing and a litany of other vices. Disturbing reports have emerged of Muslims pompously racing their fancy cars, exhibiting their latest amps and sounds or hanging out with members of the opposite gender, often while the nightly Taraweeh prayers are still in progress. What seems to have started off as an innocent weekend pastime has evolved into a fully fledged institution, with most towns having designated areas of gathering where prospective candidates can test the competence and flair of their “done-up” motor vehicles. Though commonly seen as the domains of the young, the number of families and older individuals frequenting these locations has grown steadily in recent years. Concurrently, the age-old problem of loitering at shopping malls, restaurants and in parking lots during prayers has not seemed to have been overcome either.

Community leaders, who have been taken aback by the sheer magnitude of the problems in recent years, agree that there is no quick fix solution to the crisis. What they all emphasize though, is that parents should be more assertive and savvy in taking responsibility and providing living examples for their children. They urge parents to be conscious of the dangers facing their children, to be aware of their whereabouts and not to provide them with the potential tools of their destruction.

However, some community members have also urged caution at laying all the blame solely at the feet of parents, pointing to the lack of strong leadership, supportive counselling forums and progressive Halaal alternatives for the youth. They argue that the decadence in our society, especially during this Holy month, is reflective of the moral climate prevalent in both the home and the various educational and social institutions in the community.

Central to this strategy in Ramadan, is getting young people to see the relevance of the Quraan in their lives. Far from being a book that is merely whizzed off in supersonic Taraweehs of Khatams, they need to be prompted to acquire the correct understanding of its meanings. Fasting too needs to be appreciated as being more than just a mere aesthetic changeover. It should be understood as a state of being that involves one ‘fasting’ with the ears, eyes and all other organs of the body.

Ramadan should also engender a broad social awareness that would see youth actively assisting the underprivileged to overcome their difficulties.

It is evident that the toxic cocktail of designer clothing, flashy cars and “pumped-up” sound systems has soured many a Ramadan in the past. An immediate panacea to the crisis does not appear attainable. Nonetheless, with the community actively channelling its creative thoughts and energies into positive avenues that can help remedy the problem, one can only hope that the true spirit of spirituality, kindness and goodness in Ramadan, can once more be rekindled.

Advices to Parents:

1.      Ensure that your children are present in the Masaajid for

Taraweeh Salaah.

2.      Create the spirit of Ramadhaan in your homes through recitation of Quraan, Zikr, Ta’leem and Salaah.

3.      Encourage your children to occupy themselves in beneficial and productive activity.

Advices to Youth

1.      Guard your gaze

2.      Guard your tongue

3.      Ensure you perform all your Salaah including Taraweeh

For more info on Cii youth foundation log onto: www.ciiyouth.com

<http://www.ciiyouth.com/>  or call Ml. Mohammad Seedat on 084 584 7733

Why a mother is so valuable in Ramadaan

Ramadhaan is the most important month of the Islamic year. It is in this month that the family worships Allah and practices Islam more fervently and with greater enthusiasm. The Muslim family spends precious moments of their time together during Iftaar and Suhoor. These two meals provide the fuel and blessing that grant a Muslim the physical and spiritual strength to fast.

The food Muslims consume plays a critical role in their worship. Allah mentions in the Qur’aan: “Eat what is wholesome and do good deeds.” In other words, wholesome and halaal food promotes good character and actions. The responsibility of ensuring that wholesome meals are provided for the family rests on the father and mother. The father earns pure and halaal sustenance. The mother ensures that the food that is consumed is wholesome and halaal.

A few ideas on how a mother can create an Islamic home in Ramadhaan:

Encourage children to recite Qur’aan regularly every day, even if it be a little at a time. This will discipline them and make them love the Qur’aan.

Encourage them to fast, even for an hour or half a day. This will build their confidence.

Let them perform Salaah together with the mother while she prays.

Teach them one new thing about Ramadhaan every day, eg. a du’aa, hadeeth, the benefit of fasting, taraweeh, etc.

Teach them to avoid junk food. Ramadhaan is, after all, a month of diet control!

Assign one of the kids the responsibility for waking everyone up for Suhoor and Fajr (Set your alarm clock, just in case!) This will teach them the importance of Suhoor and Fajr.

In Ramadhaan, specifically, there must be a constant reminder of an Islamic home!

Children learn from a mother’s personal example. A mother who is always there by supervising and disciplining her children and who keeps busy with Salaah, Qur’aan and Du’aa, provides the most favourable Islamic atmosphere for piety and happiness in the home.

A mother provides a special warmth and tenderness to the family during Ramadhaan. Ramadhaan without a mother can never be a true Ramadhaan.Ask anybody who has lost a mother within the last year how sad and empty that home now is:(

A dua for our mothers and sisters  :

May Allah grant our mothers the understanding of their critical role in every Muslim home. They are the spiritual pillars upon which the bricks of worship and obedience stand. If they fall or crumble the future of the Ummah is at stake. If they stand firm, the Ummah will be able to produce the likes of Khalid Ibn Walid Radhi Allahu Anhu, Junaid Baghdadi Rahimahullah and Rabia Basria Rahimahallah.

If they fail in their responsibility our Maryam will become Mary, our Bilal will become Billy and our Yusuf will become Joe. May Allah protect our mothers and sisters from blindly aping the filthy dressing, speech, behaviour and culture of the west. Their culture has failed! Time has shown that they can boast of little except wife batterings, broken homes, AIDS, extra marital affairs, rape, pornography and shamelessness. The world is waiting for Muslim women to lead the way in showing how Islam can solve the problems of our morally decaying society. May Allah make our Muslim women true beacons of piety and strength. Aameen!

Source: Hafidha Rayhaana Omar Muhammad

Whatever Allah does….it is for our best

by Asma bint Shameem

When my daughter was 2 years old, she loved to play with the water in the commode. Yes, that’s right….the commode. Yuck!! That’s nasty! You would say. But to her, that was the delight of the day! Splish…splash! To her there was nothing like it! And so when I would prevent her from it, she would scream and cry and wouldn’t want to stop. She didn’t understand how harmful that was for her. In her little mind, I took away something that she really enjoyed.

And when I would take her to the doctor to have her immunization shots, she didn’t understand either. She would howl at the top of her lungs at the first sight of the needle and would run the other way. It would take two of us just to hold her down! To her, frankly, it was plain torture! Her innocent little mind simply could not even begin to understand how, on earth, could being tortured by a needle, be good for you?!! She didn’t realize that this ‘needle’ will Insha Allah protect her from certain illnesses and harm that is much more severe than the prick of this little needle.

So what’s the point here?

The point I am trying to make is that we, as parents sometimes do things for our kids, out of our great love and concern for them, which they may not understand. They do not see the wisdom behind it, although we do, and so we carry out those things because we know it will be better for them.

And for Allah is the Highest example. (Surah Nahl:60)       وَلِلّهِ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَىَ

So when Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’ala , in His Infinite Wisdom, tests us with a situation that we think is  difficult or takes away something that in our mind was good for us, we need to remember that perhaps it may not be so. Perhaps if we had continued in our way, it might have been harmful for us and whatever Allah decreed for us is actually better for us, for He is All-Wise and All-Knowing.

Allah says:

“…and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.” (Surah Baqarah: 216)

Al-Hasan al-Basri said: “Do not resent the calamities that come and the disasters that occur, for perhaps in something that you dislike will be your salvation, and perhaps in something that you prefer will be your doom.”

Remember that we are dealing with the One who is Arham ar-Raahimeen, the Most Merciful of all that show mercy. All the mercy that we have in this world from Adam (Alaiyhi Salaam) to the Day of Judgment is only one hundredth of the Mercy of the Most Merciful. And He is Most Wise. He knows and we don’t know.

So have faith in Him and trust in Him and although, sometimes we may not understand the reason behind certain things, know that as long as you obey Him, whatever He will do for you is, in fact for your betterment.

So if Allah didn’t give you that big house, or that nice car you wanted or that big raise you were hoping for, know in your mind and believe in your heart that it is actually better for you. Who knows…..maybe that big house, that car or that money would have become a source of ‘fitnah’ for you….Perhaps you would have become arrogant and conceited because of it, and Allah saved you from it. Because, you know that the Prophet (sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said:

“Any one in whose heart is even a mustard seed’s worth of pride will not enter Paradise.” (Muslim)

And if you have been sick and suffering, sure it is not easy. But again, know in your mind and believe in your heart that it is indeed better for you. For, if you bear patiently, it will be a means of expiation for your sins and a source of great reward. The Prophet (sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said:

“There is nothing that befalls a believer, not even a thorn that pricks him, but Allah will record one good deed for him and will remove one bad deed from him.” (Muslim)

And: “On the Day of Resurrection, when people who had suffered affliction are given their reward, those who were healthy will wish their skins had been cut to pieces with scissors when they were in the world (when they see the immense rewards for the afflictions they suffered).” (Tirmidhi-Saheeh by al-Albaani)

If Allah took away a dear, loved one, believe, from the bottom of your heart, that surely this was better. For, you never know, had the one who passed away lived longer, may be his life would have been one of sins and disobedience and Allah, out of His Mercy, took him before that….in a state of Imaan.

And if life has been difficult, worries surround you and calamities after calamities befall you, hear the good news from the Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam): “Trials will continue to befall the believing man and woman, with regard to themselves, their children and their wealth, until they meet Allah with no sin on them.” (Tirmidhi– saheeh by al-Albaani)

Subhaan Allaah! No sin?! And what is it from this world that you wouldn’t give up, just to meet Allah with no sin??!!

Remember that the One Who is testing you is the Most Wise, the Most Merciful and the Most Loving…..and that He did not send this calamity in order to destroy you….or cause you pain or finish you off. Rather, He is checking on you, testing your patience, acceptance and faith; it is so that He may hear your du’a and supplication, so that He may see you standing before Him….seeking His protection….filled with humility and complaining to Him, alone. The difficulties you face is a reminder for you to return to Allah and ask for forgiveness from Him. Who knows… if He didn’t give you the difficulty, maybe you would have strayed from Him far, far away….

Ibn Taymiyah said: A calamity that makes you turn to Allah is better for you than a blessing which makes you forget the remembrance of Allah.”

Thus in our times of trouble, when we go through pain and suffering and in our times of loss, we need to trust Allah. We need to keep in mind that as long as we fear Him and try our best to obey Him, He will never do us wrong. He will protect us and guide us and do the best for us, no matter what the situation apparently looks like. Allah says in a hadeeth Qudsi:

“I am as my slave thinks of me and I am with him whenever he remembers me.” (Agreed Upon).

It is actually a sign of our weakness and shortsightedness, that we tend to focus on the calamities themselves, without paying much attention to the benefits that they may bring. We also forget to look at all other innumerable blessings that we enjoy and see around us.

Our minds, our logic and our senses cannot even begin to fathom the Wisdom, the Knowledge and the Hikmah behind Allah’s decisions and verdicts. It is He who is the Wise….it is He who is the Just and it is He who is the Knower of the unseen. If we trust in Allah, He will suffice and it is He who will grant us goodness in any situation and under any circumstances.

“And when someone puts all his trust in Allah, He will be enough for him.” (Surah at-Talaaq:3)

The Prophet (sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said:

“If you put your trust completely in Allah, He will arrange for your sustenance in the same way as He provides for the birds. They go out in the morning with their stomachs empty and return filled in the evening.” (Tirmidhi-saheeh).

So trust Him….for, there is much reward in trusting Him…..it is Jannah. And there is sin in distrusting Him. Calamities and disasters are a test, and they are a sign of Allah’s love for a person. They are like medicine: even though it is bitter, yet, in spite of its bitterness you still give it to the one whom you love….

“The greatest reward comes with the greatest trial. When Allah loves a people He tests them. Whoever accepts that wins His pleasure but whoever is discontent with that earns His wrath.” (Saheeh al-Tirmidhi)

http://farhathashmi.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/whatever-allah-doesit-is-for-our-best/

The Virtues of Pregnancy

• When a woman is pregnant with a child, all the angels will make Istighfar (repentance) on her behalf. Allah SWT will, for each day of her pregnancy, write for her 1000 good deeds and erase from her 1000 bad deeds.

• When a pregnant woman starts to feel the pain from contractions, Allah SWT will write in her records as someone who is doing jihad (spiritual or physical struggle) in His path.

• When a woman becomes pregnant by her husband and he is pleased with her, she obtains the reward of a person engaging in fasting for Allah SWT and a person spending the night in ibaadah (worship).

• A woman from the time of pregnancy until childbirth and weaning the baby, is like the Mujahid (someone fighting in the path of Allah, swa) who is stationed on the frontiers of the Islamic land. If she dies during this period, she dies the death of a shahid (martyr).

• Two raka’at salaat performed by a pregnant woman is better than 80 raka’at salaat performed by a non-pregnant woman.

• A woman who is pregnant gets the reward of fasting during the day and of doing ibaadah (worship) during the nights.

• A woman who gives birth gets the reward of 70 years of salaat (prayer) and fasting. For each vein that feels pain, Allah SWT gives her the reward of one accepted hajj (Pilgrimage to Makkah).

• If the woman dies within 40 days of giving birth, she will die as a shahid (matyr).

(Hadith)…….”A woman that dies in her virginity or during her pregnancy or at the time of birth or thereafter (in nifaas) will attain the rank of a martyr”

Nabi(salalaallahu alayhi wassallam) is reported to have also said “…….When her labour pains commence, the inhabitants of the earth and the sky are unaware of the stores of comfort that are prepared for her. When she delivers and breast feeds her child, then she will be granted a reword for every gulp of milk, if she had to remain awake during the night for the sake of the child, she will receive the reword of emancipating seventy slaves in the path of Allah Ta’ala. O Salaamat! Do you know who these women are? They are pious, upright, with a delicate nature yet obedient to their husbands and not ungrateful to them”

Source: Madrasa In’aamiyyah via Toronto Shariah Program [shariahprogram.ca]

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