Grand IFTAAR 1.0 (2017)

Why Ramadhan is so great a month This month has in its folds one such night that is better than a thousand months – Allah’s mercies and blessings that are normally showered in thousands of months are all showered in one night. This is the night in which Our Lord gave us His biggest gift, the Qur’an: “We revealed it (the Clear Book) on a Blessed Night.” (Al-Qur’an 34:3)

What is this “Clear Book”? It is a “Mercy from your Lord.” (Al-Qur’an 34:6)

Not just this night, but every day of this month is blessed and every night is blissful. When the day dawns, it gives an opportunity to scores of people to abstain from pleasures and rightful demands of flesh and blood in order to show their obedience to Allah and eagerness to attain His closeness. They stand witness to the fact that Allah alone is their Lord and object of their efforts; that the real thirst in life is the desire to obey and submit to Him; and that getting His pleasure quenches this thirst. When the night envelopes everything in its fold, it provides an opportunity to scores of people to stand in His court, His light, and enrich themselves by reciting from His Book as well as through supplications to Him. Thus, their hearts get illuminated as stars in the sky:

 “His light may be likened to a niche wherein is a lamp,and the lamp is in the crystal which shines in star-like brilliance… (Such) people are those whom neither commerce nor striving after profit diverts them from remembering Allah, from establishing prayer, and from paying Zakat.” (Al-Qur’an 24:35,37)

What should you do to get maximum benefit out of Ramadhan? What should you do to inculcate the quality of piety, strength and capability of character through fasting, night prayers, and recitation of Qur’an? Here, I will try to answer these questions.

1.    Intention (Niyah) and Resolve (Iradah)

The first thing is sincere intention and firm resolve. Intention creates awareness and consciousness as well as keeps them alive. If the conscious is awake, it results in resolve, which in turn takes the shape of effort and toil.

2.    Your bond with Qur’an

The second most important thing to do is to arrange for recitation and hearing of Qur’an, knowing its meaning and message and developing deeper understanding of it.

3.    Avoiding disobedience to Allah

The third most important point is to make special efforts to avoid disobedience to Allah. Fasting aims at inculcating the quality of piety, and the month of Ramadhan is the spring season for the growth of piety. As explained earlier, the Arabic term for piety, i.e. Taqwah, in essence means “to avoid,” it is imperative to make special effort in this month to avoid disobedience. This does not mean that we should not try to avoid disobedience in other months, it means that Ramadhan creates a special environment in which it is easier, and hence more urgent, to avoid disobedience in every form. Ramadhan creates this special environment through stopping us from eating throughout the day, keeping us in prayers through most of the night, and making us listen to the Qur’an. So, we should make some special effort to make most of the special environment of Ramadhan.

4.    Quest for Goodness

Special quest for goodness and virtues of all kinds is the fourth most important things to do in Ramadhan. While quest for all types of virtue all the time should be part of a Muslim’s nature, yet this quest should acquire special features in the month of Ramadhan – because it is this month in which a small virtue brings the reward of obligatory acts, and obligatory acts’ reward increase 70 times, or even more (Al-Baihaqi, narrated by Salman Al-Farisi). This is, indeed, a great incentive!

5.    Night Prayers

Standing in prayers for long hours at night comes fifth in our list of priorities. Standing in prayers at night and recitation of Qur’an, self-accountability and repentance, is an essential and very effective prescription for the achievement of piety. This is the distinctive feature and hallmark of the pious: “They sleep but little by night, and would ask for forgiveness at dawn.” (Al-Bukhari, narrated by Abu Hurairah)

Tarawih prayers during Ramadhan are meant for standing awake at night. Usually people hear Qur’an in Tarawih at the beginning of night. But another time for this begins after the first half or lies in the last one-third of the night. This is the time of dawn – the time that is best for seeking Allah’s forgiveness, as Qur’an tells.

6.    ‘Zikr’ (Remembering Allah) and ‘Dua’ (supplication)

 The sixth important thing to be observed in Ramadhan is Zikr and supplication. Zikr and supplication should be observed at all times in our life. What is Zikr? Fulfilling any thing that Allah likes – whether it is done through heart or tongue or limbs. In this sense, fasting is Zikr; staying hungry and thirsty for the sake of Allah is Zikr. Recitation of Qur’an, especially in prayers, is a very high form of Zikr. In Ramadhan, mere verbal Zikr, i.e. just repeating some specific words and supplications, is also quite beneficial. It is a supplementary act of virtue but its reward is that of obligatory acts. This keeps us away from slackness and focused on attaining the blessings of Ramadhan.

Allah Almighty may grant us the ability to achieve that quality of piety in the month of Ramadhan which makes us deserving of the guidance of Qur’an. We may acquire the knowledge of Qur’an and act upon it. May Allah give us the courage to uphold the message of Qur’an, and strength, power and enthusiasm to struggle for establishing it! (Ameen)

Murad, Khurram. 1994 “Making the most of Ramadhan”, Islamic Learning Foundation Chicago, Web. 9 June 2017.

The event of Grand Iftar was held in the holy month of Ramadhan where a collaboration with AISEC was made for our first famous event of IFTAAR 1.0 in this holy month. The event went really well and undoubtedly the club was over whelmed with response of the people attending the event. Food was provided for breaking of fast and then dinner was being served. Afterwards a small talk was held about the importance of this holy month.  

The Event was held on 09/06/2017 in SU217