Preparation for Ramadhaan and the Evil of Pride

[ummtaalib]

 

Preparation for Ramadhaan and the Evil of Pride

(Highlights of Mufti Ebrahim Salejee’s majlis - Saturday 12th April)

 

1. With the approaching of the month of Ramdhaan, every person’s desire is that whatever he does must be accepted. Thus, for acceptance you require to ensure that the asbaab (means) of acceptance are also in place. The hadeeth speaks of a person’s fast being rejected when he breaks his fast with haraam, whether it is haraam food or food purchased with haraam wealth. The pain that you undertake does not deserve rejection, but one has brought into it something that has ruined it. Similarly, engaging in gheebat and vain talk causes the fast to be rejected. For many of us it is better to sleep and save ourselves from these ruining deeds. Some Mashaayikh say that if one has the urge to make gheebat then make gheebat of one’s parents and pass over your thawaab to them as they deserve it the most. The appropriate thing is that one should get into a routine before the month of Ramadhaan comes. One should get things in order, pay off all outstanding debts even if you are put into constraints. Likewise, covering up qadhaa namaaz, fasts etc.

 

2. One serious problem in our lives is the aspect of pride. We are speaking of gheebat, but why is it so serious, that it is considered worse than zina which we consider so filthy. The zina which we do not consider as zina is the porn that we watch or the novels that we read or the billboards that we look at. This is absolute zina, yet we do not consider it as zina. This is the nature of sin, gradually we become accustomed to it and the disgust for it is lost and it eventually becomes acceptable. The right way is to nip it in the bud. One should not go to such places where there is a chance to fall into sin. Yes, if there is a need to go to such places then just go to the extent of the need and return. Nowadays going to malls has become like a culture. We all know what happens there. In reality we acquire everything in the musjid and then we are dumping it there. The second wrong in gheebat is that the person is not there to defend himself. So this is a sign that one is a coward and speaking ill of the next person behind is back. Another point is that you make gheebat of someone who you feel inferior to yourself. You won’t hear someone making gheebat of Hadhrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) or Sayyid Abdul Qaadir Jeelaani (rahmatullahi ‘alaih). So in gheebat you are despising someone. This pride was what had got shaitaan banished and rejected. He had pride and arrogance.

 

3. Ebrahim (‘alaihis salaam) had a debate with the king Namrood. Allah Ta‘ala says that this debate was because of his kingship. So he had ‘might’ therefore he felt that he was ‘right’. And this is how people think that if you have ‘might’ then you are ‘right’. So ‘might’ becomes ‘right’, since the one who has ‘might’ controls the education system. So they make you think as they want you to think. You begin to think that my child needs to gain education and a degree so that he can earn wealth and live a comfortable life, and these poor ‘Aalims and Moulanas have nothing. So my child should not acquire deeni knowledge. If this is going to be the manner in which we look at things then just think who will guide us to deen, who will perform our nikaahs etc. If they are not going to be around, then we should look at the situation in countries like America etc.; the daughter can marry a Hindu, the son can marry a Christian and there is nobody to guide. A university degree and more education does not necessarily make you more intelligent. You may have a better command over the language etc. but you cannot think correctly. If you look at the end result of these degrees, in a nutshell it is that you become a money making machine.

 

4. The incident of Shaikh Abu ‘Abdillah Anduloosi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) is quite famous. The reason for his temporary downfall was that the thought of greatness and pride had overcome him. Hence, one can never feel satisfied and think that this imaan and the rest of the bounties are one’s personal achievement. We do not know where we are going, whether to Jannat or Jahannum, yet we feel so comfortable and complacent. Right until the end one needs to feel that I do not know where I stand. The best is that we have a balance in our hope of Allah’s forgiveness and fear of Allah’s punishment. There has to be that continuous struggle within ourselves. Therefore, at the time of breaking our fast, we beg Allah Ta‘ala’s forgiveness, and this is taught to us in the masnoon du‘aa at the time of iftaar, for we do not know what may cause our fast to be rejected.

 

[Haya]

 

 

 

During the summer break we have a lot of time to make preparations for ramadhan :) 

 

  some things that I learnt last ramadan I might forget them, need to review...