Ramadhan and Selfish Spirituality

Imagine you see a man threatening a young child with a knife. Then next to that little child you see a second man, but rather than defending the helpless child he turns his back and prays while the attacker slits the child’s throat. What would we think of this man’s actions?

So how could we say, “I can’t spare any time to take action for Palestine because it’s Ramadhan.”…?

Yes, it is difficult to do our jihad while our stomachs are empty. Yes, it is difficult when we all want to spend that time with our families, and we all want to increase our prayers and read more Qur’an. But it is also very difficult to get out of bed at 3am to eat and then make it through about 17 hours without food or water, while still having our normal routine of work and family life to fulfil. Yet we do this because we know it is our fard duty as Muslims, it is something we will be held accountable for and it is something that is to our own benefit.

The Prophet (pbuh) has said, “He who dies without having fought in the way of Allah or without having felt it to be his duty, will die having a trait of hypocrisy”. [Sahih Muslim]. And in another hadith he warns us, "If a believer is being humiliated in front of an individual, and he despite having the capability of preventing this humiliation, abstains from doing so, Allah will humiliate him (on the Day of Resurrection) in the presence of all the creation." [Jam al-Fawa'id, 2/51]

The Prophet (pbuh) and his companions fought the Battle of Badr on the 17th Ramadhan, riding out to meet an army three times their number. Rather than feeling it is too hard to do our jihad during Ramadhan we should thank Allah that he has given us the opportunity to fulfil our obligation of jihad from behind a PC screen in the comfort of our own homes!

Ramadhan is not a time to retreat from the jihad into a self-indulgent phoney spirituality. Ramadhan is the time to practice Islam as a whole, and get into good habits that we will continue for the rest of the year insh’Allah. Ramadhan is the time to increase our good deeds and give out of what Allah has blessed us with.

We should give our zakat and sadaqah where it is most needed: for the jihad. Should we allow more children to be orphaned and then feed them next Ramadhan? Or should we fund the jihad that can protect those families insh’Allah? Now is the time to make the intelligent choice and give our zakat and sadaqah to fund MPACUK’s work.

“A principle of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) states: if a thing which has been considered obligatory cannot be fulfilled without fulfilling another, then fulfilling the latter also becomes obligatory. Thus since protecting the rights of Muslims and empowering Muslims cannot be achieved without such institutions, it is imperative that Muslims support and maintain such institutions. Muslims should have no hesitation in giving part of their Zakah to Islamic Organisations which are providing a most timely and essential service for the cause of Islam and Muslims.”
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, Canada.

Muslims in the Occupied Xiang-Zang Province have been banned by the Chinese Authorities from fasting during Ramadhan, and prevented from attending mosques. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, "If people see an oppressor and don't prevent him, then it is very likely that Allah will include all of them in the punishment." [Sunan Tirmidhi & Sunan Abu Dawud]

May Allah help us all to add to our good deeds this Ramadhan, may He bless our efforts to help our oppressed brothers and sisters and grant us success in this world and the next.

Ramadhan Mubarak!