Sayings of the Salaf about Ramadan
Sayings of the Salaf about Ramadan
Many sayings were reported from the predecessors about Ramadan, working during it, and being glad of its arrival, and among these sayings are the following:[١][٢]:
- Omar bin Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, says: (Welcome to our purifier of sins).
- Yahya bin Abi Katheer said: (O God, grant me peace until Ramadan, and grant me Ramadan, and accept it from me.)
- Mu’alla bin Al-Fadl said on the authority of the predecessors that: (They used to pray to God Almighty for six months to let them reach Ramadan, and they prayed to Him for six months to accept it from them).
- Some of the predecessors were asked about the wisdom behind legislating fasting, and its obligation, and he said: (Let the rich taste the taste of hunger, so that the hungry do not forget).
- A group of her predecessors sold a slave girl, and when the month of Ramadan approached, she saw them preparing for it and preparing with food and other things, so she asked them and they said: We are preparing to fast Ramadan, and she said: And you only fast Ramadan! I was with people who had Ramadan all their time, so return me to them.
- Al-Hasan bin Abi Al-Hasan Al-Basri passed by a people in Ramadan while they were laughing, and he said: “God – the Almighty – made the month of Ramadan a track for His creation, in which they raced to obey Him. So a people preceded and won, and a people lagged behind and were disappointed. So it is all astonishing for the laughing player on the day the previous ones won and were disappointed. Those who are false, by God, if the cover was removed, the doer of good would be busy with his good deeds, and the evildoer would be busy with his evil.
- It was said to Bishr al-Hafi: A people worship and strive diligently in Ramadan only. He said: (How miserable are the people who do not truly know God except in Ramadan. Indeed, the righteous one worships and strives during the entire year).
- The Mother of the Believers, Aisha, may God be pleased with her, used to read from the Qur’an at the beginning of the day during the month of Ramadan, and when the sun rose, she fell asleep.
- Hafsa used to say: (Oh, I love worship while I am sleeping in my bed. The fasting person is in worship during his day and night, and his supplications are answered during his fasting and when he breaks his fast. He is fasting and patient during the day, and at night he is ungrateful and thankful.)
- One of the righteous people was asked: Which is better, Rajab or Sha`ban? He said: (Be a godly person and do not be a Sha`banite.)
- It was said to one of our predecessors while he was fasting: “You are an old man, and fasting weakens you.” He said: “I am preparing him for a long journey, and patience in obeying God is easier than patience in His punishment.”
- Some of the predecessors said: (The easiest way to fast is to abstain from food and drink.)
Sayings of the predecessors regarding the end of Ramadan
The predecessors spoke many sayings about the end of Ramadan, the hope of accepting obedience during it, and the eagerness to continue obedience after it, and among these sayings are the following:[١][٣]:
- It was narrated on the authority of Ali, may God be pleased with him, that he used to call out on the last night of the month of Ramadan: (I wish I had poetry from this acceptable person so we could congratulate him, and from this deprived person so we could console him).
- On the authority of Ibn Masoud, he used to say: (Whoever is accepted from us, we will congratulate him, and whoever is deprived of us, we will console him. O accepted one, congratulations to you, O rejected one. May God heal your calamity.)
- Omar bin Abdul Aziz – may God have mercy on him – delivered a speech on the day of Eid al-Fitr, and he spoke to the people and said: (O people, you have fasted for God for thirty days, and spent thirty nights in prayer, and today you went out asking God to accept from you.)
- Some of the predecessors used to appear sad on the day of Eid al-Fitr, and say: I am a slave whose master ordered me to do a job for him, so I do not know whether he will accept it from me or not?
- On the authority of Mufaddal bin Laqiq Abi Bishr, he said: I heard Adi bin Artah giving a sermon after the end of the month of Ramadan, and he said: (It is as if a liver had not been thirsty, and as if an eye had not stayed awake. The thirst has gone and the reward has remained. I wish I had poetry. Who will be accepted from us so we can congratulate him? And what will be the return? From us, should we console him? As for you, you who are accepted, you are very happy, and as for you, you who are rejected, may God heal your calamity.
- The predecessors, may God be pleased with them, used to say to each other after the end of Ramadan: (Who is deprived in this month? The one who is truly deprived of what is sacred to goodness, and who is truly deprived of what is truly deprived of continuous obedience).
- “A man entered the Commander of the Faithful Ali, may God be pleased with him, on the day of Eid al-Fitr, and he found him eating coarse bread. He said: O Commander of the Faithful, it is a day of Eid and coarse bread. Ali said: (Today is the Eid of the one whose fasting and prayers are accepted. The Eid of the one whose sins are forgiven and who thanks for his effort and who accepts his work.) Today is a holiday for us, tomorrow is a holiday for us, and every day in which God is not disobeyed is a holiday for us.
Worshiping the ancestors in Ramadan
It was reported from the righteous predecessors that they diligently performed obedience in Ramadan, and among the acts of obedience that the righteous predecessors were keen on, the following:[٤]:
- Reciting the Qur’an, and making sure to complete it more than once during Ramadan, and from what was reported from them:
- When Ramadan began, Imam Malik, may God have mercy on him, would avoid reading hadiths and sitting with scholars, and he would recite the Qur’an from the Qur’an.
- When Ramadan began, Sufyan al-Thawri would abandon all acts of worship and begin reading the Qur’an.
- Qatada, may God be pleased with him, used to study the Qur’an during the month of Ramadan.
- When Ramadan began, Al-Zuhri would say: It is the recitation of the Qur’an and the serving of food.
- Ibn Abd al-Hakam said: When Ramadan began, Malik would avoid reading hadiths and sitting with scholars, and would turn to reciting the Qur’an from the Qur’an.
- Aisha, may God be pleased with her, was reading the Qur’an at the beginning of the day during the month of Ramadan, and when the sun rose, she fell asleep.
- Al-Aswad bin Yazid used to recite every two nights of Ramadan.
- Qatada used to always seal it every seven days, every third night in Ramadan, and every night in the last ten days.
- Al-Shafi’i had sixty khatmahs during Ramadan, which he recited outside of prayer. On the authority of Abu Hanifa and similar.
- Staying awake at night, praying during it, and consuming it with obedience, including:
- On the authority of Abdullah bin Abi Bakr, he said: I heard my father say: (We used to stop praying in Ramadan, and the servants would rush with food, for fear of dawn).
- Al-Fudayl bin Iyad said: (If you are not able to pray the night prayers and fast during the day, know that you are deprived and shackled, your sin has shackled you).
- Omar ibn al-Khattab used to pray throughout the night as long as God wished, even when it was midnight, he would wake up his family to pray.
- Feeding food. The righteous predecessors were keen on giving charity in Ramadan, and sharing their food with the poor, and it was reported from them:
- Ibn Omar, may God be pleased with them both, used to fast and would not break his fast except with the poor. If a beggar came to him while he was eating his food, he would take his share of the food, stand up and give it to the beggar. He would return and his family had eaten what was left in the jar, so he would fast in the morning without eating anything.
- Many of our predecessors preferred to break the fast while fasting, including Abdullah Ibn Umar, may God be pleased with them both, Dawud al-Ta’i, Malik Ibn Dinar, and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. Ibn Umar did not break his fast except with orphans and the poor.
- Abu Al-Siwar Al-Adawi said: (Men from Banu Adi used to pray in this mosque. None of them ever broke their fast with food alone. If he found someone to eat with, he ate. Otherwise, he took his food to the mosque and ate it with the people, and the people ate with him).
Comments
Post a Comment