The Companions and preparation for Ramadhan

 

The Companions (May Allah be well pleased with them) would take the month of Sha’abaan as a preparation for Ramadhan.  Now that Ramadhan is just round the corner, we need to remind ourselves of it.

 

Translation: It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat Anas bin Malik (May Allah be well pleased with him) that when the Companions of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) would see the moon of Sha’abaan, they would be busy in the recitation of the Holy Quran.  Muslims would take out the Zakaat of their wealth, so that the weak and the needy would take it and have strength for fasting in Ramadhan, the officers of the government would summon the prisoners and would enforce the punishment of the Shariah on those who deserved it and set free those who didn’t.  The businessmen would fulfill the rights due to others and take what was outstanding.  When they would see the moon for Ramadhan, then they would bathe and perform Itikaaf. 

 

What blessed times were those and how angel-like were those people!  A part of a year and most of the nights of it would be spent in worshipping Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala).  Food itself would look at them longingly and think when it would get the honor of eaten by them.  Their beds would wait to serve them, but they would be worried and anxious about gaining the pleasure of their Lord.  The Holy Quran says about such people:

 

And (these) are the ones who spend their nights prostrating themselves and standing before their Lord (cloaked in submissiveness); Surah Furqan (25:64)

 

Their sides stay away from their beds and they call out to their Lord in a (mingled state) of fear and hope and spend (in Our Way) out of the sustenance We have provided them.  Surah Sajdah (32:16)

 

When Ramadhan came, they would welcome it as if they were not going to get it again. 

 

This pure life of the Companions is an example and a lesson for all of us.  Our days and nights are spent in heedlessness and carelessness.  We are worried about material things and our hearts are full of the love of this temporary world.