The abuse of Ramadaan

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The day has been given to us for our livelihoods and the night a time for our rest. Ramdaan puts these to test - do we appreciate that fact?

I think not … Our Islamic countries do another thing entirely.

We allow people to work shorter hours …
We have the shops open longer …
We sleep longer during the days …
We choose to live during the nights … that way we can do more shopping, eat three meals and sleep most of the day to avoid feeling hungry.

We turn the day into the night and the night into the day

We changing our daily patterns to maintain our lifestyles, but should we not change our lifestyles as a result of Ramadan?

Do you agree? If not why not? Do you have anything to add?

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

i agree. This month is such a blessing for muslim umaah. we should pray to Allah more and more and ask for forgiveness. I have seen many people, including myself , who sleep longer during the days to avoid hunger. May Allah grant me and muslims the ability to do more prayers during this months instead of complaining about the hunger all day long. Ameen

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

Islam demands the Muslims to fast during Ramazan, there is no other demand on the part of Muslims. No where it is said that it is a test of your endurance . Islam tests emaan not endurance. If one is fasting and fulfilling all other Islamic obligations then no matter what kind of change in lifestyle is brought it does not matter. If this change in lifestyle is not brought in to avoid fasting and fulfill other Islamic obligation then it is OK. If one is fasting he/she feels the hunger and thirst . It does not matter if they are sleeping for long hours during the day and working long hours during the night it might lessen the effect but it does not make hunger or thirst go away. I have not seen people having three meals in Ramadan , but even if they do , from dawn to dusk they do not eat or drink that makes it a big test in itself.
On a personal level I do not see anything wrong with how people make changes to their lifestyles during Ramazan so that they can fast and fulfill their worldly duties and fulfill Islamic obligations also. Islam does not mean to make our lives difficult because of Ramazan it is not the purpose of fasting during Ramazan.
There is nothing wrong with sleeping during day and working during night if you are praying all your salaats . But do take time to read Quran and understand it. There is no harm in enjoying the bounties of Allah in the form of some special dishes during Ramazan but please do it with moderation and try to share it with others who cannot afford good food during or after Ramazan. There is no harm in enjoying the bounties of Allah in the shape of buying new clothes or some new stuff during Ramadan , but try to share your bounties with others who cannot afford to do so.
I will say to the believers that please do fast no matter what , pray all the obligatory prayers and more if you can , do not cheat , lie, steal , take care of destitute. Try to read and understand Quran as much as you can. Try to be as noble as you can and try to turn all this into a habit making it kind of a resolution to follow till next Ramadan.

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Here I would like to share one of the Khutba of Rasool Allah (SAW) on the topic of Ramazan:
Source
People! The month of Allah (Ramadhan) has approached you with His mercy and blessings. This is the month that is the best of all months in the estimation of Allah. Its days are the best among the days; its nights are the best among the nights. Its hours are the best among the hours.
This is a month in which he has invited you. You have been, in this month, selected as the recipients of the honors of Allah, the Merciful. In this holy month, when you breathe, it has the Sawab/thawab (heavenly reward) of ‘Tasbeeh’ (the praise of Allah on rosary beads), and your sleep has the thawab of worship.
Your good deeds are accepted in this month. So are your invocations. Therefore, you must invoke your Lord, in right earnest, with hearts that are free from sins and evils, that Allah may bless you, observe fast, in this month, and recite the Holy Quran.
Verily! The person who may not receive the mercy and benevolence of Allah in this month must be very unfortunate having an end as bad (in the Hereafter). While fasting, remember the hunger and thirst of tomorrow in Qiyamat. Give alms to the poor and the needy. Pay respects to your elders.
Have pity on those younger than you and be kind towards your relatives and kinsmen. Guard your tongues against unworthy words, and your eyes from such scenes that are not worth seeing (forbidden) and your ears from such sounds that should not be heard by you.
Be kind to orphans so that when your children become orphans they also may be treated with kindness. Do invoke that Allah may forgive your sins. Do raise your hands at the time of Salat (Prayers), as it is the best time for asking His mercy. When we invoke at such times, we are answered by Him, when we call Him, He responds, and when we ask for anything, it is accepted by Him.
O People! You have made your conscience the slave of your desires; make it free by invoking Him for Istighfar (repentance/forgiveness). Your back is breaking under the heavy load of your sins, so prostrate before Him for long intervals and make it lighter.
Do understand fully well that Allah has promised in the name of His Majesty and Honor that He will not take to task such people who fast and offer Salat in this month and perform ‘sajda’ (prostration), and will guard their bodies against the Fire of Hell on the Day of Judgment.
O People! If anybody amongst you arranges for the Iftar (food for the ending of the fast) of any believer, then Allah will give him a reward as if he has set free a slave. He will forgive his minor sins.
Then the companions of Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: “But everybody amongst us does not have the means to do so?”
Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) told them: - Keep yourself away from the Fire of Hell, by inviting for ‘Iftar’, though it may consist of only half a date or simply with water if you have nothing else. O People! Anybody who may cultivate good manners in this month will walk over the ‘Siraat’ (Bridge) in ‘Qiyamat’, though his feet may be shaking.
Anybody who in this month may take light work from his servants (male or female), Allah will make easy his accounting on the Day of Judgment.
Anybody who does not tease others in this month, Allah will keep him safe from His wrath in Qiyamat. Anybody, who respects and treats an orphan with kindness in this month, Allah shall look at him with dignity in Qiyamat. Anybody who treats well his kinsmen, in this month, Allah will bestow His mercy on him in Qiyamat, while anybody who maltreats his kinsmen in this month, Allah will keep him away from His mercy, in Qiyamat.
Whoever offers ‘Sunnat’ (Recommended) prayers in this month, Allah will give him a certificate of freedom from Hell. Whosoever offers one ‘Wajib’ Salat in this month, for him the Angels will write the rewards of 70 such prayers, which were offered by him in any other months.
Whosoever recites repeatedly ‘Salat and salam (Salawat)’ on me, Allah will keep the scales of his deeds heavy, when in Qiyamat the scales of others will be tending towards lightness.

http://www.ezsoftech.com/ramadan/i/salam.jpg

Whosoever recites in this month only one ‘Ayat’ (verse of the Holy Quran), he will be rewarded in a manner as if he had recited the full Holy Quran in the other months.
O People! The Gates of Paradise remain opened in this month. Do invoke that the gates may not be closed on you, while the Gates of Hell are closed. Do invoke that these gates may never be opened. During this month Shaytan (Saten) is imprisoned so ask your Lord not to let him have power over you.

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

MashAllah ... To think of all these things that many of us miss out in during Ramadaan ... JazakAllahukhair for posting Mirch bro.

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

Good thread. JazakAllah khair. We need to remember the true purpose of fasting. Some people think it is only abstaining from food, it is actually abstaining from all evils that are related to eyes, tongue, ears, hands, feet....etc. It is our training for the rest of the year.

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I see nothing wrong with allowing people to work shorter hours or sleeping during the day if we don't have to go to work.

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Mirch bhai - thank you for posting this wonderful sermon as a reminder of the true spirit of Ramadan.

May Allah give us all the toufeeq to not only fulfill our obligations but also to avail the opportunities in this virtuous month. [Aameen]

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i agree , if you read the Khutba of Our Prophet(SAW) . It says at one point:
"Anybody who in this month may take light work from his servants (male or female), Allah will make easy his accounting on the Day of Judgment."
Seems it is nothing new it is Sunnat a Rasool(SAW) , no doubt he was Rehmat ul lil Alameen (SAW).

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

I think the shorter hours, atleast in Pakistan, are for employees to be able to get home by iftar time.

Although, the stuff that goes on in Mideast, with their people showing up to work for 2 hours, not doing any work, sleeping all day, now that is the true mockery. And don't give me the "It's too hot" argument. It was hot 1300 years ago too.

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

i think. sleeping in ramadhan is also a form of ibadah...so ones gets sawab as they sleep so it cant be that bad can it.

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

In Oman, during Ramadan the working hours are shortened to 7am-1pm. Its a six hour day and this includes no time for lunch or Salat... It gives ppl extra time to do ibaadah, for those who want to avail it. I like in how in Pakistan most office finish work 1 hour early to allow families to be together for Iftaari... but I havn't seen anyone work any less harder...

If they take small naps so that they are fresh for the 20 rakats of taravi then that is good right? nothing worse then yawning during namaz. But I have seen ppl who deliberately sleep a larger part of their day just so they have less time to "feel" the hunger. Thats sad. This is a month of blessings, and every ibaadah has greater rewards, so shouldn't we all be eager and willing in earning that? Who knows, we might not get the next.

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I agree with Pinks and Ma mooli .. where does it say that resting in the month of Ramadan (as long as you are not risking your fard ibaadat) is a wrong thing..

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

I dont agree with most of the points in first post

**We allow people to work shorter hours ...
**That is perfect. Unlike most of us, who work in pampered envirnment, with maitained temprature and hardly any physical activity; most of the working class do field jobs and it gets tougher when fasting and specially in muslim countries where weather is often very harsh

We have the shops open longer ...

People have to earn their livelyhood. during ramzan people dont do much shoping in day time , so shopkeeper and business owners must operate in late hours to compensate for the loss of revenue they would have earned during other time of the year

We sleep longer during the days ...

some can , others can not. Also one can notice the sleep deprivation during night due to waking up way earlier than usual. Also sleep time shrinks due to traveeh prayer in some areas during summer

***We choose to live during the nights ... that way we can do more shopping, eat three meals and sleep most of the day to avoid feeling hungry.

Again some do ,other spend their time in supplications , worship etc

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

Peace All

Att. Sis Pinks, Bro TLK, Bro Ma Mooli, Bro Mirch

I think what bro STP has said needs to be elaborated on. Firstly, I phrased the initial post in such a way that would encourage discussion. I am not against sleeping during the day in Ramadaan.

Does Ramadaan go unabused? Or do we abuse it?

Let's address the whole topic without using single hadiths to formulate arguments. This is the danger in interpretation and opinion, that the same reference can mean two different things to two persons. One such example is the edicts for letting the servants take light work.

Please allow me to explain:

Ramadaan is intended to be utilised for improvement in the way of piety, how can this be done by sleeping through the battling times of the course of the day? Of course sister pinks has a very valid point, because the nights and days are blessed in Ramadaan, it would mean some sleep would be required in the day in order for waking for worship in the night to be performed without loss of concentration. The premise for sleeping in the day should be viewed as an intent to worship in the night.

Ramadaan is a month where fasting is prescribed, fasting is between the person and the Lord. So we should concerned with ourselves and our own ibadah. When it comes to taking light work from the servants the question to ask is:

Do we take light work from them because they are fasting? Do we take light work for them so they can sleep? Do we take light work from them so they can indulge in extra ibadah? Do we take light work from them because is it charitable?

Okay but who asks this question? ... That if we let the servants take light work ... who then will cover the rest of the work? For sure we will end up doing more of our own work for ourselves or is Ramadaan a month when everything slows to 50%?

Has anyone heard of the concept of being lenient on others and strict on oneself? Yes, take light work from servants, but no where does it say engage in light work yourselves. We should try to do as much as we can in the state of fasting. It may not be as much as we usually do, but we should try, at the same time letting others relax a bit so they can achieve what we want to achieve .... a higher level of piety.

A change in lifestyle what I meant to say earlier was the mindset that we need to adopt in order to lift our taqwa ... the sermon submitted by Mirch says the same things. If we make Ramadaan easy on ourselves minimising the effect of the 'tazkiyyah' aspects by sleeping too much, by eating throughout the night, by not trying our hardest at work despite being in a state of fasting, then we are not training the nafs, we are exploiting a loophole in Ramadaan.

Let me direct you to a couple of verses in the Bible:

Matthew 6:16-18

16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Can you see the importance of trying to be as normal as possible during the fasting period?

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Peace bro Code_Red

My post was not intended to be a taunt at most Muslims, but a warning for some. A reminder that we should not abuse our opportunity during Ramadaan.

There are three persons that Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam cursed, one is the unfortunate Muslim who finds Ramadan in good health but does not use the opportunity to seek Allah?s mercy.

How about bringing other points about the abuse of Ramadaan, such as gluttony ... anyone got something to say about that?

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I could say for myself that I don't properly honor the month of Ramadan, but sleeping during the day, or (hypothetically) being allowed to work shorter hours doesn't have anything to do with it.

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

wat can we eat to make us not soo hungry during the day any ideas anyone?

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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

^ If you wont feel hungry then how would you feel the pain of billions of hungry people around the globe

eat complex carbohydrates ... they digest slowly

Timepass- May 2012
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Re: The abuse of Ramadaan

JazakAllah everyone! Very informative and inspiring thread.

May we all be blessed with the privilege of keeping all fasts during this blessed month of Ramadhan, inshaAllah.

Timepass- May 2012