Ramadaan .....The opportunity of a Lifetime

You have been given an opportunity of a lifetime. A business operates twenty four hours a day. The owner wishes to take a holiday and has requested you to run the business for one month. The arrangement is that for every second that you will personally man the business, you will get paid twenty rands.  If you have to leave the business for any necessity, the person who relieves you will get the money for the duration of time that you are out! You have obviously grabbed the opportunity with open arms.

OVER-TIME

First let the above scenario settle in the mind. Now imagine that the month of running the business has just commenced. A close friend phones to invite you to a lavish function. "You must come," he urges. Your almost spontaneous reply would perhaps be: "I am sorry but I am very busy and will not be able to attend." The first weekend comes. Your children want to "go out for a drive." "Not today. I am very busy," says their father. The children's mother also wholeheartedly agrees. After all she is also dreaming every

night about what she will do with the twenty rands per second that her husband is earning. Hence she does not ask to be taken anywhere. How can she even think of it. Twenty rands per second - and just for one month only! And

you . well obviously you are working beyond the limits of overtime. No time to eat in peace. Only the minimal amount of sleep. No shopping. No "drives."  No time to sit around with friends over coffee. And entertainment? Whatever

is that? The very word sounds unfamiliar. All this due to the once in a lifetime opportunity of earning twenty rands per second for one month.

ANSWER ON DAY OF JUDGEMENT

Yet, if the person who slogged for the entire month to earn twenty rands per second . passes away on the thirtieth day, the wealth he earned will be of no use to him. He cannot take it along to his grave. If he does live to use it, the tax-man will be there to first take his share. He will have to worry

about how to protect his wealth. Besides this, he will have to answer on the Day of Judgement about how he earned it and where he spent it. Generally, despite the abovementioned problems we will grab the opportunity of running the business for one month.

PETTY CASH

Allah Ta'ala is also granting us a lifetime's opportunity. The month of Ramadhaan with its unlimited blessings is here. One month in earnings at the rate of twenty rands per second cannot even be called petty cash in comparison to the rewards that Allah Ta'ala grants and the blessings and

mercy that He showers in the month of Ramadhaan. Every Ramadhaan must be treated as a once in a lifetime opportunity since we have no idea whether we will live till the next Ramadhaan.

What are the rewards of good deeds in the month of Ramadhaan? The reward of every Fardh (compulsory) act is multiplied seventy times while every Nafl (optional) act earns the reward of one Fardh out of Ramadhaan. It is important to understand the latter aspect in its proper perspective.

Tahajjud (Nafl Salaah in the last third of the night) is an extremely great ibaadah. Great virtues have been narrated for this Salaah. However, a lifetime of tahajjud cannot equal one Fardh of Fajr Salaah! Yet in the month of Ramadhaan Allah Ta'ala grants us the reward of a Fardh action for every

Nafl performed.

ENTERTAINMENT?

Thus, can we afford to waste this time? Can we still have time for "drives?" Is it possible for a person who values Ramadhaan in a similar manner that he values twenty rands a second, to spend hours "eating out" at after Taraweeh

feasts, or have time for other idle pursuits? Can we afford to spend valuable time glued to the airwaves listening to the "opinions" and "views" of all and sundry in Deeni matters whereas that time could have been used to at least recite Durood Shareef ? And entertainment? Have we heard that word before??? Thus the last thing that any Muslim who values Ramadhaan will bother about is who somewhere in the world is whacking a little red ball all over a field or who is kicking a ball between two posts!!!

SHORTEST TARAWEEH

Thus it also does not behove of people who value Ramadhaan to try to "save time" from the performance of ibaadah. Many people "work out" the shortest Taraweeh - where they will be able to leave in the shortest possible time

and head for the food outlets where ample time will be whiled away. Think of the twenty rands per second. We would break the records for over-time work.

Thus in Ramadhaan we should break the record for the amount of time spent in Salaah, tilaawat (recitation of the Qur'an Shareef), zikr, dua, etc. Ramadhaan is not a month to "save" time from the performance of these acts.

Rather it is a month to engage every moment possible in these acts. Apart from Salaah, tilaawat, etc., Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has himself stressed upon us to excessively engage in some practices. Rasulullah

(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) is reported to have said: "And in this month you should endeavour to perform four things in great number, two of which shall be to please your Rabb, while the other two shall be those without which you cannot make do. Those which shall be to please your Rabb are that

you should in great abundance recite the "Kalima Tayyiba" (Laa ilaaha il'lallah) and make much istighfaar (beg Allah's forgiveness with Astaghfirullah). And as for those two without which you cannot make do, you should beg Allah for entry into paradise and seek refuge with him from the

fire of Jahannam."

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Please remember me in your دُعاء's
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السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَ بَرَكَاتُهُ
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