Answer
Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Fasting in Ramadan is the fourth pillar of Islam. Fasting refines our souls and train us on how to gain taqwa, the objective of fasting as declared in the Quran: {O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may ward off evil).} (Al-Baqarah 2:183)
Answering this question, Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid, a well-known Saudi lecturer and author, said,
First, prepare yourselves and your environment for worship [by doing the following]:
- Hasten to repent and turn back to Allah.
- Rejoice at the onset of this month.
- Fast properly.
- Have the correct frame of mind and fear Allah when praying Taraweeh.
- Do not become tired during the middle or the ten days of the month.
- Seek Laylat al‐Qadr.
- Read the entire Quran repetitively, try to weep, and try to understand what you are reading.
- Umrah during Ramadan is equivalent to Hajj [performed with the the Prophet]
- Charity given during this virtuous time is multiplied.
- Itikaf (retreat in the mosque for worship) is a confirmed Sunnah of the Prophet
- There is nothing wrong with congratulating one another at the beginning of the month. The Prophet used to tell his companions the good news of the onset of Ramadan and urge them to make the most of it. Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
‘The Messenger of Allah said: “There has come to you Ramadan, a blessed month. Allah has made it obligatory on you to fast (this month). During it, the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are locked, and the devils are chained up. In it there is a night that is better than a thousand months, and whoever is deprived of its goodness has indeed been deprived.” (An-Nasa’i)
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.