AHLAN YA RAMADAN

13th September 2007 is around corner. Most of us Muslims are anticipating the month of Ramadan with mixed feelings. Rasa rindu membuak-buak menanti kedatangan bulan yang hanya menjengah sekali setahun. Bulan yang akan menguji kesabaran dan kepatuhan seorang hamba terhadap Penciptanya. Bulan yang menjadi bukti betapa maha Pemurahnya kepada hamba-hambaNya. Bulan yang ditawarkan limpahan keampunan dan ganjaran yang berlipat ganda...

Setiap kali menjelang Ramadan, saya pasti teringat nenek. Setiap tahun nenek mesti mendoakan supaya dia sempat menemui Ramadan. Untuk Ramadan tahun ni saya hadiahkan nenek telekung sembahyang baru. Gembiranya dia sehingga dikucupnya telekung pemberian saya tu. Sepintas lalu itulah gambaran zahir yang kita lihat. Tetapi apabila direnung dan difikir-fikirkan, kita akan insaf dan mula merefleksi diri sendiri. Apakah makna Ramadan untuk kita? Apakah kita merindui dan menanti-nantikan kedatangan Ramadan seperti kita merindui dan menanti-nantikan orang yang kita sayang yang dah setahun tidak ketemu? Adakah kita merasa betul-betul gembira dengan kedatangan Ramadan seperti mana kegembiraan kita menyambut kepulangan orang yang kita sayang? Adakah kita betul-betul bersyukur dengan rahmat Allah yang masih memberikan kita kesempatan umur untuk menyambut Ramadan?

Here are a few hadiths regarding Ramadan... Ma sha' Allah...Betapa pemurahnya Allah kepada hamba-hambaNya. Cuma kadang-kadang kita aje yang sombong, tak sedar diri dan tidak menghargai.. Allah menghargai ibadah puasa kita sehingga meninggikan taraf ibadah puasa special berbanding ibadah-ibadah lain... Fasting is truly special, we done it merely for Allah and He alone will give us the reward... Bayangkanlah bagaimana perasaan seorang hamba tatkala menerima sendiri ganjaran daripada Tuhannya... Ma sha' Allah... Tak dapat digambarkan bagaimana kerendahan diri, ketaatan dan kepatuhan seorang hamba hanya dalam masa 29 atau 30 hari itu dinilai sebegitu tinggi oleh Allah yang Maha Kaya yang memiliki segala-galanya, yang sebenarnya tidak memerlukan apa-apa daripada kita... Sombonglah kita jika enggan merebut ganjaran sepanjang Ramadan yang penuh barakah... Barakahnya Ramadan kerana amalan yang sedikit namun ganjarannya berlipatganda...

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Every deed of the human being is for himself and its reward is multiplied for him from ten to seven hundred times. Allah says: ‘Except for fasting, for truly it is for Me and I alone will reward it, for verily he abandoned his desires, his food, and his drink for my sake.’ The one who fasts experiences two joys, one upon breaking his fast and one when he meets his Lord. Surely the breath of the fasting person is sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “When Ramadan commences, the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are bound in chains.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim]

The Prophet (peace be upon him said: “On the first night of Ramadan, the devils and rebellious jinn are bound in chains, The gates of Paradise are opened until not a single gate remains closed. The gates of Hell are bound shut until not a single gate remains open. Then a caller calls out: ‘O desirer of good, go forth! O desirer of evil, restrain yourself! Allah is emancipating people from the Fire every night’.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhî]

On the eve of Ramadan, the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave a sermon and said: “O people! A great and blessed month is coming upon you, a month containing a night better than a thousand months. Allah has made fasting in its days an obligation and observing prayer in its nights a voluntary act. Anyone who seeks nearness to Allah in theis month through any virtuous act will be like one who carried out a religious obligation at another time, and anyone who performs an obligatory act of worship in this month will be like one who performed seventy such acts at another time. It is the month of patience, and the reward for patience is Paradise.” [Sahîh Ibn Khuzaymah]