As we approach the end of this year’s Ramadan fast, believers have become busier with acts of worship (ibadah). It is in this last lap of the holy month that people enter in to i’tikaf while the search for Lailat ul-Qadr is also intensified. It is within this same period that we experience the incredible rush for lesser pilgrimage (umrah) especially among Nigerians. The manner and the rate at which Muslims in Nigeria go for umrah in recent years prompt certain pertinent questions and germane remarks. The hadith of the Prophet (SAW) reported by Imam Ahmad and Ibn Majah, which says “the performance of umrah in Ramadan is equal in reward to the performance of a non-obligatory pilgrimage (hajj)”, perhaps, accounts for the large number of Muslims that annually go for umrah during Ramadan. While this column does not claim to be privy to the intentions of those who go to perform umrah, the essence of the above hadith is threatened when the categories of those who undertake the trip for various motives are brought into focus. Of course, only Allah (SWT) knows best the secrets of the hearts of His servants; and therefore He (SWT) alone shall reward all acts of worship according to the motive(s) that respectively prompted them.
Philosofaith
As Ramadan winds-up
The pinnacle of Ramadan fast
Glory is to Allah (SWT) for bringing us to where we are now in the course of this year’s Ramadan fast. With only two days to bring our count of the Ramadan fast to twenty, it is pertinent to discuss i’tikaf and lailat-ul Qadr. The act of secluding in a mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan is referred to, in Islam, as i’tikaf. It was a popular tradition of the prophet (SAW) to observe i’tikaf during the last ten days of Ramadan in the last nine years of his life. A believer who undertakes i’tikaf is called Mu’takif in Arabic. I’tikaf aims at distilling the heart of the Mu’takif from everything that is worthless in the sight of Allah (SWT).
The Jonathan Misadventure
It was recently that the government of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan ‘celebrated’ its one hundred days in office. The celebration was low keyed may be because the government in the last one hundred paid more emphasis on political intrigues on how to go beyond 2011 or rather because there is a more serious fanfare that is coming in September and October in which over N7 billion has been set aside to celebrate the fifty years of Nigeria’s failures as a nation.
For the sanctity of our Ramadan fast
By Allah’s special grace and mercy, one-third of this year’s Ramadan is already history. Fasting in this holy month, which truly is far from being a burden, is rather the foundation of a virtuous life. It redeems believers from the clutches of the devil and from devilish thoughts and tendencies. In order to preserve the sanctity of our Ramadan fast, believers must avoid anything that would either vitiate the fast or threaten its sacredness. The advent of GSM technology has turned many of us in to liars and rumormongers. The Prophet (SAW) said that Allah (SWT does not accept the fasting of a believer who engages in telling lies. Let us be conscious of our spiritual state and shun all such evils including backbiting.
As Ramadan fast begins
We give glory to Allah (SWT), the most Gracious, for making it possible for us to witness another Ramadan. Muslims throughout Nigeria began the Ramadan fast Wednesday after a radio and television announcement by the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Nigeria (SCIAN), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III that the crescent for the month of Ramadan had been sighted in some states including Borno, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory.
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