Mufti Muhammad Mortuza:

The holy Ramadan is the month of abstinence. This is the month of self-purification and success in the fight against evil propensity.

It has been made obligatory for every adult Muslims to abstain from taking food and drink from dawn-to- dusk in this month. The month has been called the spring of worship.

Ramadan is a month when the rewards from Almighty Allah for good deeds are multiplied. This is month of mercy when the gates of hells remain closed, and doors of paradise wide open.

About Ramadan, Allah’s Messenger Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) said, ‘By Allah! For Muslims, there has never been a better month than Ramadan. For hypocrites, there has never been a worse month than Ramadan. The believers (Mumin) gather the strength and way of worship for the whole year in this month while the hypocrites (Munafik) explore the indifference and faults of the people in it. This month is a blessing for the believers and a loss for the hypocrites. (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith: 8368)

Besides physical worship, there has a special importance of financial worship in this month. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used to give a lot of charity in this month. Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (PBUH) was the most generous in charity, especially in the month of Ramadan. There was no limit to his generosity because every night till the end of the month of Ramadan, Gabriel (peace be upon him) used to meet him and recite the Holy Quran. When Gabriel (peace be upon him) met him, he was more generous than the blowing wind. (Bukhari, Hadith: 4997)

Apart from this, arranging Iftar for the fasting people in Ramadan is a virtuous act. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever helps break fasting, he will have the same reward as him without curtailing anything from the reward of the fasting person.” (Tirmidhi, Hadith: 807)

So, in the holy month of Ramadan, we can arrange Iftar for the helpless and poor people. There may have many people who are unable to arrange sahri and iftar this year due to the recent surge in prices of essential commodities. The prices of essentials have raised several folds but the income of most of the people did not increase. If we stand by them in this situation, it will be much easier for them to observe fasting. For this, the person will pray for us and Allah will give us same reward as the fasting person.

The Almighty Allah has given the glad tidings of Paradise for those who unselfishly provide food for hungry people. Almighty Allah said, “The righteous truly drinks a cup tempered with camphor —a fountain from which the servants of Allah drink, making it flow in abundance. They fulfill vows and fear a day, the evil of which is widespread. And they give food, out of love for Him, to the poor and the orphan and the captive, [saying] “We feed you, for Allah’s pleasure only — We desire from you neither reward nor thanks. Surely we fear from our Lord a stern, distressful day.” So Allah will ward off from them the evil of that day, and cause them to meet with splendour and happiness; And reward them, for their steadfastness, with a Garden and with silk.” (Surah Dahr, verses: 5-12)

In the current situation, most of the people are in distress; especially the middle class and lower class people are very worried about their family expenses. In this a situation, if anyone help others by reducing his expenses then he will get a good reward from Allah.

Apart from that, Allah is our only provider of sustenance. If we rely on Him and stand by the side of helpless people, He will increase our sustenance too InshaAllah. So, let us all stand by our relatives and neighbors in the holy month of Ramadan controlling other expenditures. For this, Almighty Allah may forgive all of us.