Manners and etiquettes of Siam
By sheikh Mohammed bin Othaymin
Praise be to Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, the Well-Known by His Ultimate Generosity, Great Favor and All-Encompassing Benevolence. I praise Him, glorified is He, for His great, abundant and good favors. I testify that there is no god but Allah, with Whom there are no partners, Who has made fasting in Ramadan one of the pillars of Islam, and doubled the reward for those who observe Fasting and perform the optional night prayer - Tarawih.
I testify that Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) is His servant and Messenger, the example to be followed by all believers and the leader of the righteous. He (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) was the most generous of all people, especially in Ramadan when he (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) met Gabriel and reviewed The Holy Qur’an with him. During those days, the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) became more generous, giving good things - like the winds sent to bring rain.
May Allah show mercy on him (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) and to his Companions, who were like the lamps that lit the darkness and the leaders of guidance. They used to hasten to do good deeds and competed in acts of obedience and deeds that brought them nearer to Allah. They were the most keen of people to attain goodness, exerting praiseworthy efforts in doing good. They kept on reciting The Holy Qur’an, and were very attentive in avoiding acts that would nullify their fasting. To achieve that, they used to free themselves from many worldly affairs, and occasionally stayed in mosques, studying of The Holy Qur’an and avoiding any act that might blemish their fasting. They used to say: “We should preserve our fast and avoid harming people."
O People! Fear Allah and obey Him, glorify His Graces and give thanks to Him. Strive to be obedient and know that Allah’s Favors are innumerable.
Allah says which translates as: “And O ye Believers! Turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss" (An-Nur: 13). “It is such as obey Allah and His Messenger, and fear Allah and do right, that will win (in the end)" (An-Nur: 52).
O Believers! Soon you will receive an honorable guest and a great season i.e., the blessed month of Ramadan. May Allah extend our lives until it comes and guide us to seek nearness to Him with things that He likes and is pleased with, and gather us with the earlier company of the leading pious people. Verily, He is the Most Generous, All-Kind and Most Merciful.
Servants of Allah! It was narrated that the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said: “The month of Ramadan has come to you as a blessings, in which Allah covers you with His Mercy, remits sins and answers supplications. Allah sees your competition in good deeds and takes pride in you over His angels. Thus, you should show Allah goodness in yourselves, since a miserable one is he who is deprived from Allah’s Mercy during this month".
Salman Al-Farisi reported: The Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) delivered a sermon on the last day of Sha’ban, saying: “O people! The shadows of a great blessed month have come over you. In it there is a night that is better than one thousand months. Allah has made fasting obligatory during it, and night prayer (Tarawih) optional. Whoever performs any good deed in it will obtain the reward of an obligatory act; and whoever performs an obligatory act of devotion will be rewarded seventy times more than in any other month. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Paradise. It is the month of rewards in which provision increases. Whoever provides food for a person to break his fast, his sins will be forgiven, and he will be saved from the Hellfire. He will receive a reward similar to the one for whom he provided food, without diminishing anything from the reward of the former (one he fed)." The people said: Messenger of Allah! Not all of us are capable of providing food for fasting persons. The Messenger (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said: “Allah will reward whoever provides food for a fasting person, even if it be some milk mixed with water, a date or a sip of water. Whoever provides a drink to a fasting person, Allah will provide him a drink from my Haud (Font), and whoever drinks from my Haud, will never feel thirst thereafter until he enters Paradise".
The beginning of this month (Ramadan) contains mercy, the middle of it contains forgiveness and the end of it contains deliverance from the Hellfire. Thus, you should be keen to foster four qualities as much as you can: two qualities with which you will please your Lord and two qualities that are indispensable to you. As for the first two qualities: it is to testify that there is no god but Allah and to seek His forgiveness. The second two qualities is to ask Allah for Paradise and to seek His Refuge from Hellfire.
O Believers! It was reported that the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said: “Whoever observes fasting in Ramadan, out of faith and in anticipation of Allah’s Reward, all his previous sins will be forgiven", also “whoever prays the nights of Ramadan, out of faith and in anticipation of Allah’s reward will have all previous sins forgiven".
He (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) also said: “Whoever stands in Prayer with the Imam until he finishes Prayer, will be considered as one who spent all night in Prayer".
In addition he (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said: “Whoever stands in Prayer on the night of Lailat Al-Qadr [the Night of Revelation], all his previous sins will be forgiven".
He (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) also said: “Fasting is like a shield. On the day one of you is fasting, he should avoid obscenity and clamor. If anyone insults him or abuses him, he should say: I am fasting".
The Prophet (Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) stressed striving to keep fasting free from anything that may render it null, saying: “Whoever does not give up falsehood and its application and foolish behavior, Allah will be in no need that he gives up food and drink".
Jabir bin ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “If you fast, let your hearing, sight and tongue observe fasting from lying and sins. You should desist from harming your neighbor, and be distinguished by solemnity and calmness on the day you observe fasting and do not make the day on which you break your fasting and the day you fast the same (in behavior).
O Believers! The above-mentioned statements describe the desirable behavior of Muslims in Ramadan, which can be elaborated as follows:
First: To have the pre-dawn meal (Suhur) to support fasting during the day. It is preferable to have it shortly before the dawn. It is also preferable to break the fast immediately after sunset, for people will continue to be good as long as they break their fast immediately after sunset, and delay their Suhur to the time just before Fajr.
Second: To avoid all words and deeds or acts leading to that which may breach or invalidate one’s fasting.
Third: To perform supererogatory night Prayer, especially Tarawih to the best of ones’ ability until the Iman concludes and offer any number of Rak’at at the latter part of the night. One may take a nap during the day to be physically able to perform supererogatory night prayer vigorously and enthusiastically.
Fourth: To avoid staying awake until late at night spending time doing things other than devotion, for this eliminates the blessings of this special time and deprives man from many good aspects of using this time well and leads to committing sins.
Fifth: To spend time in doing great acts of devotion, such as reciting The Holy Qur’an, asking Allah’s forgiveness, remembering Allah, making supplication, inviting people to do good deeds, enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, as well as giving support in word and deed to others to do all these things. Thus, man can be a good example and obtain a reward equal to the reward of all those who follow him.
To be keen to provide food for the fasting people both at the time of breaking fast and for the pre-dawn meal, to encourage them, to support them in doing good, and to patiently bear their bad behavior, to abstain from directing harm to others, and to be benevolent to people, seeking Allah’s Pleasure and anticipating His abundant forgiveness and great Benevolence, Blessing and Generosity.
Fear Allah, O servants of Allah. Guard against acts that result in misery and deprivation of Allah’s Mercy, and those that lead to the Hellfire. Try hard to achieve the requirements of Allah’s Unlimited Mercy in the month of Ramadan, in which Allah gives so many rewards for small deeds and remits many slips and errors for whoever is sincere and hastens to repentance. Ramadan is a month in which the reward of good deeds is doubled. Congratulations to the pious fasting Muslims for the profitable trade with Allah and the great forgiveness, remittance of sins and pardon he receives.
So be well-prepared to fast in Ramadan and to perform supererogatory night prayer (Tarawih) during it and to compete in righteous deeds. Open yourselves to the gifts of the Generous Lord during the days of Ramadan. Perhaps an hour spent in pleasing Allah raises man to the status of the close servants of Allah.
Allah says which translates as: “Such is the Bounty of Allah, which He bestows on whom He will: and Allah is the Lord of the highest bounty" (Al-Juma’ah : 4).
May Allah benefit us by the Qur’anic verses recited in the month of Ramadan. I seek Allah’s Forgiveness for you and I from all sins, so seek His forgiveness, that He may forgive you, for He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
أرسلها على تطبيق الواتساب