Abu Hurairah says that Rasulullah(saw)said, “My ummah has
been given five special things that were not given to anyone before them. The
smell from the mouth of a fasting Muslim is sweeter for Allah than the sweet
smell of musk. The fish in the sea ask for forgiveness for them until they
break their fast. Allah prepares and decorates His special Jannah every
day and then says: “The time is near when My loyal servants shall put away the
load (of the world) and come to you.” The evil shayateen are
chained in this month of Ramadhaan so as not to take people towards evils which
they normally do during other months. On the last night of Ramadhaan, the
fasting Muslims are forgiven. The Sahaabah then asked, “O
Rasulullah(saw) is that the night of Laylatul Qadr?”
Rasulullah(saw)replied, “No, But it is only right that a servant should be
given his reward on having completed his duty.”
Note: These five gifts from Allah were not granted to
the (fasting) people before Islam. If only we could truly
appreciate how great this gift from Allah really is, we will sincerely try to
get these special favours.
First, we are told that the smell from the mouth of the
fasting person is more pleasing to Allah than the smell of musk.
There are three most acceptable explanations:
a) Some say that, in the Aakhirah (Hereafter),
Allah shall reward that smell from the mouth with a pleasing smell more sweet
and refreshing than musk. (Durre Manthur)
b) On the day of Qiyamah when we
shall rise from our graves, a sweet smell shall come from the mouths of those
who fasted and that shall be better than musk.
c) In my opinion, the view that in this very world
the smell is
more pleasing for Allah
than musk. This shows the ties of love between Allah and His fasting slaves.
We all know that even a
bad smell from a person, whom one loves truly and sincerely, is in itself
attractive to the lover, who in this case is Allah Himself. What is shown is
how close to Allah a fasting person is.
Fasting is one of the most pleasing forms of worship in the sight
of Allah and for this reason a Hadeeth states that for every
deed the reward is brought by the Malaaikah, but Allah says, “The
reward for fasting, I Myself will give, because it is for Me alone”. Another
report of the same Hadeeth (when read in a different way) says
“I Myself become his reward”. And what greater reward can there be for the
lover than to meet the Beloved?
In another Hadeeth we
read, “Fasting is the door to all other forms of worship of Allah ”. This means
that, through fasting, the heart becomes encouraged to other forms of worship.
This is the case if the
fast is kept properly
(as shall be explained later), and is not merely remaining hungry and thirsty.
The second special favour is that the fish in the sea ask for forgiveness
for the person who fasts. The purpose here is to explain that many living
things make dua for him. My uncle, Moulana Muhammad Ilyas 
used to say that this is so because Allah says in the Holy
Qur’aan, “Certainly those who believe and do righteous deeds, Allah shall make
them beloved (in this world)”
used to say that this is so because Allah says in the Holy
Qur’aan, “Certainly those who believe and do righteous deeds, Allah shall make
them beloved (in this world)”
(Surah Maryam 96)
One Hadeeth explains this further, “When Allah
loves a person, He says to the angel Jibraeel , ‘I love that person, so you
also love him.’ Jibraeel then also loves that person and announces in the first
heaven that, ‘That person is loved by Allah , you all should also love him.’
Then all the creations of the heavens begin to love him.
Then, love for that
person spreads all over the earth.” Normally only those who are near to a
person seem to love him, but here that love spreads all over, even the animals
in the jungle and the fish in the sea do the same. They all then make dua on
his behalf.
The third favour given to the fasting persons is that Jannah is decorated
for them. The Hadeeth states that at the beginning of every
year, Jannah begins to be decorated for Ramadhaan. We know
that when an important person is expected to arrive, great care is taken in the
preparations for his welcome. For example, in a marriage preparations start
months in advance, likewise it is with Ramadhaan.
The fourth favour is that evil shayateen (devils)
are chained, so evil is much less. One would have expected that,
because of the great desire for worship of Allah in the blessed month of
Ramadhaan, the shayateen would try just as hard to pull the
faithful away from the right path, so that much more evil would be
committed. That is not the case. Instead we see so much less evil. How many
drunkards do we see, who just because of the blessed month of Ramadhaan, do
not drink any wine? How many other sinners we see giving up evil acts
during the blessed month of Ramadhaan?
You may wonder that, when the shayateen are
chained, how is it that we still see sins being committed, even though in
lesser amounts? The reply is that all evil may not necessarily be caused by the
evil shayateen. Having for eleven months lived in obedience to the
wishes of the shayateen, the doing of evil actions
caused by them becomes a habit and so evil is being done in Ramadhaan and also
out of Ramadhaan. For this reason we find those who normally commit sins
continue to do some of it in Ramadhaan. Thus, even though shayateen have
been chained, their effect on us has become so strong that we follow their ways
from our own side even in Ramadhaan.
Another important point
is that Nabi(saw) has said, “When a person commits a sin, a black spot
forms on his heart, when he sincerely makes taubah (repents),
it is removed otherwise it remains. When he again commits a sin another spot
forms (and so on), until his heart becomes completely black. Then nothing good
can enter his heart.”
Referring to this, Allah
says in the Qur’aan, “Never! But on their heart is the
stain (of Evil)” (Al-Munafiqeen 14). Thus their hearts become
totally stained, in such cases, these hearts are obviously attracted towards
sins. This is the reason why many people without any fear do one type of sin,
but when thinking of another similar sin, then their hearts refuse to do it.
For example, if those
people who drink wine are told to eat pork, they would hate it, whereas these
two evils are equally sinful. Similarly, the heart is stained by them, thus
resulting in these sins being done even without any action of the shayateen.
My personal opinion is that not all the shayateen are
chained, but only the most evil ones. All of us can see that in Ramadhaan, It
does not require a great amount of effort and energy to perform a good act.
Neither does it need a great amount of self control and effort to avoid sin, as
in other times.
Moulana Shah Ishaaq was
of the opinion that, for the evil people, only the most evil shayateen are
chained, whereas for the pious ones all shayateen are chained.
The fifth favour is that forgiveness is granted on the last night
of Ramadhaan. (See previous Hadeeth). Because of this
great favour, the Sahaabah thought that this night must be Laylatul
Qadr. They knew the great blessings of that night and asked
whether it meant Laylatul Qadr. The reply was that it was not. This
is just a favour granted for having fasted to the end of Ramadhaan.
Best wishes
