Rasulullah (saw) Lecture on the last day of Shabaan:
Salmaan says that on the last day of Shabaan, Rasulullah j spoke us and said: “O People, there comes to you a great month now, a most blessed month, in which is a night greater in value and goodness than a thousand months. It is a month in which Allah has made fasting fardh by day and has made sunnah the Taraweeh Salaah by night.Whosoever wants to be close to Allah by doing any good deed, for such person shall be the reward like the one who had performed a fardh in any other time and whoever performs a fardh, shall be given
the reward of seventy faraaidh in any other time.”
This is indeed the month of patience and the reward for true patience is Jannah (paradise). It is the month of showing kindness to everyone. It is the month in which a true believer’s rizq (food, money,
etc.) are increased. Whosoever feeds a fasting person in order to break the fast at iftaar (sunset), for him there shall be forgiveness of sins and freedom from the fire of Jahannam (hell) and he shall receive the
same reward as the fasting person (whom he fed) without the fasting person losing any reward.
Thereupon we said, ‘O Messenger of Allah , not all of us can afford to give a fasting person something to break his fast with.’ Rasulullah j replied, ‘Allah gives the same reward to the one who
gives a fasting person to break the fast, just one date or a drink of water or a sip of milk.’
This is a month, the first of which brings Allah’s mercy, the middle of which brings His forgiveness and the last of which brings freedom from the fire of Jahannam.
Whosoever gives less work to his servants or workers (who are also fasting in this month), Allah will forgive him and free him from the fire of Jahannam.
In this month four things you should perform in great number, two of which shall be to please Allah , while the other two shall be those which you cannot do without. Those which shall be to please
Allah , are that you should recite in great number the Kalimah Tayibbah - Laa ilaaha illallah (i.e. To bear witness that there is no god except Allah ) and to recite istighfaar (beg Allah’s forgiveness
with astaghfirullah) and as for those which you cannot do without, you should beg of Allah for entrance into Jannah and ask protection in Him from Jahannam. And whoever gives a fasting person water to drink, Allah shall grant him to drink from my fountain, such a drink, after which that
person shall never feel thirsty again until he enters Jannah.”
(Reported by Ibn Khuzaimah in his ‘Saheeh’.)
Commentry:
All the points in this Hadeeth have been explained in many other Ahaadeeth on the great rewards of Ramadhaan. Rasulullah j gave this lecture at the end of Shabaan, because he
wanted to show us the great importance of Ramadhaan so that we do not allow one second of this month to go to waste.
Fasting has been made fardh by Allah who has also made sunnah the Taraweeh Salaah by night.
From this Hadeeth we learn that the command for Taraweeh Salaah too comes from Allah Himself. Besides this, in all the Ahaadeeth where Rasulullah j says, I have made it Sunnah is to
stress its importance. All the Ulama’ are agreed upon the fact that Taraweeh is Sunnah. Moulana Shah Abdullah Dehlawi in his book, ‘Maa Thabata Bis Sunnah’, states that if the people of any town do not perform Taraweeh Salaah, the Muslim ruler should make them do so by force. Many people say that you may listen to the full Qur’aan being read in a certain Musjid in eight or ten nights and then stop performing Taraweeh with jamaat as the sunnah will have been fulfilled. This is wrong, by doing this only one sunnah will be fulfilled and the other lost. We should remember that there are two separate
sunnats. Firstly, it is sunnah to hear the full Qur’aan being read in the Taraweeh in Ramadhaan. Secondly, it is sunnah to perform Taraweeh with jamaat for men in the Musjid throughout Ramadhaan. Females
should perform their Taraweeh at home. Another point that we learn in the Hadeeth is that Rasulullah j
told us that any nafil done in Ramadhaan is rewarded as much as a fardh in normal times and a fardh done in Ramadhaan has the reward of seventy fardh at other times.
