Muslims make a number of mistakes during this auspicious month. These mistakes vary from country to country and from culture to culture, and there are many reasons why they happen. Sometimes they can be attributed to local customs and traditions. Sometimes they occur because of a misapplication of Islamic Law. At other times, the reason for the mistake is the desire to express happiness and joy during this blessed month. At other times, simple ignorance is to blame.
Some of the mistakes people make in Ramadan are serious enough to be violations of Islamic Law. Some mistakes are innovations. Other mistakes are less serious, causing the person who errs to act in a way that is undesirable. These mistakes can relate to the fast itself or to other customs and practices associated with it. As the second half of the month of Ramadan is ushered in and the closing days close in on us, we should not let the sweetness of our deeds vanish into the night, leaving only emptiness. When one contemplates the texts on fasting, its wisdom and goals in Shariah, and looks at the reality of the Muslim communities, one realizes a wide gap between the reality and our obligations. Remember that Ramadan is a bounty that Allaah blessed His servants with, to strengthen their faith, and increase their piety (taqwa). Allaah said: "0 you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become pious." (Q2 [Baqarah]: 183) Muslims make a number of mistakes during this auspicious month. These mistakes vary from country to country and from culture to culture, and there are many reasons why they happen. Sometimes they can be attributed to local customs and traditions. Sometimes they occur because of a misapplication of Islamic Law. At other times, the reason for the mistake is the desire to express happiness and joy during this blessed month. At other times, simple ignorance is to blame. Whatever the reason, the outcome is the same: a violation of Islamic teachings in a matter of worship. This is serious, since matters of worship in Islaam are established and defined by the sacred texts. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "Whoever introduces something new into this matter of ours will have it rejected." "(Bukhari and Muslim).
We will now turn our attention to some of these mistakes:
Neglecting Congregational Prayer
Many people increase their worship in Ramadan and frequent the mosques more than usual. However, some people fall short during this month of their observance of congregational prayer and neglect the mosque. This is a mistake, for there is ahadeeth that reads: "Whoever hears the call to prayer but does not hearken to it, then he has no prayer." (Tirmidhi)
Ali b. AblTaalib said: "There is no prayer for the neighbour of the mosque except in the mosque." (Abd al-Razzaq) No doubt, neglecting congregational prayer is something serious. It is even more serious to neglect prayer altogether. A hadeeth reads: "The covenant between us and them is prayer. Whoever abandons it has disbelieved." (Tirmidh) Also, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "Whoever abandons the Asr prayer, his deeds are lost." (Bukhari) There are numerous other hadeeth that stress the importance of prayer. May A1laah protect us from neglecting our prayers. A Muslim should safeguard his worship and be.steadfast in prayer. Ramadan should be an opportunity for us to change for the better and habituate ourselves to doing good deeds.
Backbiting & Rumour-Mongering
Speaking badly about other people is a way to seriously compromise ones fasting. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) defined backbiting in the following way: He said: "Do you know what backbiting is?" They said: "Allaah and His Messenger know best." He said: "It is to mention about your brother something that he would dislike having mentioned about him. " Someone enquired: "O Messenger of Allaah! How do you see it if what I said about him is true?" He replied: "If what you said about him is true, then you have backbitten him. If what you said about him is false, then you have slandered him." (Muslim) Another evil is to spread what people say about each other in order to bring about problems. This rumour-mongering also includes divulging secrets and exposing peoples faults. Hudhayfah heard about a man who was spreading rumours and he said: "I heard Allaahs Messenger say: A rumour-monger will not enter Paradise." (Bukhari) Vulgar Speech and Bad Manners Abu Hurayrah (RA) relates that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "Whoever does not abandon false speech and acting falsely, then Allah has no need of his abandoning food and drink." (Bukhari) The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "Fasting is a shield, so the one who fasts should avoid obscene speech and ignorant behavior. If someone abuses him or starts to fight with him, he should reply by saying: I am fasting. I am fasting." (Bukhari)
Ibn Hajar (RAH) writes in Fath al-Baari: "The hadith means that the fasting person should not respond to the one who abuses him with the same kind of behaviour. He should restrain himself by saying: "I am fasting."
Laziness and Listlessness
Some people take the Ramadan fast as an excuse for laziness. In this, they behave in stark contrast to the ways of our Pious Predecessors, who had no qualms with working hard in Ramadan and even rallying to the defense of the faith.
They definitely did not become lax in their regular, daily worship. Indeed, they would increase their religious observances in this month. Some people justify their laziness with the weak hadeeth that reads: "The sleep of the fasting person is worship." If, for the sake of argument, we assume that the hadeeth is authentic, it does not justify laziness. It certainly does not pardon the practice of those who sleep all day in Ramadan and then spend the nights in feasting and merriment.
The hadeeth refers to the normal sleeping habits of the person, like the persons usual daily nap. This normal sleep helps invigorate the person for further acts of worship. It is necessary for a person to capitalize on the opportunity for blessings that the month of Ramadan has to offer. A Muslim should strive to the utmost to earn Allaahs reward during this month, keeping in mind that there is no guarantee of his living to see another Ramadan. Watching Soap Operas and other frivolities Muslims, whether they are fasting or not, should fear Allaah with regard to what they are doing and not doing at all times.
They must avoid that which Allaah has forbidden, namely watching obscene movies which show things that Allaah has forbidden such as naked and semi-naked pictures, or reprehensible programs, or things which appear on TV that go against the laws of Allaah, such as images, singing, musical instruments and misleading ideas. Every Muslim, whether he is fasting or not, must avoid playing with cards and other kinds of games, because that involves witnessing evil and doing wrong, and because it also causes hardness and disease in the heart, makes a person take the laws of Allaah lightly and makes him find it too difficult to do the things that Allaah has enjoined, such as praying in congregation and other obligations, and makes him fall into doing many haraam things. Allaah says: "And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allaah with Out knowledge, and takes it (the path of Allaah, or the Verses of the Quraan) by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment (in the Hellfire). And when Our verses (of the Quraan) are recited to such a one,he turns away in pride, as if he heard them not - as if there were deafness in his ear. So announce to him a painful torment" (Q31 [Luqman1:6-7).
And He says in Soorat al-Furqaan, describing the slaves of the Most Merciful: And those who do not bear witness to falsehood, and if they pass by some evil play or evil talk, they pass by it with dignity" (Q25 [al-Furqaan1:72).
Falsehood (al-zoor) includes all kinds of evil, and the phrase "do not bear witness" means that they do not attend where these things are happening.
Excessive Eating and Drinking
Some people spend their nights in Ramadan filling their stomachs with all types of food and drink, sometimes indulging in delicacies that they do not ever eat outside of Ramadan. This practice, without doubt, contradicts the very essence of Ramadan and the wisdom behind our fasting. It is related from al-Miqdam b. Madi Yakrib (RA) that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "The human being does not fill up any vessel worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for a person to eat just enough to keep his back straight. If he must eat more, then he can fill a third with food. a third with drink, and leave a third for air."(Tirmidhi) How can a person learn to subdue his base impulses and desires through fasting, when he makes up for it all by indulging his every whim at night, eating even more during Ramadan than he does during the rest of the year? In some places, people have a custom of storing food and reserving it for Ramadan, so that they consume in Ramadan the quantity of food that would usually take them months to eat. We all know that the purpose of fasting is to rein in our passions and break our desires in order to grow in piety. If we allow our hunger to build in strength from dawn to dinner time only to then indulge our hunger with greater gusto, this merely magnifies the pleasure of eating. It strengthens our passions more than if we had been left to our normal eating patterns. Excessive Spending Ramadan should be a time to avoid being wasteful, and learning to be prepared in facing harder times by distinguishing the needs from the luxuries. Unfortunately, many people go beyond their limits to spend during Ramadan whether in the varieties of food that they savour each night, or by the other types of spending ..
Staying Awake During the Night and Sleeping During the Day
Some people sleep during most of the day when they are fasting. Ramadhan is not a time of being lazy, and this does not allow the full benefit from the experience of fasting. It is as if they have only inverted their nights into days and vice versa. In addition, some may spend a great portion of the night indulging in eating and drinking and socializing.
Getting Angry
Some people seem to think that their bad tempers are excused because they are fasting. They allow their anger its full spectrum of expression, saying the most horrible things and doing the most preposterous deeds. A fasting person needs to adorn his fast with magnanimity and good manners. He should remind himself that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The strong person is not the one who can wrestle someone else down. The strong person is the one who can control himself when he is angry."(Bukhari)
Abandoning Fasting Without an Excuse
Abandoning a Ramadan fast without a valid excuse is a major sin. A person who falls into this sin must repent sincerely and earnestly to his Lord. He must also make up the days that he missed later. He must also provide a meal for a poor person for each day that he missed if he is financially able to do so. Fasting is one of the five pillars of the religion of Islam. A person who openly abandons the Ramadan fast should be rebuked for doing so and not left to be a bad example for others.
Women Putting on Perfume to Go to the Mosque
Some women put on attractive perfumes to when they go to the mosque at night in Ramadan. This is a mistake. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "Any woman who dons perfume should refrain from attending the IshAcongregation with us." (Muslim) The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) also said: "Any woman who puts on perfume and then walks by people so they can get a whiff of her perfume is a wanton woman." (Tirmidhi)
Staying Up Late
This is a mistake if it leads to bad consequences. Some people stay up late at night and then sleep through the Fajr prayer. Some even sleep through the Zuhr and Asr prayers. If they force themselves to get up during the day, they can suffer extreme fatigue on account of it. If they are employees, their performance at work suffers. Such people need to keep cognizant of the blessings of this month that they lose out on because of these consequences.
Spending More Time in Socializing
Because people invite each other more often during Ramadan they do tend to spend more time socializing with friends, and relatives. While it is a good deed to feed the fasting person, this should not result in precious time lost in vain talk. Use the occasion for remembering Allaah and offering additional prayers, and for the Dawah to Allaah.
Not Praying Taraweeh Behind the Imam
Some people, on performing a certain number of Rakaas during the Taraweeh (night) prayer to the point of not praying behind the Imam and thus forfeiting the benefit of congregational prayer. This might also bring hatred and disagreement between the Muslims of one community.
Reading Quran too Fast
Some insist on finishing the whole Quran once or more, even if they have to read very fast. Although reading the Quran many times is desirable, this should not be done hastily, especially during the Taraweeh prayer without pondering upon its meaning. Allaah said: "This is a Book which We have sent down to you, full of blessings that they may ponder over its verses," (Q38[Saad]:29), and the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: "Those who read the Quran in less than three days do not grasp [its meaning]"
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited