Ramadan Mubarak!

With Ramadan fast, Muslims are once again availed with another opportunity to repent from their sins; and refine their character and soul. It is a unique opportunity especially for Muslims in Nigeria to renew their appeal for divine intervention in their quest for good governance; as well as re-present and renew their prayer against the […]

With Ramadan fast, Muslims are once again availed with another opportunity to repent from their sins; and refine their character and soul. It is a unique opportunity especially for Muslims in Nigeria to renew their appeal for divine intervention in their quest for good governance; as well as re-present and renew their prayer against the betrayal, hypocrisy, greed, dishonesty and general failure of their leaders. However, we must be seen to be practically devoted in our religious obligations by shunning all that could jeopardize the purity of our fast and then engage more dutifully in spiritual duties.
While Islam encourages the practice of specific virtuous deeds in this sacred month, it also cautions believers against indulging in acts that could vitiate or lay their fast on the line. We are not likely to attain the reward, forgiveness and mercy promised fasting believers if we fail to shun sinful acts including telling lies, backbiting, deceit, usurious transactions and indeed every forbidden speech or act. The Prophet (SAW) states that, “Allah (SWT) does not accept the fast of a believer who does not stop telling lies”.
In addition, all parts of the human body including the eyes, ears, hands, and legs are required to be kept by fasting believers under surveillance during the daytime of the entire period of Ramadan.  Islam warns against watching films; kissing, hugging and unguarded gaze at persons of opposite gender including their pictures; and listening to sensational music particularly during the daytime. These are actions that have the capacity to stimulate the lust of men (and women too).
Ramadan actually goes beyond physical abstinence from food, drink and conjugal relationships between dawn and sunset. Spiritual enhancement in this consecrated month can only be guaranteed if a believer’s Ramadan fast is genuinely accompanied with a heart filled with the fear of Allah (SWT); a conscience full of sincere remorse and repentance; a memory committed to the remembrance of Allah (SWT); a tongue dedicated to the recitation of the holy Qur’an; and a body (mind and spirit) wholly devoted to the worship of only one God, Allah (SWT).
As we observe the Ramadan fast, some unusual situations may arise. It has been the tradition of this column every Ramadan to highlight on the opinion of scholars on such strange matters for those who may be having the experience for the first time. Jurists have given fatwah that the use of inhaler by asthmatic patients is allowed while fasting. The basis being that, contents of the inhaler do not get in to the intestines but rather in to the lungs. Similarly, intra-muscular (I. M) injections for medical treatment do not vitiate the fast except if the contents of the injection are composed of elements with nutritional values that could serve as substitute to food or drink.
A believer while fasting may also donate blood or go for blood test provided the quantity taken would not lead to body weaknesses as to make him incapable of coping with the fast. Fasting is vitiated if the quantity of blood required is large enough to render the donour unfit to continue with the fast. This is based on the analogy that cupping, according to the sunnah of the Prophet (SAW), invalidates fasting. But in extremely necessary situations of life and death, which require such quantity of blood to be donated, a fasting believer is permitted to donate and then eat and drink for the rest of that day with a view to paying back that day’s fast at a later date.
If a believer out of forgetfulness eats food or drinks water between dawn and sunset, he is neither liable to do kaffarah (expiation through consecutive sixty days of fasting) nor pay back that day’s fast after Ramadan. His fast for that day remains valid as long as the eating or the drinking was not intentional. Imam Bukhari relates on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) said, “If anyone of you forgets (during Ramadan) and then eats or drinks, let him complete his fast; verily, it’s Allah (SWT) who gave him to eat or drink”. However, the believer must stop eating or drinking as soon as he remembers that he is fasting. Ibn Abbas (RA) reports that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Allah has for my sake overlooked the mistakes, the forgetfulness of my Ummah (community), and what they are forced to do”.
The fast of a believer is also intact even when, for unavailable reasons, the fajr (daybreak) catches up with him while he is still in a state of major ritual impurity (junub). Aisha (RA) and Umm Salamah (RA), wives of the Prophet (SAW), both relate that the Prophet (SAW) used to get up in the morning with junub from intercourse and not from a dream, in Ramadan, and then he would (continue with the day’s) fast. The day’s fast remains valid as long as a believer does not enter in to the state of major impurity after daybreak. If however, one engages in lustful thoughts or actions after daybreak and thus lands himself/herself into a state of major impurity; he is of course guilty of a great sin; in which case he must expiate with sixty-days consecutive fasting in addition to the one he vitiated, giving a total of sixty-one days of fasting.
Remember that the first one-third (ten days) of Ramadan is full of forgiveness (istighfar) and mercy (rahmah) from Allah (SWT). Let us repent from our sins and engage much in istighfar. O Allah! Make us of those whose righteousness is not only limited to Ramadan but to the entire period of our lifetime. May Allah (SWT) make us beneficiaries of His mercies and forgiveness in this holy month, amin. Ramadan mubarak!