WARNINGS & GLAD TIDINGS
Winners & losers
In a Hadeeth in Ibn Majah (authenticated by Albani), the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "O Muhajirun! You may be afflicted with five things. Allah forbid that you should live to see them.
If fornication and adultery should become widespread, then you should know that this has never happened without new diseases befalling the people which their forefathers never suffered.
If people should begin to cheat in weighing out goods, you should realise that this has never happened without a drought and famine befalling the people and their rulers oppressing them.
If people should withhold zakah, you should realise that this has never happened without the rain being stopped from falling; and were it not for the sake of the animals, it would never rain again.
If people should break their covenant with Allah and His Messenger, you should realise that this has never happened without Allah sending an enemy against them to take some of their possessions by force.
If the leaders do not rule according to the book of Allah, you should realise that this has never happened without Allah making them into groups and making them fight one another."
All these points are so relevant on our times, we have to take heed. Those who are involved in this abhorrent sin should repent, but also those who are not and are not enjoining good & forbidding evil they also need to take heed. We are all responsible.
LOCKED UP
This is perhaps the first Ramadan we were locked up before the Shaitaan, agreed both very differently but also depends on how we react to this.
We have time on our hands and that is one of the hunting grounds of Shaitaan, he tries to fill the time in hand with entertainment and with it comes all the sins. He will do his utmost best to make the believer fall into sins he was not used to or make the one who was irregular in doing sins become addicted to it and so on. So we need to fill our times with Dhikr and good things. Self development in terms of Deen & Duniya so we are amongst the winners of this pandemic.
WINNERS
Those who were into charity programs, feeding the poor, performing many Umrahs themselves and helping people perform Umrah, distributing food/iftar, performed Itikaaf, etc these will all be rewarded for the same InShaAllah as The Prophet ﷺ said,
“If a servant falls ill or travels, the likes of what he used to do when he was settled and healthy will be recorded for him.
Ṣahih Bukhari 2834
So my dear brothers and sisters do not be disheartened or despair, if you have been consistent in these deeds and had firm intention to continue the same this year, take this year as a bonus round. Where Allah - the Most Merciful and the Most Just - will reward you for those deeds and also this time you have time on your hands to do those self development activities that you had been thinking of for many years.
LOSERS
There were people who complained about the authorities closing the Masjids, the Arabs closing the Haramain (the two Holy Mosques), but we see that these very same people not making an effort to make the Jamaá at home with their families, nor are they praying on time. They have put all their spare time either reading about the conspiracy theories related to the virus or on just entertaining themselves. They did not prepare for Ramadan and now are still lethargic in Ramadan.
THIS TIME WILL TESTIFY FOR OR AGAINST YOU
If only I had time, I would have memorised such and such Surah(s), I would have offered Qiyyam in the depths of the nights, I would have learnt Tajweed and how to properly recite the Quran, I would have done this or that!
How many times have you said this?
If we actually make good use of the time that we now have on our hands, InShaAllah you can be rewarded for all those times that you could not do things due to lack of time. But if you let this year pass by without doing the things that you spoke about all those years, then it will testify that you never meant it.