What is First DAY of Ramadan?
Get it Right - From the Start
AT LAST! THE PROOF
Bismillah Rahman Raheem
Salam alaykum & Ramadan Mubarak.
Question: "When exactly does Ramadan start - this year?"
Answer: "Bismillah Salam alaykum. Allahu 'Alim. Allah Knows best".
Before answering the question, we love you all for the sake of Allah and pray to Him to grant you a successful and wonderful month of fasting, praying, reciting Quran and sharing with each other, ameen. (and a great Eid too).
NOTE: We Muslims do have a problem and there is no denying it - Our enemies are making fun of us and use these things to critisize Islam. We need some help on this one. . .
So, I posted this for www.RamadanReminders.com and the whole story is on www.IslamNewsroom.com - Please help me share it with others and we start out the month of Ramadan with huge rewards (inshallah Ta'ala).
Many of us are worried about the day to start the fasting of Ramadan, right? You remember last year (and the year before)? Everyone saying it started on this day or that day, and others saying, "No, it was on the day after that.." etc.?
And then the day of eid - what about that?
We all want to know what the definitive answer to the question:
"WHAT DAY DOES RAMADAN START?"
But that's the WRONG QUESTION.
I want to begin with a hadeeth of our prophet, peace be upon him, before getting into the topic too deep, inshallah.
It was on the occasion of the prophet, peace be upon him, dispatching a group to go to a certain place. He told them, "Do not pray Asr until you get there".
However the time came for Asr and they were not even close. Some companions became worried and expressed their concern for missing the time of Asr. Others said they must continue and not pray the Asr until they arrived.
So, some of them prayed Asr on the way, others prayed it when they arrived at the destination.
When they returned back to the prophet, peace be upon him, and told him what had taken place, he told them "Both are right".
In Islam, it is known from other hadeeth, that when a scholar works diligently to come up with an answer in Islam, researching and reviewing the Quran and hadeeth and praying to Allah for answers, then whatever he comes up with will have a reward.
The prophet, peace be upon him, said, "When a scholar does ijtihad (striving in diligent research) to come up with an answer, if he is correct he has a double reward. And if not, he still has a full reward."
Read...
At the time of prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, someone came to Madinah in the month Ramadan and was fasting along with everyone. But then day, just as the sun was going down, a person came to the prophet's mosque and said they had sited the new moon of Shawwal, and after verifying the information, the prophet, peace be upon him, began to prepare for Eid on the following morning.
The person who had come to them in Ramadan came to the prophet, peace be upon him, and told him that he only had 28 days of fasting due to the day he had started fasting.
The prophet, peace be upon him, told the man to break the fasting for the Eid and then fast the next day.
Simple as that.
So, Islam is having an answer for everything. The real problem is, we do not take the time or effort to research and understand the point, that two different opinions can both be right on some matters, provided it is all for Allah and according to Islam.
Now what about the original question, "WHAT DAY DOES RAMADAN START?"
The real question should be, "What NIGHT does Ramadan start?"
We seem too concerned with the fasting and forget the first even of Ramadan is the night of Tarweh which does begin right after the esha salat on the night of sighting the new moon at the end of the month of Shaban.
As far as what day to start the fasting - check with your local imam and just go along with your community and don't fret and worry about it. It is all good and there is no real "wrong" as long as it is done according to the scholars of Islam.
The prophet, peace be upon him, told us to "Follow your imam" and there is where the real problem comes in; too many of us today want to tell the imam what to do rather than to take the advise of someone who has dedicated their entire life to preserving and sharing our deen of Islam.
Advice to myself, "Let's listen more and talk less in the presence of our teachers, imams and leaders. They are the ones who are responsible for their conclusions and decisions, and the one who has the best answer will get the most reward - while the one who comes in second place, still has a full reward with Allah.
Another hadeeth of our prophet, peace be upon him, says, "Let the one who believes in Allah and the Last Day, either say 'khair' (good) or remain silent" (this is advice to me too).
Finally, the real story on "What is the first day of Ramadan?"
That is not the point - we should be asking "When is the first NIGHT of Ramadan?"
After all, we want to all start the night of sighting the new moon of Ramadan by listening to the imam recite to us from the Quran.
That is the actual beginning of Ramadan, isn't it? Not just the fasting and eating? Right?
May Allah help us get our priorities in order and help us to help each other, ameen.
Allahu 'Alim and we ask Allah to Guide us - Guide all of us, ameen.
Allahu 'Alim and we ask Allah to Guide us - Guide all of us, ameen.Watch for more Ramadan Reminders - on www.GuideUS.TV/live and on www.RamadanReminders.com
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