TheRamadan of Shaykh Al-Hadith Ml ZakariyyaKandelwi by Dr Muhammad Ismail Memon Madani

the ramadan of shaikh muĤ ammud zakariyyĀ
footsteps, were only reviving this long forgotten Sunna of the
Blessed Prophet s.
The month of Ramadan is a time to heal the soul from the
effects of sins. It is also meant to remove ignorance of Allah u
and love of the material world. If a person does not refresh his
īmān in this month and does not strive to eliminate the effects of
evil that settle in the heart, then his spiritual condition worsens
year after year, until he meets Allah u in the state in which Allah
u dislikes meeting him, as narrated in the hadith. Such a person’s
love for the material world and his dislike of Dīn increases to the
extent that objections against the Dīn, criticism of the friends of
Allah u and those who represent the Dīn of Allah u become
his way of life. He fails to see his own spiritual deterioration or
his own faults. Instead, he becomes mired in the worldly life and
only finds solace in wealth and things that stimulate the self [nafs].
These are all effects of ignoring the great blessing of this month
and the opportunity that it offers to be returned to a state of good
spiritual health.
Every Muslim should perform i‘tikāf the last ten days of
Ramadan at least once in a lifetime, if not every year. In i‘tikāf,
the withdrawal from the material world and seclusion in the house
of Allah u offers the opportunity for a Muslim with the weakest
of īmān and the worst of characters to reconnect with Allah u
and begin life anew. The connection that is built in the month of
Ramadan will then help one through the remainder of the year until
the next Ramadan. It is like the example of a person crossing the
desert. He will survive if he takes with him water, food and other
such provisions that are necessary for him to reach his destination.
If he does not, he will die before he reaches his destination.
May Allah u give us all the ability to cherish this blessed month
and to gain the true understanding of Dīn as our elders had. It is
true that the success of our umma in this world and the Hereafter,
is in following our elders, not others. May this book be a source
of guidance for how to spend the month of Ramadan and a way
to establish a relationship with our elders, who showed us through
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