A Month of Endurance

Salman Farsi relates that Allah’s Messenger ﷺ delivered a sermon on the last day of Sha’aban in which he said, “O people! You are on the threshold of a month of great solemnity and blessings. It is a month during which one night is better than a thousand months. God has prescribed fasting in this…

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Salman Farsi relates that Allah’s Messenger  delivered a sermon on the last day of Sha’aban in which he said, “O people! You are on the threshold of a month of great solemnity and blessings. It is a month during which one night is better than a thousand months. God has prescribed fasting in this month and made Taraweeh prayers optional, but it is pleasing to God. Whosoever does one good act in this month will have the merit of having done an obligatory act in other months and who does a prescribed act in this month it will be equal to seventy prescribed acts in other months. This is the month of endurance and the reward of endurance is paradise and this is the month of sympathy with and care of the poor and needy men of the community.”

(Mishkat)

This is part of a long hadith which explains the merits of the month of fasting. The Blessed Messenger calls the month of Ramadhan a Month of Endurance. It implies that in this month people undergo a training in self-discipline as a preparation for the rest of the eleven months, and develop a zest for obedience to God. A believing man is very much like a soldier in the battlefield. He has to fight against Satanic temptations and forces of evil. Hence it is necessary for him to nourish self-restraint and endurance.

Allah’s Messenger ﷺ also calls Ramadhan a Month of Sympathy i.e. we should let our poor brethren participate in the God-given blessing.