When Ramaḍān finally arrives, Jannah is decorated and adorned, and its gates are opened. The spirit of the month is one of immense generosity and happiness. It is during this month that the Qurʾān—the greatest form of Divine Generosity, karam—is revealed. Allah says: “Say! In the faḍl [the Qurʾān] of Allah and his raḥmah [Islam], in that shall they rejoice!”
Allah increases His favors—voluntary deeds are rewarded as obligatory deeds, and obligatory deeds are themselves increased manifold in reward! In fact, one of the most powerful āyāt, “And when my slaves ask you about me, I am near; I respond to the one calling when he calls me…”, is located in between the āyāt that discuss Ramaḍān! Allah draws us near through His Name al-Qarīb and allows us the opportunity to ask Him for anything we need. As we know, the duʿāʾof the one fasting is accepted. Furthermore, Allah grants us the good opportunity of iʿtikāf, where Allah brings us into his house and keeps us there so that we can receive the greatest of gifts with Him, Laylat al-Qadr. Then in the case of fasting, Allah’s generosity is such that even when we are fasting and we forgetfully eat something, it is actually him feeding us and will still accept our fast! During this month, Allah also forgives. Not only does Allah overlook our mistakes, He even erases them from our record of deeds (ʿafw), as Shaykh Amin says. Additionally, when we observe the morning meal, saḥūr, one of the forms of barakah we receive is that it gives us the ability—on a daily basis—to capture the sacred hour of tahajjud when Allah is ever near and declares: Is there anyone who seeks forgiveness that I may forgive him?
As such, we find the Prophet ﷺ only increase in generosity. When he r would recite the Qurʾān with Jibrīl the Ṣaḥābah described him r as the blowing “wind”—sent to drive the clouds of Divine favor over creation. But in what ways did the Prophet ﷺ increase in generosity? The Prophet ﷺ would fulfill the needs of anyone who asked him with added generosity just as Allah gives to those who ask Him, and he r would free war-prisoners as Allah frees people from Jahannam during Ramaḍān. At the same time, Shaykh Amin teaches us that the Prophetic generosity also includes his r increase in duʿāʾ for his ﷺ Ummah. The Prophet ﷺ is so generous that he expands the very definition of generosity (ṣadaqah) to include good deeds. Additionally, he r expands the benefit of charity to reach those of his Ummah who are still yet to come—until Qiyāmah. Additionally, the Prophet ﷺ said the rizq of the believer is increased in Ramāḍān. So he ﷺ teaches us to feed those who are fasting and, in this way, Muslims feed each other—and others—to such a degree that no other group of people can even dare to claim. The point is that all of this generosity takes place through the barakah of just these few words from the Prophet ﷺ. In this way, his generosity continues to reach us even in in the mundane sense.
Just as Allah is Noble and Generous, He teaches us through the Prophet ﷺ to be noble and generous. We should strive to give as much as we can so that we can truly enjoy the spirit of Ramaḍān. We should make duʿāʾ for the ummah, benefit from scholars, read and study the Qurʾān, feed and help people, relieve others of their burdens, be extra tolerant, merciful, and forgiving toward others, support noble and generous causes with all of our resources.
Then, finally, when the joy of Ramaḍān draws to an end, Allah boasts about us to the Angels, about how proud He is of us. Yet, just after Ramaḍān concludes, the heavens already begin to be decorated and adorned for the coming Ramaḍān.
