Ramadhaan is a guest that comes once a year and a Muslim is always honourable to his guests.

We honour Ramadhaan by;

– Being diligent during this month as well as every other month during the year as the Allah we worship during this month is the same Allah we worship during every month of the year.

“Whenever a believer goes through a difficulty he/she must remember my death and that will ease the impact of that difficulty”

– Rasulullah (SAW) was a mercy to us in his living and he was a mercy to us in his dying.

– When facing difficulties in life remember the difficulties faced by Muhammad (SAW) and understand how he got through those difficulties.

– Understand that there is no difficulty that anyone can go through except that Muhammed (SAW) went through a greater difficulty.

 – Rasullulah (SAW) buried his sons while he was alive.

 – The Muslims faced a boycott for 3 years for declaring the oneness of Allah.

 – He lost his beloved wife and Khadija (RA) during the most precious years of prophethood.

 – He lost his father figure Abu Talib who dies upon disbelief.

 – The qureysh began to insult rasullulah (SAW), curse him, call him names,give him titles ,make false misrepresentations about rasullulah (SAW) in speech.

Created propaganda in Makkah and tried to spread it to habasha.

– There is no difficulty or hardship greater than that of losing rasullulah (SAW).

– His death meant that there would be no prophet after him.

– A closure of the doors of revelation between the heavens and the earth.

– The day rasullulah (SAW) died was the day the ummah experienced a hardship.

“Yes I can” – we have succeeded and past such a great difficulty before we were even born thus whatever difficulty we face today while we are alive know that “we can do it” and “we can get through it”

In a narration by Abbas Ibn Muttalib – he queries the prophet as to not having been of any benefit to Abu Talib even though by Allah Abu Talib used to protect the prophet, get angry for him and be against those who used to harm the prophet.

The prophet responded by saying that Abu Talib was in a shallow fire and had it not been for rasullulah (SAW) he would be in the Pitts of the fire if jahannum. Thus, indeed Abu Talib benefitted from rasullulah (SAW).

– It is said in a narration that when the mention of Abu Talib was made the prophet would say “I hope that my intercession would help him, assist him and he would be placed in a shallow fire that rises up to his heels”

– The fire of jahannum is so severe and it is said that even though the fire will only reach Abu Talibs heels,as a result of this his brains will boil.

– The importance of “there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammed (SAW) is his final messenger”- whomsoever dies upon this kalimah will enter jannah and whomsoever dies upon disbelief has no hope in the hereafter – we learn this from the death of Abu Talib when the prophet is pleading with him to recite this one line so that he the prophet has something to defend Abu Talib with in front of Allah.

– As a Muslim our job is to convey the message and not to convert, conversion is in the hands of Allah. We learn this from revelation Allah sent to rasullulah (SAW) upon Abu Talib death – “indeed you do not cause to convert whom you will but it is Allah who shows guidance upon whom he wills.”

– To thank Allah for the gift of Islam. A lesson from Yusuf (AS). When giving da’wah in the prison he informs his inmates he is upon the way of his forefathers and this guidance is a blessing from Allah but “most of people are not thankful.”

– If Allah can give us the greatest gift if Islam without asking for it then there is nothing Allah cannot give us if we ask for it.

– If Allah brings you to it, he can get you through it – with every one difficulty there is two eases. We learn this from the 3 years of boycott. From an abstract angle the the exile was an ease for the prophet as it prepared him for the grater difficulty he was to face in the 10th year after Hijra-the death of his two greatest supporters.

-Through this hardship preparing rasullulah (SAW)for a greater difficulty he was yet to face we see that at times there is ease to be found through the difficulty.

– We also learn that there are always two paradigms to every situation and a Muslim looks at every aspect because he knows that whatever Allah does he does good.

The second ease was the gift of isra and mi’raj experienced by no other prophet. From here we learn that when Allah wants good for you,he opens the means for you to earn that goodness.

This lesson is also found in the story of Yusuf (AS) where the king had a dream that there would be 7 years of rainfall(ease) followed by 7 years of drought (hardship) followed by 7 years of rainfall again(ease) again. If Yusuf (As) had not been thrown into the well 50 years before, he would not have been in the prison and then called upon to interpret this dream to only impress the king so much to be made one of the cabinet ministers to manage the 7 years of rainfall to ensure enough food for the people during the 7 years of drought.